My Weird Want Of The Day Is This Smart Forfour Brabus

Thanks to it being related to the Renault Twingo, the current Smart Forfour uses the same rear-engine, rear-wheel drive configuration as the smaller Fortwo. The common genes go further than that too, but this wasn’t the case with the last Forfour - that thing was a completely different car to the original Fortwo.

Compared to its dinky sibling, it was a lot more conventional due to the decision to lazily base it on the Mitsubishi Colt. It wasn’t particularly well received at the time, and was only in production for a couple years. It’s a car I care little for, but one version stands out: the Brabus.

Why, you ask? Because a Mitsubishi 4G15 1.5-litre turbo engine under the bonnet gives this particular version of the Forfour a respectable 177bhp to play with. 0-62mph takes 6.9 seconds - not a bad figure at all, and a damn sight quicker than the new Smart Brabus which takes over 10 seconds to manage the same.

Sounds like a tempting prospect, but few buyers were convinced enough to lay down the high £17,195 asking price at the time. As a result, the final figure for Brabus Forfours sold in the UK is a rather hilarious 284.

It’s that rarity that makes these tempting, especially when there examples like this one kicking around for just over £3000. Still not convinced? Apparently a simple remap can bump the power output to around 200bhp.

Tempted?