Epic Drag Race Between AMG, Brabus And… SMART?!
The Brabus range of cars includes the usual AMG models, and SMART are some of the fastest.
Over here in the ‘States, we haven’t seen SMART around lately. The electric EQ ForTwo was arguably a lovable disaster. With certainty, there are owners out there who love them. But the problem is there isn’t a whole of of those owners. SMART has been firmly established in Europe, however, and some of their creations might be a bit surprising.
SMART has the #3 and #5 models, which represent a smaller sportier crossover in the #3, and the #5 is a but more boxy. Brabus has had a chance to tinker with them and managed to get 646 horsepower from the #5. That’s no typo there. Six hundred and forty six horsepower. Torque is impressive – as you’d expect from an EV – at 710 nm. So we apparently have quite a spicy SMART on our hands here. It’s also about $75,000 for a SMART – but at least there’s a Brabus powered party trick to make it worth while.
Brabus has a bunch of other models, and decided to have a drag race with about a half dozen of them on an airfield. With “only” 428 hp, the Brabus SMART #3 is smoked by the #5. So how about the Brabus 850? It’s based on the Maybach S650, but the V12 now makes 850 horsepower. This was a bit embarrassing for the half-million USD Brabus 850 as the SMART bests its quarter mile time by nearly a second.
Up next is the Brabus ALL GRAY, because well… it is all gray. It’s also all speed, too. With 1000 horsepower on tap from the V8 twin turbo and electric motors, it finally was the Brabus that could best the SMART in the 1/4 mile. But only by 0.2 seconds. Even the Brabus ROCKET based on the AMG GT could barely get within reach of the #5. In honest terms, a 5,000 lb vehicle doing the 1/4 mile in 10.3 seconds is seriously quick.
It always seems a bit interesting though how EV’s are incredible off the line, but end up falling flat after a certain acceleration point. Even so, with such a launch, the Brabus #5 is showing that even SMART cars can be fast.
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