Just stumbled over the Smart City-Coupé Brabus on the web, with a way OTT list price knocking on £12,500 for some wide wheels and another 13 ponies (74 v 61) from it's 698cc turbo motor.
Although I detest these hideous devices (the looks, not the concept of a city car), it set me thinking.
You'd have thought they'd have done the job properly and made a real performance car by fitting a bike derived engine if it's going to carry the Brabus badge. Even my utterly-reliable-never-misses-a-beat Honda Hornet 600 pokes out nearly 100 BHP, and a rev hungy nature would suit the car a treat. Some other bike engines, without even going anywhere near a litre in capacity, would make the Smart performance silly, and consequently much more in keeping with what a Brabus badge should mean.
Yes, I know there are boring things like brand names, warranties, how to make a dog box reliable when abused round town, and the like, but if only...
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I read about this somewhere and Brabus had said the Smart can go to about 90bhp although 74 or thereabouts was the maximum for long term reliability. Its still over 100bhp/litre and bike engines are quite different to car engines are they not? No car revs to the 13000 or whatever bikes can because presumably cars need more torque and their engines are under more load due to the added weight.
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Actually, that's my point, dave18.
With the Smart weighing about as much as an empty fag packet in car terms, a rev hungry, totally frantic, bike engine would suit a real performance version a treat. Turbocharged torque as pumped out in spades between 1700 and 5000 RPM to lug my 1500Kg V70 along is irrelevant.
Just look at the number of kit car companies revamping their ranges to have bike engines. Although a fraction of the capacity of the engines they are replacing (often much less than half), their performance is beyond belief. As for finding a way of making bike dog boxes last (bang, bang, bang through the gears), in my utopian world that would just add to the fun. The kit car companies have even taken the simple expedient of bolting another gearbox on the end for reverse, meaning they have as many gears to go backwards with, as forwards!
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'In car terms.'
The Caterham R400 (is that whats its called?) weighs less surely. If not 400 KG then surely something close. The Smart may be very small but its still a 'proper car' in the sense its built for everyday use not performance.
I hate to think of how well a high performance Smart would handle. Itll roll, surely?
They are cute though.
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The Italian smart racers squeeze about 100 bhp out of the 599 cc engine. Goes like stink, but only for one race! Many have spoken of putting a bike engine in the smart, but you just can't change that part of the car. The ECU controls the engine and sequential gearbox, so changing the engine would require a traditional gearbox and clutch mechanism. The accelerator is 'throttle by wire' via the ECU so that would have to be changed, only the key will open the doors which are controlled by the ECU, so more work there. Rear suspension would require alteration as would engine mountings and heaven knows what else. Its a nice idea, but you need to start from a smart shell and adapt the rest to fit.
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