{"id":2162699,"date":"2026-09-25T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-24T21:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2162699"},"modified":"2026-09-25T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T21:00:00","slug":"smart-5-brabus-long-term-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2162699","title":{"rendered":"Smart #5 Brabus – long-term review"},"content":{"rendered":"
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When you hear the name \u2018Smart\u2019 (and you probably haven\u2019t for some years given the original company\u2019s decline and recent rebirth) what do you naturally think of. Quirky? Clever? For me, it\u2019s simply \u2018small\u2019.<\/p>\n

But just like Minis are no longer miniature and Land Rovers rarely rove across rough ground, Smart is now a big car maker. Welcome to the 5, or #5 as Smart would tediously have it. An enormous (for Smart) electric crossover. And topping the family (and first to come and stay in the Top Gear Garage) it\u2019s the fastest and most expensive version: the unlikely return of Brabus.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The 5 is arguably the most important car of Smart\u2019s second coming, because it\u2019s wading rather late into a hugely competitive area. Everyone from distant parent Mercedes to Hyundai makes a decent electric mid-size SUV. The Chinese make a lot of quite rubbish ones. If this heffalump is indeed the size of car you\u2019re after, you\u2019re spoilt for choice.<\/p>\n

And just to make the 5\u2019s debut in the Top Gear Garage that bit spicier, we\u2019ve been sent the return of that unlikeliest of motoring unions: Smart x Brabus. In short, the fastest, most expensive model of the lot.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s already off to a good start, at least in the eyes of the public. I\u2019ve already had plenty of people come up to me and say how much they like it, which I wasn’t expecting. Since when do grey lumps of EV attract admiring positivity from strangers?<\/p>\n

It does look quite imposing in its matt grey paintwork and contrasting red trim\u2026 but it\u2019s not what I\u2019d call a looker. Why all those extra little LED spotlights? Is it simply a rebadged Merc EQB \u2013 and if not, why is there such an echo of the boxy Benz in the bodywork?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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So if it\u2019s not something to buy for the image, is it a car that sells on the numbers? Perhaps. They are rather alarming. Smart says it\u2019ll do 0-62mph in 3.8 seconds. Now I know EVs have skewed the traffic light grand prix out of all recognition, but this box will give a Ferrari F40 a run for its money. Hope I spot Lewis Hamilton at the next red…<\/p>\n

As ever, there\u2019s more EV numberjumble to decipher. The 100kWh battery delivers about 336 miles of official range, while an 800V electrical architecture \u2013 the rate at which current can pass through the platform \u2013 means it\u2019ll charge at up to 400kW. If I can find a charger that can get close to that.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s just hope they\u2019ve supplied a separate written manual for all the tech inside, I\u2019m already feeling not very smart. At this rate I think I\u2019ve got a better chance of jumping in to the DeLorean time machine and making that work reliably than I have understanding all the features of the Smart\u2019s twin 13in screens\u2026<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When you hear the name \u2018Smart\u2019 (and you probably haven\u2019t for some years given the original company\u2019s decline and recent rebirth) what do you naturally think of. Quirky? Clever? For me, it\u2019s simply \u2018small\u2019. But just like Minis are no longer miniature and Land Rovers rarely rove across rough ground, Smart is now a big […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,237],"class_list":["post-2162699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-topgear-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2162699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2162699"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2162699\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2162699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2162699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2162699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}