Smart

One of the trends that I never understood growing up in the ’80s was cars with a normal hard top that were covered in vinyl or fabric to look like a convertible. I was glad to see the so-called “landau roof” option fade away as the decades passed, but now Smart is bringing it back.

One thing that is synonymous with Smart cars is their tiny size. These cars are miniscule measuring just about 106″ long and seating two people without space for much more than a grocery bag or two.

If you have ever seen a Smart Fortwo, you know there is nothing about the car that screams performance. If anything, the city car screams “I don’t care about anything but fuel efficiency.” Brabus is trying to change that with its specially tuned Fortwo cars.

The first experience you probably had with a Smart car may have been when you almost punted one across the parking lot because you didn’t see it in the packing place before you tried to whip in, or that could just be me.

Smart brought a funky new special edition of the Fortwo to the 2015 Detroit Auto Show. Dubbed the “Fortwo Edition Flashlight”, the model is based on the Fortwo Cabrio and is likely to be one of the last special editions we see of that model, since it’s going out of production soon.

Hammer Virtual Tuning Magazine held an online contest to see which designer could reimagine a modded version of the Smart ForTwo. The winning designer is one we see regularly here, X-Tomi Design, who came up with a very lightweight ForTwo with minimal side panels, a lowered stance, new BBS rims, and a bold white and orange exterior with a matching interior.

SMART is known for building tiny city cars that are supposed to be practical around town, with great economy, high maneuverability, and ease of parking in small spaces. But now SMART is going in another direction, building the world’s largest city car – and practicality be damned.

Smart has revealed the special Brabus Fan Edition of the smart Fortwo that was chosen by fans in  the recent online design contest. Participants were able to mix and match body colors, wheels, and other options to create their favorite designs and the one with the most votes was declared the winner.

Granted, the Smart car in this drag racing clip has had its engine upgraded, but it’s still got to be humiliating for the guy in the Shelby GT500 Mustang who is almost beaten by the diminutive racer alongside him.

Brabus and Smart have teamed up to allow consumers to help design the next Brabus Smart Fortwo for production. Head over to the Smart Fan Edition site and design your favorite Fortwo, choosing the car’s exterior colors, wheel color, seat quilting and seat color.

The Smart is one of the silliest little vehicles on the road. Sure, it’s energy-efficient, but that’s about all its got going for it other than maybe its turning radius and ease of parking. Stock, the Smart coupe comes with a tiny 1-liter 70 horsepower engine.

In 2013, José Luis Álvarez, a Spanish pilot and motoring enthusiast, had the dream of entering a modified Smart Fortwo into the grueling off-road race, the Dakar Rally. He built the car by mating the Fourtwo’s body with a Polaris XP 900 side-by-side ATV’s chassis and a 90hp engine. 

At 95Octane, our goal is to feature cars that we would want to drive, either on the track, off road, or on a daily commute. As it turns out, we don’t think the SMART car falls into any of those categories.