SMART 451 BRABUS (Pros and Cons)

[Durham Smarty]

I've been given the opportunity of buying a Smart 451 Brabus in black on an 08 plate. I'm test driving it on wednesday this coming week, which I'm really looking forward to.

Does anyone on here own the latest Smart Brabus and whats the pros an cons of owning them, please

Many thanks

Phil

[451SAM]

Re: SMART 451 BRABUS (Pros and Cons)

in my opinion, the only thing that's wrong with it is the fact its not sat on my driveway lol. but seriously pros lots of toys heated seats leather air con etc etc, and the fact its a smart and a brabus will mean it will hold value as for cons, erm only two seats struggling on that one really. i'm sure someone will find some :silvertri

[J500ANT]

Re: SMART 451 BRABUS (Pros and Cons)

Poor fuel economy, even worse than the normal 451. Ride is meant to be rock hard. VERY heavy steering without PAS. Less power than a remapped Passion

[Ferrina]

Re: SMART 451 BRABUS (Pros and Cons)

There are pros and cons with a Pure too! Just buy it if you have the money, most people buy Smarts coz they look nice according to a recent poll, not the economy or ecology.

[ilpompino]

Re: SMART 451 BRABUS (Pros and Cons)

Road Tax will be higher too as the wider wheels push up CO2 levels. That's why the passion has narrow wheels.

Nothing to stop you getting the Passion with a Brabus kit and remap though (apart from the cost).

That would give you the lower road tax then

Andy

[MINTY]

Re: SMART 451 BRABUS (Pros and Cons)

The biggest negative for me is the excessive cost compared to what other cars you can get for the same money.

If money isn't really an issue then things like MPG or road tax won't be a problem either.

[MrPoo]

Re: SMART 451 BRABUS (Pros and Cons)

Don't own one but spent a lot of time test driving one.

Pro - In a separate league from all the other 451's, if you don't want to have to tweak it it's much much faster than the rest.
Con - Price! I was quoted nearly £19k by the time they'd priced up all the extras (to buy new) They are very overpriced for what they are but there aren't many of them around so they will at least hold some of their value
Con - Crappy road tax, it's something like 2gm/k over the £35 bracket, which I'm pretty sure Smart could have pulled down if they wanted to.

Now I know what can be done, I'd buy a passion and bring it up to Brabus level.

[H Palmer]

Re: SMART 451 BRABUS (Pros and Cons)

Road Tax will be higher too as the wider wheels push up CO2 levels. That's why the passion has narrow wheels.

Nothing to stop you getting the Passion with a Brabus kit and remap though (apart from the cost).

That would give you the lower road tax then

Andy

Yeah get a pulse or passion and the brabus kit, cheaper than the brabus. lower CO2 plus if you map it and fettle with the engine for more power, the CO2 will still be based on the engine that left the factory.

[babelfish]

Re: SMART 451 BRABUS (Pros and Cons)

Road Tax will be higher too as the wider wheels push up CO2 levels. That's why the passion has narrow wheels.

Nothing to stop you getting the Passion with a Brabus kit and remap though (apart from the cost).

That would give you the lower road tax then

Only if you had the Brabus Kit fitted as a Dealer Fit option after delivery of the car.
I think that if it is fitted as a factory fit option, then it pushes the CO2 over the limit into band c.

[graeme]

Re: SMART 451 BRABUS (Pros and Cons)

Hi all this is my first post on this forum. Pro's and Con's. My other half is currently on her fourth Smart car. She has a new Brabus 42 Cab which we picked up from colindale last month. A tad under £16K with most toys. I paid £14,600 five years ago, again for a Brabus 42 Cab so in 5 years they haven't gone up that much. The older smart has 60K on the clock. Yes they are an awful lot of money for what they are but there is nothing better or that can replace the Smart in my opinion. In terms of spec the two are pretty identical, the newer Brabus has no more toys than the old. except ipod.
The new smart is much smoother than the old. When you hit the accelerator its pretty much instant. The gearbox (5 speed) works far better. Does not go into spasms like the old when say going uphill or exiting a corner. The new car holds the gear and you can really fire it out of a roundabout. She only ever drives the car in auto mode so I'm not talking about using the paddle shift to hold the gear. However the paddle shift is quite fun on the new car as it blips the throttle on the down change ala Ferrari F1 box.
The ride is fairly stiff but not unpleasant, but it does run 17" wheels with very low profile tyres. The old ran 16" with slightly bigger profile and over the years we have bent enough of those rims on potholes. I hate to think how many rims we might get through on the new car. Now Kerry does not hang around and her old car has been chipped. The new Smart flats out at 98mph on the road angel. But there are two major problems. In the new car you get horrendous wind noise that starts at anything over 80mph coming from the front of the roof. The bigger issue is that the car becomes quite unstable. It feels like someone has two big fingers on the front wheels shaking the car from side to side. The back end is firmly planted. This problem is not present in the older car. The new car had to go back to colindale last week as she got (and she is one very lucky girl) side swiped on the M25 by an articulated lorry. Thankfully superficial damage, scraped the entire nearside and damage to both wheels. But for the past week she has been back in the old Brabus. Guess what she prefers the old car. Feels lighter and more nimble and there is no instability.
The new car has lost the quirkiness (or character) of the old. Not trying to sound to perdantic and apologies for a long first post here's a few other down sides. No lockable box under the drivers seat. Door pockets half the size. The old fashioned plastic rear load cover worked well. The new has a velcro net behind the seats which means every time I drive the car and have to move the seat back I have to remove all the cr*p that has fallen behind the drivers seat. The fan is too loud even on low speed, you cannot even hear it in the old. Colindale have another Brabus 42 Cab as a demo which Kerry will borrow this week to see if it is any more stable just in case her car has a problem.
The end result of all this will be me selling the new car and buying an older version with a lot less mileage. The next headache will be finding someone that can fit the new style engine and gearbox into the older chassis. That would be the perfect mix.
p.s. the old smart manages around 50mpg, the new smart manages 36mpg. not impressed. She has done 3200 miles n 5 weeks so the engine has loosened up a little

[27lennie.]

Re: SMART 451 BRABUS (Pros and Cons)

Good report for someone thinking of buying the 451 brab cab, seems a lot of doss for a small gain? I'll stick too my 450 remaped passion.

[Big Performance]

Re: SMART 451 BRABUS (Pros and Cons)

I had another customer with same handling problem.
It is very easy to solve!!

[J500ANT]

Re: SMART 451 BRABUS (Pros and Cons)

I had another customer with same handling problem.
It is very easy to solve!!

Care to share?

[10:45PM]

Re: SMART 451 BRABUS (Pros and Cons)

tracking ? tyre pressures?

[madDan]

Re: SMART 451 BRABUS (Pros and Cons)

At these levels of tax the arguements are somewhat hollow.

So what if it's over the £35 band, if you can afford a possible £19k car are you really going to struggle to find an extra £80? And most smart drivers are no the most economical from what I have witnessed - foot glued to the floor mode engaged!

What is the price of upgrading from a set of steels to some nice alloys?