Brabus Heats Up New Generation fortwo

With the pending arrival of the very important second-generation smart fortwocity car to America, and the arrival of the new vehicle to other global markets, it’s only appropriate that the brand creates as much hype as possible for what’s still one of the tiniest vehicles on the road. Indeed, the 2008 fortwo is smarter in just about every way possible, offering improved crash protection, better build quality, more luxury features, and for North America, a brand new gasoline engine which opens doors to a larger potential market.

North Americans might not be as familiar with Brabus as they are with BMW tuner Dinan, but the German Mercedes-Benz tuner, best known for breaking production speed records with excessively powerful M-Bs has become the quasi-official tuner for smart vehicles. The brand will be wrapping up two performance versions of the brand new fortwo, dubbed fortwo Brabus and fortwo Brabus Xclusive.

So far, Brabus has only tuned the gasoline version of the new fortwo, and has managed to extract 98 horsepower from the diminutive turbocharged inline-three powerplant. Torque has been boosted to 103 lb-ft.Overall, that doesn’t sound like much, still outmatched by the most basic subcompacts on sale. However, as a two-seat city car with an expected curb weight of 1,700 lbs or so, the tuned motor should have enough get up and go to hit 60 mph in about ten seconds, which would be a first for any factory-built fortwo that, diesel powered, normally hits that mark in about 20 seconds. Top speed wasn’t released, but it doesn’t matter as this car is unlikely to set any records.

A Brabus just wouldn’t be a Brabus without the cosmetic changes to accompany the step-up in performance. If the fortwo looks wider than you recall, that’s because it is, thanks to enlarged fender flares that were needed to enclose aftermarket wheels. And with larger rims come beefier suspension components, which now include new springs and dampers to keep the car shiny side up when punting it about, not to mention that the Brabus fortwo sits 0.6 inches lower than the stock car. Inside, there are a handful of changes, such as a new shift knob, pedals and hand brakehandle – the rest of the stuff is too minute to talk about.

It made sense for Brabus to come up with more than one version of the fortwo. Many buyers of the fortwo don’t necessarily own their car because they’re devout believers in green technology (they’d probably own a Prius for such reasons), but rather because the smart car is easy to park and navigate in the city. The Brabus Xclusive caters to these clients, who might also want more luxury in addition to speed. A bespoke body kit and clear lenses for the headlamps are standard while a choice of monochromatic paint – silver or black – are defining features of the Xclusive. Most all of the switchgear is wrapped in leather like the new three-spoke steering wheel with paddle shifters, and the seats, which are also trimmed in high-grade hides, and are heated, a nice addition for the smart.

As far as the North American market is concerned, with the introduction of the new smart across the United States there is a chance that these tuned, pint-sized city cars will become available, although Brabus has not offered any official information.