smart roadster BRABUS Review
Published: 1st March 2005
smart roadster BRABUS
Ease of Use
The smart roadster BRABUS is relatively easy to drive, park and manoeuvre. With the roof down visibility is superb although with the roof up it is a little difficult to see through the rear window when parking.
The cabin is ergonomically laid out and all the controls are easy to use. The door mirrors although perfect to look at are fractionally too small for good visibility. The pedals are a little too close together for those with larger feet which is especially noticeable when moving your right foot from the accelerator to the brake pedal.
The smart roadster comes with a soft top as standard although a gloss finish two-piece removable hardtop is available as a dealer supplied accessory. The soft top is made of black fabric and can be opened to your chosen position whilst stationary or on the move at the touch of a button. It takes 10 seconds for the roof to fully retract and slide under the roll-over bar into the rear luggage compartment. We would have liked the roof to open and close with a one touch mechanism.
To make it easier to pull off on a hill the roadster is equipped with Hill Start Assist (HSA). After releasing the brake pedal when stationary HSA will keep the smart braked for 0.7 seconds leaving you enough time to move your foot from the brake to the accelerator pedal without it rolling forwards or backwards. This did prove cumbersome when reversing out of a relatively steep driveway.
But what about storage I hear you shout - well the roadster has 2 luggage compartments. The front has 59 litres and could accommodate a holdall or a reasonable shop at Sainsbury's. The rear load space offers 86 litres of space or 45 litres with the soft top open. Tailored luggage sets are available as an option which utilise all the available space efficiently.
Interior storage space is limited and comprises of a small glove box which can literally hold a pair gloves & sunglasses and 2 door pockets.
The doors are large and it can be difficult to get in and out when parked in a tight parking space as you need to have the doors fairly wide open to exit the vehicle.
