Smart Forfour Brabus

[amar7274]

I am looking to purchase a Smart Brabus Forfour and was wondering is there anything that I need to look out for on these cars. Any common problems or faults?
Secondly is it possible to remap these cars? If yes who do you recommend.

Thanks for your advice.

[H Palmer]

Re: Smart Forfour Brabus

I think Big Performance (think thats right) can remap a Brabus to around 207bhp with other tweaks. Checkout forfourowner.com for more tech info on the Brabus.

Happy hunting.

[Fudge]

Re: Smart Forfour Brabus

Look For:

Service History
The 7500 mile Oil Change History It Needs One!
Square Wheels
Get An 06 on it Has 4 Years Warranty
Alarm Issues
2nd and Reverse Gearbox Crunching
Square wheels
7500 mile oil change history
and finaly
square wheels

[H Palmer]

Re: Smart Forfour Brabus

Look For:

Service History
The 7500 mile Oil Change History It Needs One!
Square Wheels
Get An 06 on it Has 4 Years Warranty
Alarm Issues
2nd and Reverse Gearbox Crunching
Square wheels
7500 mile oil change history
and finaly
square wheels

Ah yes the wonderful soft alloys forgot about that one. A note on the 4 year warranty, the first two years servicing has to have been done at the correct intervals to qualify for the next two years. There is a topic on this somewhere either here or on FFO.

[jace]

Re: Smart Forfour Brabus

I'm sure when Zorro sobers up after Christmas he'll be able to help.

JC

[J500ANT]

Re: Smart Forfour Brabus

its 6500mile oil change.

Listen for steering rack clonks, suspension noise, 1st gear crunching, 5th gear crunching, piston slap, cambelt change at 62,000miles, leaky shock absorbers.

[ZorroReturns]

Re: Smart Forfour Brabus

Some very good advice above, but service history has to be case iron when buying a second hand Brabus forfour. There are many out there which have not been serviced correctly, usually missing the 10,000km (6,250mile) Intermediate Oil change. If the seller cannot prove this has been done, walk away and find one which has.

The service indicator on the dash to show how many miles till service is a guide. The schedule should be:
6,250miles Oil Change & Filters
12,500miles Service Scope A
18,750miles Oil Change & Filters
25,000miles Service Scope B
31,250miles Oil Change & Filters
37,500miles Service Scope A
43,750miles Oile Change & Filters
50,000miles Service Scope B Including Cam Belt.

Hopefully owners are not tight, and on Scope A + B have added the change of spark plugs. Spark plugs are around £20.00+vat each but there are only 4.

It is also true that is a car was registered after April 2006, It should have the benifet of 4 years warranty opposed to 2years. The extra two years are granted as a rolling extension if the car has been serviced correctly during the previous 2 years term. The extended two year warranty is based on you only using smart centres and not independants.

Common faults. Leaky Shock absorbers are very common (across the while forfour range!) 1st gear can be sticky to select when rolling to standstill, this improves alot with smarts adjustment and should be ignored in the first 10,000miles while it all loosens up. The other failure which has been reported by owners is clutch failure (again across the range, not just the brabus) but this may marry up todo with people having poor gearchange select.

The engine itself is rather bullet proof No horror stories, and if there was I expect it down to poor servicing. I have read of early Brabus forfour to have turbo's replaced due to loss of power but these were reported in germany and not UK. These engine do not mind higher mileages if serviced correctly.

The Alarm issue is where the car like to be parked on 100% level ground. If you park on any form on gradient and car passing or lorry causes the alarm to activate (very very very annoying), there is a smart alteration to this.

Tuning. First off the Brabus Map is excellent. It pulls power all the way to the redline, unlike other cars where power drops off in the last thousand or so rpm. The brabus is only held back by the rev limiter. The best mods on the car can be had very simply, hardware mods. Upgrade exhaust with sports cat, Air filter replacement or Induction kit. Remap is an option but its strange many people who have remapped their brabus forfour sell up within months! Still trying to work that out.

Enclosed is my brabus dyno chart which shows the power all the way to the redline.



Wheels. yep fudge is right. These can go square depending on how you intend on driving the car. And they are not cheap to replace!

Other things to check. Leaky glass roof, the fitment quality of the brabus bodykit, the Drivers seat base foam will wear (look under the seat for foam particals) and the brabus geartop has been known to work itself loose and remain in your hand on a quick gearchange. Usually these are sorted out in the warranty period.

So look for the best service history,there are alot of abused and unloved brabus forfours out there usually as owners didnt know what todo with servicing and only kept the car year or so, the suspect faults said above by all are good things to watch for, research here and on the mitsubishi colt czt forums for modding options.

Any further questions please ask away, I'm sure we can all help. Your task will be finding a good car forsale.

[lil.smartie]

Re: Smart Forfour Brabus

The oil change in particular is a good one to check as even the sales bloke at Smart Exeter didn't realise they should have it done! He was trying to get me to underwrite a Brab Forfour and I questioned him on the history!

Oh and expect half the fuel economy of a tuned CDi eh Dan?!

Kate

[Fudge]

Re: Smart Forfour Brabus

The oil change in particular is a good one to check as even the sales bloke at Smart Exeter didn't realise they should have it done! He was trying to get me to underwrite a Brab Forfour and I questioned him on the history!

Oh and expect half the fuel economy of a tuned CDi eh Dan?!

Kate

When I was sales manager at Smart Cambridge and Norwich my Brab 44 had done about 8K when I read on FS about the 6k oil change and was told to RTFM....:redface: which I did, then got my car in the workshop for some fresh crude..... mind you this was shortly after the launch of the brab 44....

[Big Performance]

Re: Smart Forfour Brabus

2nd post and 8th post are correct

[ZorroReturns]

Re: Smart Forfour Brabus

Oh and expect half the fuel economy of a tuned CDi eh Dan?!

Kate

Maybe, but the brabus forfour is more fun ..... and if i remember, I didnt get smoked by a bmw 318i touring on the autobahn on the way back from hambach:p

getting back to topic........ As we all say service history is very important on buying a used brabus forfour.

Another point worth mentioning is the black brabus are known to show the stone chipping more than the silver cars. Good place to investigate is the brabus chin spoiler.... which can look in some instances like its pebble dashed.

[J500ANT]

Re: Smart Forfour Brabus

Rear wheel arches also get peppered with stones.

[H Palmer]

Re: Smart Forfour Brabus

Also on the colour note, the black colour difference between the trid and panels is more noticeable than the silver.

[amar7274]

Re: Smart Forfour Brabus

Thank you very much for your advice it's most appreciated.
These cars are quite rare and I'm after a silver coloured car.
Let the search begin.

[H Palmer]

Re: Smart Forfour Brabus

Thank you very much for your advice it's most appreciated.
These cars are quite rare and I'm after a silver coloured car.
Let the search begin.

If you go to your local Merc/smart dealership, they should be able to source one for you.

There's always a couple on autotrader and the occasional one on ebay.