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I owned the exact same model (2006) between 2007 - 2012. It was a blast in London. I genuinely still miss it. I had some lunatic early morning drives to work at crazy speeds. Archway (North London) to Canary Wharf in 20 minutes. The only real pains of ownership were curbing the wheels (I was end buy x3 replacement alloys during ownership) and having to drive on edge all the time because the car sat so low I was in constant danger and fear of being taken out by other vehicles changing lane and simply not seeing me. Countless times I avoided accidents by my quick reactions and the car’s awesome handling and breaks. I almost forgot the mention the attention it attracted. People would stare like it was a super car. I got more attention in it than the 911 I replaced it with!
I bought a silver one of these on a 04 plate - it leaked (everywhere), the cables to the headlights rusted through (to the point of falling off mid drive), the wheels rusted, the roof hinges rusted, the stone chips were everywhere… SO needless to say I loved it and spent money sorting it all. It was mental and great fun!!! Dealer support from Mercedes Benz was terrible at best, including charging me over £300 to remove (and not replace) the heat shield on the exhaust, even down to charging £9 for a single bolt!!!! That said, driving it was great, best in manual mode for sure. The roof down made so much noise that driving over 60mph was borderline impossible without earplugs. Stereo was awful.. can’t hear it with windows or roof open. It went round corners like a go kart, I even went around the outside of a Boxster that surprised the driver! Would love to get my hands on a black on and refurb it, maybe even go full crazy with a motorbike engine… that would make an insane car!!!😅😮
I bought a non brabus smart roadster coupe for 1.2k and I absolutely love it. The roof doesn't leak and the turbo flutter is amazing. Unfortunately I don't use it very often so it will be up for sale soon. Gutted to see it go!
It's all about the visceral mechanical experience. I'd say 7 times out of 10 I choose to take my Brabus over my 460bhp Porsche. We do the shopping in the Brabus, weekend tours around the UK with the roof down. Absolutely love every minute of it, manually shifting that slow gearbox is more fun than shifting through an 8 speed Porsche PDK gearbox!!
Had one for a couple of years, had it remapped to just over 125bhp & with more torque lower down the rev range it made a real difference to the driving experience. Wish I’d never sold it now!
Your issue Jay is you are slowing down for the corners, just keep it flat and it will fly round. I loved mine, especially when the tyres were new you could lift the outer front on turn in grip alone, you could out corner anything your were likely to meet in day to day driving on any B road. Took mine to the IoM and it was brilliant, apart from being a bit too low for the ferry ramps. I also loved the 45mpg at a 90mph cruise (in Germany). Just a shame it had to go back as it was on the Mercedes-Benz employee scheme and by the time I wanted another they had stopped making it. So had to have a C230 Sports Coupe instead, and that was crap.
I've owned my roadster finale for 15 years now. and it still looks as good as new. its like part of the family, both my wife and daughter love going out for a drive in it. The only things I've had to do with it is regular servicing , replace the front ball joints and have the wheels refurbished. The only issue i have with it is a slight leak over the door mirrors in heavy rain, which is kept in check by treating the door seals with a regular coating of pure silicone lubricant ( from ebay). but as it only comes out when the sun comes out, its not a problem. a brilliant fun car that makes a fantastic noise. definitely a future classic. Ill only sell it when i can no longer get in it.
I had the basic roadster, and the handling was still brilliant. Also had decent power. Low fuel consumption. I found the seats really comfortable on long trips. Also mine was a hard top version. Leaking can be handled with putting silicon grease on the seals to keep them supple. Door handle can fail if pulled from both sides simultaneously. Ignition lock can collapse in randomly. But for both there are permanent fixes from the support forums. Overall, a fantastic car, I would buy one again in a heartbeat
I have as a daily a Smart Roadster Coupe from 2016 and I made until now over 200 000km în Germany and around Europe. Right now the car is displaying over 377 000km with the original engine and gearbox, is accelerating decent at over 160 and the maintenance is really cheap. I don't know what spares are expensive because a ball-bearing is 30€, a clutch is 400 at over 200 000km, windshield was under 200€ and the new Hella bihalogen front light was 65€. My car is not leaking inside, though I've made some mods for prevention. Engine was stage 1 tuned at 109ps and 155Nm of torque so the dynamic of the car is really good. Interior wise there are plenty of luxury trims to be fitted for 4-500€, there are aftermarket one piece hardtops to be fitted and even a guy named Bayley who is selling an engine tunning kit developed in years of research and development, kit who is able to go with that engine at over 200bhp and over 8000rpm. Obviously this extreme tunning is not cheap but with just over 10 k you'll have more power to weight ratio than a Porsche Cayman. Soft-top can be also changed with a new one for around 400€. ... Yes, this is a fun and eye-catching little car ❤
My wife had a couple smart four twos. These do respond well to a remap and if you replace the the gear box and engine mounts with polly bush the gear change is vastly improved. Old racing buddy of mine was very fortunate to drive a prototype v6 Brabus he was really impressed with that. But it never went into production because he was told it would have cost too much.
I’ve had my Roadster Brabus Coupe for nearly 15 years. Every journey puts a smile on my face. Engine remaps are economical and effective - mine allegedly has circa 120hp and that makes quite a difference. Gearbox is never great but a proper set up by a specialist can make it a lot better. And yes, most of them leak but it’s not too difficult to keep them dry enough. Wheels are actually 17” not 16” and as you say are a bit soft. Pot hole dodging is essential. Love your review, you’ve done a great little car justice!
I had the roadster with the targa hardtop. The rubber seals required regular silicone spray to prevent water ingress and axle grease in the mirror adjuster stopped the rain pouring in. Perhaps not the best car to own in ireland but huge fun. Gearbox was liveable with experience but could be awkward at roundabouts.
I used to see a fair few of these up in Northern Ireland but I haven't seen one in years now, shame but like you say it's probably not the best car for the roads here.
My mum had the city coupe and put me on the insurance one summer when i was back from university. Words can't describe how terrible the gearbox is, the gear changes are so unbelievably slow it was painful to drive
None of the gearboxes were good, the later ones were better but still not what you would call good. That said, you could think around the box but it spoiled the whole thing.
@@Nickoboss29 For many the gearbox itself will still be the issue, as it literally can't second guess what you intend to do. No robotised manual can - they're all awful to drive in certain situations. You can change the actuator to speed up shifts, but it's not necessarily better when you're looking for a smoother shift - people want different changes depending on what they're attempting to do. Robotised manuals particularly struggle with downshifts for overtakes, for example, as the gearbox isn't expecting it. As such, it will always take longer than manually dropping the clutch. You can speed up the change, but you will also end up with jolts which are horrible. Try driving a Ferrari 360 with an automated manual and it's a similar issue. It's a lot quicker than the Smart, but equally unpleasant. You can drive around them, and they're not half as bad as people make out if you do, but they'll never match a manual or dual clutch box for shift quality, comfort or speed.
i love jayemm pointing out the first gen honda insight at 15:20, only a car enthusiast stops mid sentence to point out a car they find interesting lmaoooo
I had the same one a few years back, it's the Xclusive version. Mine had a few nice mods including a polished throttle body, forge dump valve, performance filter and a remap to about 120bhp. It was pretty quick for what it was but hopeless off the line. It also had some proper carbon fibre upgrades in the cabin and best of all the stupidly expensive Raid V6 steering wheel which transformed how the car drove. As you mentioned, parts were getting a bit scarce and servicing was best left to a specialist which was a pain in the arse. I ran it alongside a Eunos Roadster which I still have as ultimately it's a far better car to drive and live with.
I remember back in the day Smart showed the coupe/roadster concept at a press/analyst thing and all was going well - I loved it - then I asked the price. I mean it was as if no one had done marketing basics. The whole Smart problem was always that they believed they were prestige. Prestige and respect are the same - both are earned - simply yelling at people to respect you or yelling you are prestige are not effective strategies. With the right pricing smart could have flown - now it’s barely alive.
At least with the ForTwo they tried selling it at a price where you might as well buy a much roomier vehicle with four doors and room for five with little fuel exconomy penalty. Any time you sell something that looks and drives like a toy, for the price of a "real" car, you're going to fail.
Paris auto show - they had a space setup for people to do laps and at the end I got a brochure and even as an 8 year old I remember asking them why it was so much. The original team at Smart had done good market research but I think the corporate lizards at Daimler Benz (who took it over relatively quickly if I recall) really tried selling it on the fact that it was a mini Merc but cooler... maybe that would have made sense for the regular Smart but for the coupe / roadster, it just didn't make any sense. The whole point of the Smart was to be hyper competitive on price and I remember asking myself who would chose this over a hot hatch or even a used Lotus / Vauxhall VX220?!
Same story for me. I absolutely had to have it. But then - €26k for 82 hp. They significantly lowered the price in 2006 and then it sold like hot cakes. I completely forgot about the car by then. Finally bought a used one in 2008 for €8500 and another one in 2013 for the same price. That one was like new, including interior smell. Today its hard to find great offers on these cars, either used up or prohibitively expensive.
I'm so happy you reviewed a Smart Roadster. I have a Coupe 82hp. Such a fun car. Not the fastest on straight line but great on twisty roads. Great review!
I had a standard roadster. It looked cool but was actually a tiring car to drive. Jay’s summary of the dynamics are accurate. I hated that gearbox! Always felt hesitant. Had a couple of close ones on roundabouts. Nothing then BAM…. Changes were also fairly jerky.
I wonder how hard it'd be to swap a manual in there, maybe upgrade the turbo and give it one of those hks blow off valves and its like a Japanese kei car.
I have a non-brabus 82bhp coupe. It has been remapped to just over 100bhp and is pretty brisk. With the roof down and bars out on a sunny day it is cracking fun down a set of twisties. Yes it is poorly built, doesn’t rev far enough and the gearbox is challenging but it makes me smile every time I drive it (unless it is dark outside as you are so low you literally get blinded by oncoming traffic). My wife and daughter hate it and don’t want to be seen in it. I think as a summer toy or beach car it makes total sense: cheap tax, good on fuel, won’t depreciate, is pretty rare and genuinely fun to drive.
I think I remember a Top Gear episode where they showed a v6 version with basically 2 of these 3 cylinders put together. It was just a concept though but they said it was spectacular.
So, I’m 20 now and started driving at 18. I went straight to a 231 Mazda rx8 (silly I know but I loved that thing more than life itself but it did the usual compression disappearance and that was that), I then now own an mx5 mk2 from 2001, modified with a body kit etc etc and lowered to the floor, it looks nice and it’s fun but no I can’t really go anywhere in it anymore as I’ll destroy it on the uk roads 🤣. The Mx5s engine needed swapping and decided to do a full repaint as that’s my pride and joy and now I’m here driving a smart roadster that a family friend kindly leant me for the mean time…. It’s fantastic and as much as I hate it’s not a manual and the semi auto box is a little slow , it gives me the same “butt dyno“ feeling as the rx8 (bonus points for those turbo noises and that surprisingly great engine sound) and the better fuel mileage of the mx5 (it’s almost double if you drive nicely but the rx8s 12mpg set me up to call anything brilliant if it’s above 20mpg.) I now see myself looking at the mx5 and really questioning if I want to drive it again, I’m gonna miss flying around in a tiny little odd looking smart car at group B speeds (if there’s a nice straight before it of course) it’s really changed how I think about anything else.
First gen Insight! 8-) Brings back happy memories, I borrowed my friend's example back in the day to drive from Portland, OR, to the Johnston Ridge Observatory. 60mpg (US) cruising along I-5 at the speed limit. Never experienced a Smart Roadster.
Fab little cars i absolutely love mine .... it's got character a simple remap will get you a fair bit more, with a lot of work you can get these up to around 200bhp 😮 A future classic in my opinion
I bought my Brabus xclusive as an ex-demonstrator from a Smart dealership with 1600 miles on it. At 3,000 miles the handling and road holding became very dangerous, so I went back to the dealership for it to be investigated. Turns out having less than 1.00mm of tread on the rear Yokohama track biased tyres was the problem. The MD of the dealership had had them fitted when he took it to a track for customers to test drive and they had not been replaced by the original tyres! I put standard tyres on to it and loved every one of the 20,000 miles I put onto it in 2 years.
Interesting car. About a decade ago, I wanted a used convertible car and shortlisted the Smart alongside Toyota MRS, Mazda MX5 and Vauxhall Tigra. Criteria was: ✅ Any wheels driven. F/R/4-WD ✅ Good leg room (I'm 6'3") ✅ Must carry two Ryanair cabin bags. ✅ Hard top. ✅ Two seats. ✅ Affordable to run. ✅ Affordable readily available spares. Tigra 1.8 won on every measure (and I still have it 10 years later) but the Smart was surprisingly fun to drive like a little go-kart. Unfortunately it didn't meet most of my criteria but as a weekend fun car, you can't go wrong with it.
@JayEmmOnCars Having reviewed this, would greatly appreciate your opinion on Daihatsu's example of a 2 seat roadster. The plucky 659cc four cylinder Copen!
I can't believe he sealed the roof! I have a Brabus too. My car is completely dry and I love the roof down. The gearbox shifts are slow, but its become a feature for me.. don't lift off the accelerator during shifts and never use auto mode :)
A lot of the mechanism snapped after four uses of the roof despite the previous owner just spent 1400 quid getting it repaired - very flimsy plastic. So I’d rather eliminate any more potential costs involved basically
I have been getting 57 mpg but service is expensive. Besides the odd pipe a new clutch and now the engine has ceased and can not be refurbished. Been at the garage for 6 months hoping they can get me a replacement engine. Under 100k on the mileage. It is a fun car (when working) and every time I am the car park someone tells me they like the car. Never had that even with a Daimler.
I had an '04 coupe as my daily for around 2 years & loved it. The great beauty of it was what you called out as a negative - the fact that you could actually push it without endangering your licence. It wasn't fast but it was fizzy. The handling was generally good but if you do shove it hard then it gets very messy but that's not what it was about. It was always an 8 tenths sort of csr which would do the dual carriageway / motorway stuff without thrashing mercilessly. You can't really compare them with anything else directly. I always found the auto option to be hopeless too, I used to paddle up the gesrs & let it sort itself out on the way back down. I found that there was a knack to getting nice gear changes but they're never going to be quick. Water ingress was always the issue - especially when it runs into the SAM & eventually completely electrically kills the car! Other than that they're no worse than anything else.
I miss mine sooooo much! I bought one after a few years with a 205GTi and hands down the most comfortable, versatile, fun, and likable car I have ever owned. When people would come up to me and ask me to get back in and they could not believe a 196cm man could comfortably fit inside. I even tuned it up and took it around the Nurburgring. My last update was to fir a lightweight clutch to increase gear change speed. I got 120ps out of mine. The Brabus wheels were way too heavy for the car! I went fir the Spikelines.with PZeros. Paddles were on all versions. Handling was superbly neutral. The induction kit had the turbo chirping nicely. I look at a Mazda to replace it however the cabin space was far less generous.
I was selling smarts from 2003 and when the roadster came out we were hugely excited. It looks fantastic and the turbo flutter is addictive. I shall never forget the launch in the Monaco hills where we were told to keep up with the city-coupe pace car driven by a pro driver - what a drive that was. Unfortunately, back in the UK the pricing was £2,000 too high imo, the seats were almost on the floor making ingress and exit a nightmare for anyone over 25 and customers were unimpressed with the size of the small, 0.7l, engine. The car flunked and soon we had huge quantities sitting in our compound gathering dust. Such a shame.
I love this guy and his reveiws , he is genuinely interested in all cars and finds positive, interesting, and fun things about even everyday cars, as l do l guess. It all takes place on the beautiful English country roads. He speaks clearly, l hear every word, that's a bonus as well. Thank you sir for these excellent reviews.
I had a grey Brabus Xclusive Coupe. It was a lovely car. But it leaked like a sieve, the air con kept de-gassing and I had two alternators fail. That, combined with the lumpy, sluggish gearbox and the tinfoil wheels meant I sold it just before the warranty ran out and bought a 10 year old Peugeot 306. I do occasionally pass one and get slightly nostalgic. But then I remember all that time I spent sitting in the waiting room at the Merc dealers.
Been thinking about roadster or cappucino for next spring. They are way more practical than bikes, won't make me lose my license and i could still go for a trip around some lake with nice twisties when i feel like it.
I like the styling inside and out. Inside it kind of feels like a Veyron with the the window shape. Glad you enjoy driving it despite the low power! Imagine one with an engine and gearbox swap.
Shame he sealed the roof, you can have a new one fitted by Peter for £500. One of the things I love most is the roof can be put up or down at the push of a button, even on the motorway. I've always been happy with the power output, even with just 82hp it always feels nippy, only on the straights does it feel a bit underpowered. But it's not a car for straight line drag racing, it lives for twisty B roads in the sunshine, and that's why I smile every time I drive it.
Another car we will probably never see in the US, wish we had more options. The car looks like a modern rendering of a old Lotus. Great ride along with a fun little car.
Regarding the leaks on these roadsters, the "mirror triangle" is also prone to leaking. There are ways to possibly fix it. Apart from the leaks, this is a car I'd love to own as a fun car. Ever since I first saw these, I loved their design! And as I already drive a car with a plastic interior, it doesn't bother me. If anything, it's easier to clean and maintain.
i had a roadster for 5 years as a daily and covered nearly 50k miles including trips to scotlane wales and a road trip in europe with a stop at the nurburgring where i had a blast. loved the car, great fun and cheap as it's very good on fuel. such a shame they never made a manual or made the roof better. and yeah the handling is emence i changed mine for a mk4 mx5
Sounds like that one needs it's gear oil changed. It became a regular service item for our car and the gearbox never gave us any trouble with that regime. I couldn't stand auto mode and always used the paddles, whereupon the gearbox was entirely predictable. No it isn't a 3 speed with overdrive, though there are two final drives, neither has a ratio >1 and it's not a bolted on epicyclic. It's a bespoke triple shaft Getrag box. Pub fact: technically it has 2 reverse ratios. We took ours from 40 to 120k miles and had several memorable driving holidays in Scotland (from Sussex!). We have very fond memories of our little notch-back, and only sold it when my wife got pregnant. Replaced with a ForTwo which we still have, and our son is now 9 :)
I had one of these and I loved it! You don't really buy one for speed. I bought it as it was a quirky daily driver. Sold it as the SAM unit failed. Some people generally think its a lotus as I got stopped a few times asking questions about it 😁
I’ve always looked past the Roadster, but now I’m absolutely obsessed. I would love a BRABUS Roadster and I would certainly take it to BIG PERFORMANCE (smart tuning company) to have this thing tuned up to 130bhp and a well needed gearbox remap, I believe on the BRABUS 451 they quote 30% faster gear changes? But I’m not fully sure.
Seems like a lot of money for small gains getting maps, turbo, manifold, intake etc. when you could spend just 5 times as much money to finish a turbo busa swap and greatly reduce reliability.
Had a Smart Bluewave(which is basically a brabus) Loved it! So much fun, looked great and you didn’t have to go fast to enjoy it. My dog loved having the roof down as well. Heated seats were great! I can confirm the wheels are very soft, avoid potholes! Gear box I found ok going up the gears but slow coming back down, made a great wee turbo flutter Also they’re so leaky… floor was always wet in the winter, also scraping ice off the inside isn’t fun 😂 They’re also prone to electrical issues, no doubt due to the leaks. Stereo didn’t work so I bought a Bluetooth speaker. Wish I could’ve kept it and just used it in summer, miss it all the time!
I bought an early coupe two years ago. I really like it for sunny weather weekends. It's perfect in Belgium, where road tax is based on age, emissions and engine size (it's also why I had to pay 6k for it because it's reasonably popular here) and with a 120PS map, it's faster than my company car. If I need to do distances, I run it with noise cancelling earphones. And after now two years of driving, I learned to run the gearbox quite smooth if I don't give it more than 7-8/10th's.
I bought a smart roadster when they first came out. First thing that happened 2 weeks after buying was the ignition broke. Smart collected and fixed but tried to charge me. I refused as it was under warrenty. Lucky enough they let me go.
I had the standard one for 7 year. I absolutely loved it. Didn't want to get rid of it but someone is still keeping it going last time checked if it was taxed
An accurate review of this great little sports car. I have one. Power wise while it isn't anything to set the world alight, perhaps this example has a boost problem, either that or with the right gear selected it should pick up pretty quickly. In an appropriate area, it will easily top 100mph, and go on to about 120 on the autobahn. It's power doesn't matter, it's good fun at 50. It has its flaws, but perhaps that's what gives it character. The aspects that made me fall for this car is how it makes you feel driving it, it's so much fun, the seemingly endless grip, the sound it makes, and it's pretty. Gearbox is not great, but then most automated autos of this era are like it - even the Ferrari 360 F1 gear change isn't much better. But you learn to drive around it, and when you do it suddenly makes sense.
Bought my wife a 54 plate back in Dec 2007 exact same spec, gone by Mar 2008 had about just over a months motoring with it, rest of time it was back at dealer trying to plug the many leaks from the roof or fire wall behind the seats. Despite that it was a great little car, just couldn’t be doing with the water sloshing around under the seats
I had one myself, as a second car so I get the attraction to the car Colin. I bought mine new in 2003, one of the earliest ones. I really liked it. It was slow, the gearbox needed a day to decide whether to shift or not (and the lever was the wrong way around), but nevertheless I really liked the go-kart handling and the fuel economy. I had the regular roadster, one without the glass 'bonnet', the one with the hardtop targa roof panels (they didn't leak 😉). You could easily drive with the panels out with the heater on down to around 8 degrees centigrade. It also had the two extra gauges on the dash. Spares and maintenance was always very expensive. I had to go to a (huge) Mercedes dealer for maintenance and the prices were what you'd expect. All in all it was too expensive to buy and to maintain and not that reliable. The first gen engines were known for burned valves, overall failures and other issues and were often replaced with some sort of lenience 'discount' but were also replaced with...motorbike engines. That gave them more go and more noise. Overall it was really good fun and everyone in the family made up excuses to borrow it, because, although unwillingly to admit, they all really liked it. I am 6'5" and fit perfectly fine. Eventually I sold it and regret it often. It was a fun and quirky car and I will always have a soft spot for it. Hang on to this one Colin, you definitely will regret it when you sell it... trust me.
The overseas folks always get the fun pocket rockets like this. We here in the States only know of, and have, the fourtwo. I had no idea this existed. Sounds like a nice ride though.
I owned a Non Brabus roadster, 3 years old. The auto-mated gearbox felt like" the assenger was changing gear". With a delay. And it needed a bit bigger engine. Roof did not leak
I still have my Roadster Convertible, and love it for what it is: The only mid-motor rear-wheel drive Mercedes roadster ever. Yours seems to have problems though - it sounds way to tame, and your early shifting did not do it any favors - It will upshift itself, and really hammer the gears in at perfect revs, just don't do it yourself - you don't need to go into automatic for that. I knew the development manager for the roadster project back then, his best quote was: If I drive over a cigarette bud, I want to feel if it had a filter, or not.
There were two generations of forTwo before the Roadster. The second generation (451) addressed the stability issues that the first generation (450). I live in the US and own a US market 451. The US 451s got a normally aspirated 1L Mitsubishi 3B20 engine and 5-speed automated manual. (I have opened a transmission up and can confirm that it is a real 5-speed.) The transmission controller seems to learn from the driver. Our car shifts at different points after I have been driving it for a day than after my wife has been driving it. I have been intending to import a Roadster and installing a US drivetrain and electronics in it but haven't gotten to it.
A great if not ideosyncratic car. Build quality of a cheap plastic pencil case, Brabus alloys more fragile than a 90 year old's hip, more leaky (even with the hard top) than a flagship phone technology launch and about as spacious as coffin. And a glacially slow auto box. BUT, BUT.... The most fun I have ever had driving a car. Turns like a Tron Light Cycle tanks to nearly no suspension/bodyroll and a centre of gravity that is ridiculously low. Grip for miles. Total grin machine. I only sold mine as I had 2 kids to take to school. I bought it as the ultime school run machine when I had one. Mine was the last in the series Brabus Finale Coupe. Still miss it every day.
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I owned the exact same model (2006) between 2007 - 2012. It was a blast in London. I genuinely still miss it. I had some lunatic early morning drives to work at crazy speeds. Archway (North London) to Canary Wharf in 20 minutes. The only real pains of ownership were curbing the wheels (I was end buy x3 replacement alloys during ownership) and having to drive on edge all the time because the car sat so low I was in constant danger and fear of being taken out by other vehicles changing lane and simply not seeing me. Countless times I avoided accidents by my quick reactions and the car’s awesome handling and breaks. I almost forgot the mention the attention it attracted. People would stare like it was a super car. I got more attention in it than the 911 I replaced it with!
I bought a silver one of these on a 04 plate - it leaked (everywhere), the cables to the headlights rusted through (to the point of falling off mid drive), the wheels rusted, the roof hinges rusted, the stone chips were everywhere…
SO needless to say I loved it and spent money sorting it all. It was mental and great fun!!! Dealer support from Mercedes Benz was terrible at best, including charging me over £300 to remove (and not replace) the heat shield on the exhaust, even down to charging £9 for a single bolt!!!!
That said, driving it was great, best in manual mode for sure. The roof down made so much noise that driving over 60mph was borderline impossible without earplugs. Stereo was awful.. can’t hear it with windows or roof open. It went round corners like a go kart, I even went around the outside of a Boxster that surprised the driver!
Would love to get my hands on a black on and refurb it, maybe even go full crazy with a motorbike engine… that would make an insane car!!!😅😮
As an American who follows car stuff like religion...I am amazed I did not know this car existed.....and now I want to get one and swap it to manual.
It was great meeting and sharing my car with you James, thanks for making it happen!
Colin
Great car chap, love the look of these.
Thanks for letting us see it!
Always loved these. Great choice of motor mate.
A belated Happy Birthday Colin.(Just found this clip in my 'suggested ') Pretty nice car.
I bought a non brabus smart roadster coupe for 1.2k and I absolutely love it. The roof doesn't leak and the turbo flutter is amazing. Unfortunately I don't use it very often so it will be up for sale soon. Gutted to see it go!
Wish I could buy one across the pond in the states. Good luck with the sale!
Yest the turbo noise is so much fun 😍
One grand what a steal😲
Yes that turbo flutter!
Use it more often and the roof would probably leak!
It's all about the visceral mechanical experience. I'd say 7 times out of 10 I choose to take my Brabus over my 460bhp Porsche. We do the shopping in the Brabus, weekend tours around the UK with the roof down. Absolutely love every minute of it, manually shifting that slow gearbox is more fun than shifting through an 8 speed Porsche PDK gearbox!!
Brilliant!!
Had one for a couple of years, had it remapped to just over 125bhp & with more torque lower down the rev range it made a real difference to the driving experience. Wish I’d never sold it now!
Your issue Jay is you are slowing down for the corners, just keep it flat and it will fly round. I loved mine, especially when the tyres were new you could lift the outer front on turn in grip alone, you could out corner anything your were likely to meet in day to day driving on any B road. Took mine to the IoM and it was brilliant, apart from being a bit too low for the ferry ramps. I also loved the 45mpg at a 90mph cruise (in Germany). Just a shame it had to go back as it was on the Mercedes-Benz employee scheme and by the time I wanted another they had stopped making it. So had to have a C230 Sports Coupe instead, and that was crap.
Absolutely!!!!!
What did you dislike about the C230? I was thinking about getting one of those, I'd love to hear your opinion since you had one.
Danke!
I've owned my roadster finale for 15 years now. and it still looks as good as new.
its like part of the family, both my wife and daughter love going out for a drive in it.
The only things I've had to do with it is regular servicing , replace the front ball joints and have the wheels refurbished.
The only issue i have with it is a slight leak over the door mirrors in heavy rain, which is kept in check by treating the door seals with a regular coating of pure silicone lubricant ( from ebay).
but as it only comes out when the sun comes out, its not a problem.
a brilliant fun car that makes a fantastic noise.
definitely a future classic.
Ill only sell it when i can no longer get in it.
sounds like you will get LSD hinges at some point then?
I had the basic roadster, and the handling was still brilliant. Also had decent power. Low fuel consumption. I found the seats really comfortable on long trips. Also mine was a hard top version.
Leaking can be handled with putting silicon grease on the seals to keep them supple. Door handle can fail if pulled from both sides simultaneously. Ignition lock can collapse in randomly. But for both there are permanent fixes from the support forums. Overall, a fantastic car, I would buy one again in a heartbeat
I have as a daily a Smart Roadster Coupe from 2016 and I made until now over 200 000km în Germany and around Europe. Right now the car is displaying over 377 000km with the original engine and gearbox, is accelerating decent at over 160 and the maintenance is really cheap. I don't know what spares are expensive because a ball-bearing is 30€, a clutch is 400 at over 200 000km, windshield was under 200€ and the new Hella bihalogen front light was 65€.
My car is not leaking inside, though I've made some mods for prevention.
Engine was stage 1 tuned at 109ps and 155Nm of torque so the dynamic of the car is really good.
Interior wise there are plenty of luxury trims to be fitted for 4-500€, there are aftermarket one piece hardtops to be fitted and even a guy named Bayley who is selling an engine tunning kit developed in years of research and development, kit who is able to go with that engine at over 200bhp and over 8000rpm. Obviously this extreme tunning is not cheap but with just over 10 k you'll have more power to weight ratio than a Porsche Cayman.
Soft-top can be also changed with a new one for around 400€.
...
Yes, this is a fun and eye-catching little car ❤
So how can you prevent the water leaks?
If I acted on every Jayemm video when I said, oh yeh I really wanted one of them, I’d be homeless, and bankrupt, and most likely long divorced
And happy! 😂
My wife had a couple smart four twos.
These do respond well to a remap and if you replace the the gear box and engine mounts with polly bush the gear change is vastly improved.
Old racing buddy of mine was very fortunate to drive a prototype v6 Brabus he was really impressed with that.
But it never went into production because he was told it would have cost too much.
I’ve had my Roadster Brabus Coupe for nearly 15 years. Every journey puts a smile on my face. Engine remaps are economical and effective - mine allegedly has circa 120hp and that makes quite a difference. Gearbox is never great but a proper set up by a specialist can make it a lot better. And yes, most of them leak but it’s not too difficult to keep them dry enough. Wheels are actually 17” not 16” and as you say are a bit soft. Pot hole dodging is essential. Love your review, you’ve done a great little car justice!
I had the roadster with the targa hardtop. The rubber seals required regular silicone spray to prevent water ingress and axle grease in the mirror adjuster stopped the rain pouring in. Perhaps not the best car to own in ireland but huge fun. Gearbox was liveable with experience but could be awkward at roundabouts.
I used to see a fair few of these up in Northern Ireland but I haven't seen one in years now, shame but like you say it's probably not the best car for the roads here.
I had one of these. Brilliant. Flawed, but brilliant!
This is what sports cars (all cars?) should be. Small, light, fun.
My mum had the city coupe and put me on the insurance one summer when i was back from university. Words can't describe how terrible the gearbox is, the gear changes are so unbelievably slow it was painful to drive
It's improved a fair bit in the Roadster. Have both, and they're night and day really, 450 is comedy bad.
None of the gearboxes were good, the later ones were better but still not what you would call good.
That said, you could think around the box but it spoiled the whole thing.
The problem isn't the gearbox itself but the actuator
@@Nickoboss29 For many the gearbox itself will still be the issue, as it literally can't second guess what you intend to do. No robotised manual can - they're all awful to drive in certain situations. You can change the actuator to speed up shifts, but it's not necessarily better when you're looking for a smoother shift - people want different changes depending on what they're attempting to do. Robotised manuals particularly struggle with downshifts for overtakes, for example, as the gearbox isn't expecting it. As such, it will always take longer than manually dropping the clutch. You can speed up the change, but you will also end up with jolts which are horrible. Try driving a Ferrari 360 with an automated manual and it's a similar issue. It's a lot quicker than the Smart, but equally unpleasant. You can drive around them, and they're not half as bad as people make out if you do, but they'll never match a manual or dual clutch box for shift quality, comfort or speed.
Used to treat mine as a preselector......then little issue 🙂 Not great, but ok..........@@philthewriter
they always made sense ,,, just not to everyone.
But look it ,,, what a looker , they look 20k more expensive than they are .
i love jayemm pointing out the first gen honda insight at 15:20, only a car enthusiast stops mid sentence to point out a car they find interesting lmaoooo
I had the same one a few years back, it's the Xclusive version. Mine had a few nice mods including a polished throttle body, forge dump valve, performance filter and a remap to about 120bhp. It was pretty quick for what it was but hopeless off the line. It also had some proper carbon fibre upgrades in the cabin and best of all the stupidly expensive Raid V6 steering wheel which transformed how the car drove. As you mentioned, parts were getting a bit scarce and servicing was best left to a specialist which was a pain in the arse. I ran it alongside a Eunos Roadster which I still have as ultimately it's a far better car to drive and live with.
Loved mine, loved the 50mpg , nippy performance, great handling, amazing looks, hated the leaks !
I remember back in the day Smart showed the coupe/roadster concept at a press/analyst thing and all was going well - I loved it - then I asked the price. I mean it was as if no one had done marketing basics. The whole Smart problem was always that they believed they were prestige. Prestige and respect are the same - both are earned - simply yelling at people to respect you or yelling you are prestige are not effective strategies. With the right pricing smart could have flown - now it’s barely alive.
I agree, I recall it was £16k. That was a lot of money back then; Ford ST money
At least with the ForTwo they tried selling it at a price where you might as well buy a much roomier vehicle with four doors and room for five with little fuel exconomy penalty. Any time you sell something that looks and drives like a toy, for the price of a "real" car, you're going to fail.
Probably because they're a part of mercedes, can't ruin the rep of the 3 pointed star by selling cheap crap .....oh, wait ...
Paris auto show - they had a space setup for people to do laps and at the end I got a brochure and even as an 8 year old I remember asking them why it was so much. The original team at Smart had done good market research but I think the corporate lizards at Daimler Benz (who took it over relatively quickly if I recall) really tried selling it on the fact that it was a mini Merc but cooler... maybe that would have made sense for the regular Smart but for the coupe / roadster, it just didn't make any sense. The whole point of the Smart was to be hyper competitive on price and I remember asking myself who would chose this over a hot hatch or even a used Lotus / Vauxhall VX220?!
Same story for me. I absolutely had to have it. But then - €26k for 82 hp. They significantly lowered the price in 2006 and then it sold like hot cakes. I completely forgot about the car by then. Finally bought a used one in 2008 for €8500 and another one in 2013 for the same price. That one was like new, including interior smell. Today its hard to find great offers on these cars, either used up or prohibitively expensive.
I bought a brabus roadster new when they first came out. Absolutely loved it. Regret selling whenever I see one.
I'm so happy you reviewed a Smart Roadster. I have a Coupe 82hp. Such a fun car. Not the fastest on straight line but great on twisty roads. Great review!
I had a standard roadster. It looked cool but was actually a tiring car to drive.
Jay’s summary of the dynamics are accurate.
I hated that gearbox! Always felt hesitant. Had a couple of close ones on roundabouts. Nothing then BAM….
Changes were also fairly jerky.
I wonder how hard it'd be to swap a manual in there, maybe upgrade the turbo and give it one of those hks blow off valves and its like a Japanese kei car.
I use to drive/commute 500 miles in mine....and at speed. 6' 4"....it was one of the most comfortable cars I have had.....I'm now 67....@@PartikleVT
This and the A2, only cars I would swap my 88 mini for.
I have a non-brabus 82bhp coupe. It has been remapped to just over 100bhp and is pretty brisk. With the roof down and bars out on a sunny day it is cracking fun down a set of twisties. Yes it is poorly built, doesn’t rev far enough and the gearbox is challenging but it makes me smile every time I drive it (unless it is dark outside as you are so low you literally get blinded by oncoming traffic). My wife and daughter hate it and don’t want to be seen in it. I think as a summer toy or beach car it makes total sense: cheap tax, good on fuel, won’t depreciate, is pretty rare and genuinely fun to drive.
"Cracking fun" love the British lingo 😊
I think I remember a Top Gear episode where they showed a v6 version with basically 2 of these 3 cylinders put together.
It was just a concept though but they said it was spectacular.
I saw one of these in my local town and thought it was perfect for Jay to review.
Looks like my wish came true!
I had one of these some years ago.. heaps of fun, especially on damp roads. It always made me smile on the twisties
Huh, that’s surprising to hear
I’d have assumed it would be a bit sketchy in the wet with that short wheelbase
Saw one parked in Tokyo at the entrance of a hairdresser. It was a sporty looking car.
One of the coolest cars to appear in the early 2000s.
Saw one a while ago, and it is sooo low. Mind you, I am 193cm tall (6`3)
I do so enjoy your personality. Always makes me smile with your turns of phrase and wit! Thank you, James!
So, I’m 20 now and started driving at 18. I went straight to a 231 Mazda rx8 (silly I know but I loved that thing more than life itself but it did the usual compression disappearance and that was that), I then now own an mx5 mk2 from 2001, modified with a body kit etc etc and lowered to the floor, it looks nice and it’s fun but no I can’t really go anywhere in it anymore as I’ll destroy it on the uk roads 🤣. The Mx5s engine needed swapping and decided to do a full repaint as that’s my pride and joy and now I’m here driving a smart roadster that a family friend kindly leant me for the mean time…. It’s fantastic and as much as I hate it’s not a manual and the semi auto box is a little slow , it gives me the same “butt dyno“ feeling as the rx8 (bonus points for those turbo noises and that surprisingly great engine sound) and the better fuel mileage of the mx5 (it’s almost double if you drive nicely but the rx8s 12mpg set me up to call anything brilliant if it’s above 20mpg.)
I now see myself looking at the mx5 and really questioning if I want to drive it again, I’m gonna miss flying around in a tiny little odd looking smart car at group B speeds (if there’s a nice straight before it of course) it’s really changed how I think about anything else.
First gen Insight! 8-) Brings back happy memories, I borrowed my friend's example back in the day to drive from Portland, OR, to the Johnston Ridge Observatory. 60mpg (US) cruising along I-5 at the speed limit. Never experienced a Smart Roadster.
Fab little cars i absolutely love mine .... it's got character a simple remap will get you a fair bit more, with a lot of work you can get these up to around 200bhp 😮
A future classic in my opinion
I always loved the look of the Smart Roadster. One of the best looking budget cars ever.
I bought my Brabus xclusive as an ex-demonstrator from a Smart dealership with 1600 miles on it. At 3,000 miles the handling and road holding became very dangerous, so I went back to the dealership for it to be investigated. Turns out having less than 1.00mm of tread on the rear Yokohama track biased tyres was the problem. The MD of the dealership had had them fitted when he took it to a track for customers to test drive and they had not been replaced by the original tyres! I put standard tyres on to it and loved every one of the 20,000 miles I put onto it in 2 years.
Dont forget, issues with ABS/Traction control, design flaw with leaking into SAM unit led to costly fixes to company.
My favourite daily car. Just fabulous, a little giant killer ................Coupe version of course, gorgeous.
I’ve had 3 (non Brabus) they are absolutely brilliant
I owned my Roadster for eight years and that’s the longest I’ve ever owned a car. Guess that speaks for itself.🇸🇪
I loved the car when it arrived at the dealer,......but it was waaaay to expensive back in the days. I still love it 😁
I bought my roadster and im very pleased with it! Its insanly good on twisty forrest roads. Also nice to pick up girls in, haha
I think this is the sexiest version of all the SMART platform. 👍
Interesting car. About a decade ago, I wanted a used convertible car and shortlisted the Smart alongside Toyota MRS, Mazda MX5 and Vauxhall Tigra.
Criteria was:
✅ Any wheels driven. F/R/4-WD
✅ Good leg room (I'm 6'3")
✅ Must carry two Ryanair cabin bags.
✅ Hard top.
✅ Two seats.
✅ Affordable to run.
✅ Affordable readily available spares.
Tigra 1.8 won on every measure (and I still have it 10 years later) but the Smart was surprisingly fun to drive like a little go-kart. Unfortunately it didn't meet most of my criteria but as a weekend fun car, you can't go wrong with it.
Always loved this Brabus version. Put in a Hayabusa engine with the gearbox and it would be perfect
@JayEmmOnCars Having reviewed this, would greatly appreciate your opinion on Daihatsu's example of a 2 seat roadster. The plucky 659cc four cylinder Copen!
I gotta say, this car is genuinely a good looking car. I don't remember them being this handsome.
I’ve always loved this thing! Firstly the roadster was the best model but the brabus version was so cool but expensive.
Another car sweet quirky car USA missed out on. 😔
I can't believe he sealed the roof! I have a Brabus too. My car is completely dry and I love the roof down. The gearbox shifts are slow, but its become a feature for me.. don't lift off the accelerator during shifts and never use auto mode :)
A lot of the mechanism snapped after four uses of the roof despite the previous owner just spent 1400 quid getting it repaired - very flimsy plastic. So I’d rather eliminate any more potential costs involved basically
I have been getting 57 mpg but service is expensive. Besides the odd pipe a new clutch and now the engine has ceased and can not be refurbished. Been at the garage for 6 months hoping they can get me a replacement engine. Under 100k on the mileage. It is a fun car (when working) and every time I am the car park someone tells me they like the car. Never had that even with a Daimler.
Once went in my neighbours smart fourtwo brabus. Absolutely bonkers , felt every bump and bounce but memorable.
I love small cars that have allot of road communication
Colin has the start of a great car collection
I'm 6"2 and I didn't have any issues driving a coupé, however the steering wheel is anoying, the same goes for the gearbox
I had an '04 coupe as my daily for around 2 years & loved it. The great beauty of it was what you called out as a negative - the fact that you could actually push it without endangering your licence. It wasn't fast but it was fizzy. The handling was generally good but if you do shove it hard then it gets very messy but that's not what it was about. It was always an 8 tenths sort of csr which would do the dual carriageway / motorway stuff without thrashing mercilessly. You can't really compare them with anything else directly. I always found the auto option to be hopeless too, I used to paddle up the gesrs & let it sort itself out on the way back down. I found that there was a knack to getting nice gear changes but they're never going to be quick. Water ingress was always the issue - especially when it runs into the SAM & eventually completely electrically kills the car! Other than that they're no worse than anything else.
I miss mine sooooo much! I bought one after a few years with a 205GTi and hands down the most comfortable, versatile, fun, and likable car I have ever owned. When people would come up to me and ask me to get back in and they could not believe a 196cm man could comfortably fit inside. I even tuned it up and took it around the Nurburgring. My last update was to fir a lightweight clutch to increase gear change speed. I got 120ps out of mine. The Brabus wheels were way too heavy for the car! I went fir the Spikelines.with PZeros. Paddles were on all versions. Handling was superbly neutral. The induction kit had the turbo chirping nicely. I look at a Mazda to replace it however the cabin space was far less generous.
I purchased my roadster coupe in September and LOVE it!
The coupe is a great design, styling wise. If it weren't for the gearbox, I would have bought one. Brabus made a one-off bi-turbo V6.
Brabus actually made several V6 cars - it wasn't a one-off.
I was selling smarts from 2003 and when the roadster came out we were hugely excited. It looks fantastic and the turbo flutter is addictive. I shall never forget the launch in the Monaco hills where we were told to keep up with the city-coupe pace car driven by a pro driver - what a drive that was. Unfortunately, back in the UK the pricing was £2,000 too high imo, the seats were almost on the floor making ingress and exit a nightmare for anyone over 25 and customers were unimpressed with the size of the small, 0.7l, engine. The car flunked and soon we had huge quantities sitting in our compound gathering dust. Such a shame.
I've always loved the smart roadster even the stock one but onelce I learned about the Brabus it seemed like the best thing ever
The front facia has a Tvr Tuscan look to it
I love this guy and his reveiws , he is genuinely interested in all cars and finds positive, interesting, and fun things about even everyday cars, as l do l guess.
It all takes place on the beautiful English country roads.
He speaks clearly, l hear every word, that's a bonus as well.
Thank you sir for these excellent reviews.
Looks wise, this has aged very well. Far better than the standard one.
I had a grey Brabus Xclusive Coupe. It was a lovely car. But it leaked like a sieve, the air con kept de-gassing and I had two alternators fail. That, combined with the lumpy, sluggish gearbox and the tinfoil wheels meant I sold it just before the warranty ran out and bought a 10 year old Peugeot 306. I do occasionally pass one and get slightly nostalgic. But then I remember all that time I spent sitting in the waiting room at the Merc dealers.
Top review. Always loved these things. Respect to the owner for plunging in.
Been thinking about roadster or cappucino for next spring. They are way more practical than bikes, won't make me lose my license and i could still go for a trip around some lake with nice twisties when i feel like it.
I talked myself out of buying a Brabus Roadster a couple of weeks ago.. Still intend to own one, sometime in the future.. 🏁
I like the styling inside and out. Inside it kind of feels like a Veyron with the the window shape. Glad you enjoy driving it despite the low power! Imagine one with an engine and gearbox swap.
Shame he sealed the roof, you can have a new one fitted by Peter for £500. One of the things I love most is the roof can be put up or down at the push of a button, even on the motorway. I've always been happy with the power output, even with just 82hp it always feels nippy, only on the straights does it feel a bit underpowered. But it's not a car for straight line drag racing, it lives for twisty B roads in the sunshine, and that's why I smile every time I drive it.
Another car we will probably never see in the US, wish we had more options. The car looks like a modern rendering of a old Lotus.
Great ride along with a fun little car.
Regarding the leaks on these roadsters, the "mirror triangle" is also prone to leaking. There are ways to possibly fix it.
Apart from the leaks, this is a car I'd love to own as a fun car. Ever since I first saw these, I loved their design!
And as I already drive a car with a plastic interior, it doesn't bother me. If anything, it's easier to clean and maintain.
i had a roadster for 5 years as a daily and covered nearly 50k miles including trips to scotlane wales and a road trip in europe with a stop at the nurburgring where i had a blast. loved the car, great fun and cheap as it's very good on fuel. such a shame they never made a manual or made the roof better. and yeah the handling is emence i changed mine for a mk4 mx5
Sounds like that one needs it's gear oil changed. It became a regular service item for our car and the gearbox never gave us any trouble with that regime.
I couldn't stand auto mode and always used the paddles, whereupon the gearbox was entirely predictable.
No it isn't a 3 speed with overdrive, though there are two final drives, neither has a ratio >1 and it's not a bolted on epicyclic. It's a bespoke triple shaft Getrag box. Pub fact: technically it has 2 reverse ratios.
We took ours from 40 to 120k miles and had several memorable driving holidays in Scotland (from Sussex!). We have very fond memories of our little notch-back, and only sold it when my wife got pregnant.
Replaced with a ForTwo which we still have, and our son is now 9 :)
I had one of these and I loved it! You don't really buy one for speed. I bought it as it was a quirky daily driver. Sold it as the SAM unit failed. Some people generally think its a lotus as I got stopped a few times asking questions about it 😁
Owned one for a short while - best handling car I ever drove but with no power - which actually made it more fun! 60mpg was more enjoyable than BHP
My sportka was a bit like this with a 1600cc. Was a smashing little car, real good handling.
I've had 4 of those nice cars
with those tyres and the layout and the weight of it i bet its interesting in the rain., i remember finding the smart a bit if a problem in snow
In the rain it’s very capable (in the twists). Just need to be careful of aquaplaning at high speed
I’ve always looked past the Roadster, but now I’m absolutely obsessed. I would love a BRABUS Roadster and I would certainly take it to BIG PERFORMANCE (smart tuning company) to have this thing tuned up to 130bhp and a well needed gearbox remap, I believe on the BRABUS 451 they quote 30% faster gear changes? But I’m not fully sure.
Seems like a lot of money for small gains getting maps, turbo, manifold, intake etc. when you could spend just 5 times as much money to finish a turbo busa swap and greatly reduce reliability.
I loved the look of the roadster convertible when it came out and still love it today, shame it's no longer made
Best car I ever owned!!!! I had a pristine 2007 Finale Edition in dark blue. So much fun and looked fantastic!!!! I miss it!!!
You in england?
@@J.siciliano_ yes indeed!
Had a Smart Bluewave(which is basically a brabus)
Loved it! So much fun, looked great and you didn’t have to go fast to enjoy it. My dog loved having the roof down as well.
Heated seats were great!
I can confirm the wheels are very soft, avoid potholes!
Gear box I found ok going up the gears but slow coming back down, made a great wee turbo flutter
Also they’re so leaky… floor was always wet in the winter, also scraping ice off the inside isn’t fun 😂
They’re also prone to electrical issues, no doubt due to the leaks.
Stereo didn’t work so I bought a Bluetooth speaker.
Wish I could’ve kept it and just used it in summer, miss it all the time!
Great review! Is there some manual gearbox that would be easy swap for those?
No, apparently not.
was my first car blew the turbo doing speed limit on the motorway good description he knows what his talking about
I bought an early coupe two years ago. I really like it for sunny weather weekends. It's perfect in Belgium, where road tax is based on age, emissions and engine size (it's also why I had to pay 6k for it because it's reasonably popular here) and with a 120PS map, it's faster than my company car.
If I need to do distances, I run it with noise cancelling earphones. And after now two years of driving, I learned to run the gearbox quite smooth if I don't give it more than 7-8/10th's.
I bought a smart roadster when they first came out. First thing that happened 2 weeks after buying was the ignition broke. Smart collected and fixed but tried to charge me. I refused as it was under warrenty. Lucky enough they let me go.
I had the standard one for 7 year. I absolutely loved it. Didn't want to get rid of it but someone is still keeping it going last time checked if it was taxed
A manual swap would make one of these into a great car, not just average. It looks amazing to this day, especially this version.
An accurate review of this great little sports car. I have one. Power wise while it isn't anything to set the world alight, perhaps this example has a boost problem, either that or with the right gear selected it should pick up pretty quickly. In an appropriate area, it will easily top 100mph, and go on to about 120 on the autobahn. It's power doesn't matter, it's good fun at 50. It has its flaws, but perhaps that's what gives it character. The aspects that made me fall for this car is how it makes you feel driving it, it's so much fun, the seemingly endless grip, the sound it makes, and it's pretty. Gearbox is not great, but then most automated autos of this era are like it - even the Ferrari 360 F1 gear change isn't much better. But you learn to drive around it, and when you do it suddenly makes sense.
This is still my dream car. I just don't think there is a single Brabus version here in Iceland.
Bought my wife a 54 plate back in Dec 2007 exact same spec, gone by Mar 2008 had about just over a months motoring with it, rest of time it was back at dealer trying to plug the many leaks from the roof or fire wall behind the seats. Despite that it was a great little car, just couldn’t be doing with the water sloshing around under the seats
I had one myself, as a second car so I get the attraction to the car Colin. I bought mine new in 2003, one of the earliest ones. I really liked it. It was slow, the gearbox needed a day to decide whether to shift or not (and the lever was the wrong way around), but nevertheless I really liked the go-kart handling and the fuel economy. I had the regular roadster, one without the glass 'bonnet', the one with the hardtop targa roof panels (they didn't leak 😉). You could easily drive with the panels out with the heater on down to around 8 degrees centigrade. It also had the two extra gauges on the dash. Spares and maintenance was always very expensive. I had to go to a (huge) Mercedes dealer for maintenance and the prices were what you'd expect. All in all it was too expensive to buy and to maintain and not that reliable. The first gen engines were known for burned valves, overall failures and other issues and were often replaced with some sort of lenience 'discount' but were also replaced with...motorbike engines. That gave them more go and more noise. Overall it was really good fun and everyone in the family made up excuses to borrow it, because, although unwillingly to admit, they all really liked it. I am 6'5" and fit perfectly fine. Eventually I sold it and regret it often. It was a fun and quirky car and I will always have a soft spot for it.
Hang on to this one Colin, you definitely will regret it when you sell it... trust me.
I'm in the us. I've never seen or even heard of these but honestly I love it
If they re-released these now, then people would scoop them up crazy. Especially electric.
The overseas folks always get the fun pocket rockets like this. We here in the States only know of, and have, the fourtwo. I had no idea this existed. Sounds like a nice ride though.
I have only ever seen two of these in the flesh and I'v always been curious about them. Thanks for making this vid, very interesting.
I owned a Non Brabus roadster, 3 years old. The auto-mated gearbox felt like" the assenger was changing gear". With a delay. And it needed a bit bigger engine. Roof did not leak
I still have my Roadster Convertible, and love it for what it is: The only mid-motor rear-wheel drive Mercedes roadster ever.
Yours seems to have problems though - it sounds way to tame, and your early shifting did not do it any favors - It will upshift itself, and really hammer the gears in at perfect revs, just don't do it yourself - you don't need to go into automatic for that. I knew the development manager for the roadster project back then, his best quote was: If I drive over a cigarette bud, I want to feel if it had a filter, or not.
There were two generations of forTwo before the Roadster. The second generation (451) addressed the stability issues that the first generation (450).
I live in the US and own a US market 451. The US 451s got a normally aspirated 1L Mitsubishi 3B20 engine and 5-speed automated manual. (I have opened a transmission up and can confirm that it is a real 5-speed.) The transmission controller seems to learn from the driver. Our car shifts at different points after I have been driving it for a day than after my wife has been driving it.
I have been intending to import a Roadster and installing a US drivetrain and electronics in it but haven't gotten to it.
A great if not ideosyncratic car. Build quality of a cheap plastic pencil case, Brabus alloys more fragile than a 90 year old's hip, more leaky (even with the hard top) than a flagship phone technology launch and about as spacious as coffin. And a glacially slow auto box. BUT, BUT.... The most fun I have ever had driving a car. Turns like a Tron Light Cycle tanks to nearly no suspension/bodyroll and a centre of gravity that is ridiculously low. Grip for miles. Total grin machine. I only sold mine as I had 2 kids to take to school. I bought it as the ultime school run machine when I had one. Mine was the last in the series Brabus Finale Coupe. Still miss it every day.