smart used to be fairly unique in the automotive space. It made very safe and smart-looking cars for city dwellers, pint-sized cars that stood out from the usual A-segment econoboxes. However, as everyone and their dog embraced the crossover boom, smart was left behind.
Increasingly poor sales forced Mercedes-Benz AG to enter a partnership with Chinese giant Geely, which effectively turned smart into an EV marque with Chinese underpinnings and styling input from the German automaker. Going the battery-electric route is one thing, but venturing into the lucrative crossover segment made smart lose its meticulously crafted identity.
Be that as it may, the peeps at Geely did give smart a shot of well-deserved performance. Brabus is what smart calls the hi-po versions of its current models, with the smart #3 Brabus being the very first of the brand's go-faster electric crossovers.
The big question is, how fast is the #3 in Brabus flavor against high-performance compacts? Enter the Audi RS 3 Sportback and BMW M2 Coupe, which are the smallest Audi Sport and BMW M production models available nowadays.
Motor1 Italia raced all three in their sportiest modes and with launch control engaged, with the smart #3 Brabus easily asserting dominance at the start. Unsurprisingly, it also reached the quarter-mile finish line first.
Photo: Motor1 Italia on YouTube
Francesco Meneghini of Motor1 Italia correctly notes that both the rear-drive Bimmer and the front-biased Audi would have annihilated the smart had it been a longer drag race, for the #3 Brabus is limited to 180 kilometers per hour (112 miles per hour). Both the M2 and RS 3 are limited from the factory at 250 kilometers per hour (155 miles per hour), yet both are capable of higher speeds.
The RS 3 Sportback Performance Edition is good for a manufacturer-estimated 300 kilometers per hour (186 miles per hour), while BMW's most compact of M vehicles can accelerate to a respectable 285 kilometers per hour (177 miles per hour) if optioned with the M Driver's Package. But on the other hand, a drag race is a drag race, and only the quarter-mile ET matters in this context.
11.69 seconds at 179.5 kilometers per hour (111.5 miles per hour) were the best numbers posted by the victor, with the smart shooting to 100 kilometers per hour (62 miles per hour) in a mere 3.52 seconds. Rather than the all-wheel-drive RS 3, the rear-wheel-drive M2 came in second, clocking 12.01 seconds at 191.1 kilometers per hour (118.7 miles per hour) versus 12.26 seconds at 179.0 kilometers per hour (111.2 miles per hour).
The clever quattro system of the Audi, which includes a multiplate clutch torque-vectoring rear differential, helped the RS 3 Sportback crack into the triple-digit speeds that little bit quicker. Francesco says the Audi needed 3.90 seconds to reach 100 clicks, with the M2 posting a best of 4.43 seconds due to a little wheel spin off the starting line.
On that note, would you consider taking the smart #3 Brabus as your new daily over the five-pot RS 3 Sportback or inline-six M2 Coupe?
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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