Smart #5 review

They all have essentially the same suspension set-up, which frankly is ill-suited to the mad-quick Brabus. So first we'll talk about the more reasonably powerful rear-drive Pro+ and Premium. Their 0-62 time is 6.5 seconds and they accelerate well to motorway speeds, so power's not an issue.

The issue is how it's metered out. The accelerator calibration is just awful. Little happens at the top of the pedal travel, then thrust arrives with a rush. It's hard to keep a steady speed too – it's almost like there's an invisible ghost of adaptive cruise second-guessing your requests. Even when the ADAS is turned off.

So it's exhausting to keep a neat gap to the car in front in urban driving. Out of town the motor just feels unresponsive and disconnected, making it hard to make a clean exit from a corner. That happens whatever drive mode you're in. And brake regeneration is also maddeningly inconsistent.

The suspension and steering are well-matched to family SUV duty. It's easy to swing through bends and sits well in its lane. This is one of the only cars with adjustable steering weight where we’ve left it in its lightest setting.

Best of all, the #5 is softly sprung and makes use of its mass (2,200-2,400kg depending on battery size and number of motors) to glide imperiously over zitty, cracked, potholed tarmac.

Take a B-road or even roundabout more swiftly and you soon find it's underdamped and lolls about. Hence…

You say the Brabus is too fast.

Yes, its suspension isn't altered from what fails to keep the standard car tied down at ambitious speed. And it has just 14 fewer brake horsepowers than a Ferrari Enzo, so you could describe it as ‘sprightly’ if you were prone to bouts of massive understatement.

The #5 Brabus will do 0-62mph in 3.8 seconds and will get to its top speed of 130mph fairly soon after that. It has 524lb ft of torque and on-the-move acceleration shocks you if you elect to extend your big toe fully.

Keep the #5 in Eco or Comfort mode and it actually decouples the front motor to become rear-wheel drive with around half the power. But if you use full-throttle and hit the kickdown the front motor is rudely awoken from its slumber and you’re effectively punched in the forehead by a surge of extra torque and acceleration. You'll try it once to show where your money went, but it’s not very pleasant.

The Brabus has a choice of four fake engine noises. Well, only one replicates an old school internal combustion engine, making the #5 sound vaguely like a flat-six racecar. The other three are typical EV sci-fi sounds. You’ll sample each one for a few minutes before switching off entirely.

How’s the refinement?

Impressive. All Fives are fitted with double glazing, and you feel isolated from the elements inside while being provided with a good view out. Road and wind noise are well suppressed despite the boxy shape, and generally it feels very well engineered and set up.

Has it been designed to go off-road at all?

Well, the twin-motor #5 does have a number of off-road drive modes (Adaptive, Sand, Snow, Mud and Rock), but it’s unlikely you’ll be using those very often. There’s no air suspension so you can’t raise the ride height to add to the 197mm of ground clearance, but it should be able to cope with a grassy campsite or a stony track. And it can tow.

And the ADAS?

In common with too many Chinese cars the ADAS can drive you a bit potty, with endless beeps and bongs admonishing you for doing… well it often isn't clear what. Smart now includes a custom shortcut to set up your preferences for what sub-systems you want on and off. On motorways the adaptive cruise control works pretty smoothly. The adaptive matrix headlamps are great.