The Brabus Smart Car 0-60 Time: How Quick Is It?

German tuner Brabus is best known for its outlandish takes on high-end Mercedes-Benz models, like its 900 horsepower version of the GLE crossover or the boosted Brabus version of the G Wagon. Less well known is its side gig producing hot versions of Smart's city cars, which it has been doing since 2002. The formula for the Brabus Smart Fortwo is a fairly simple one: Take the regular car, boost its power, then add some minor suspension and tire tweaks plus a unique body kit, and voilà. The resulting car is even less practical than a standard Smart car and, according to reviews, even more of a handful to drive. Despite the added power, it's far from rapid in a straight line either.

British magazine Evo took the second generation Smart Fortwo Brabus for a spin in 2007, and found it had almost all of the handling flaws you'd expect it to. It understeered constantly, and its wheels could easily lose grip on rougher roads despite the Brabus' larger tires, which meant that its claimed 9.9-second 0-60 mph time would take careful driving to achieve. The same outlet later put the third generation 2017 Fortwo Brabus through its paces, and found it to be grippier, making its officially claimed 9.5 second 0-60 mph time more readily achievable. It was still slower than every other hot hatch of the same era, but then it could only ever do so much with its 107 horsepower 1.0-liter three-cylinder engine.

While even the fastest incarnation of the original Smart Fortwo Brabus could only manage a 0-60 mph time slower than the average new Toyota Corolla, the latest Brabus Smart cars are much faster. The Fortwo was discontinued in 2023 — although Smart has since promised to unveil a successor in the future – and replaced with a range of small electric crossovers and SUVs. Brabus currently builds hotter versions of two of those, the Smart #1 and Smart #3.

The #1 is the smaller model of the pair, and boasts an all-wheel drive powertrain with 428 horsepower on tap. It hits 0-62 mph in an officially claimed 3.9 seconds. The larger Smart #3 Brabus is even faster, with a claimed 0-62 mph time of 3.7 seconds. Those are shockingly quick figures for any Smart car. For comparison, when the Smart brand first launched back in 1997, one of the only cars capable of going that fast was the Ferrari F50. A third electric Brabus Smart model, the #5, will also join the lineup with an equally rapid 3.8 second 0-62 mph time.