Once upon a time, Smart built tiny little cars that looked like they’d get blown over by the wind. They were often used by real estate agents as promotional vehicles, at least that was the case here in Australia.
Fast forward to 2025 and Smart has been reborn and redesigned, with its styling taken up a notch, or five. Throw in some love from Mercedes-Benz offshoot and performance tuning house BRABUS and you end up with a small SUV that’s definitely out of the ordinary.
Fitted with black 20-inch alloys and with red exterior highlights, the 2025 smart #3 BRABUS is offered in single colour options like Photon Orange, Atom Grey (matte) and Meta Black, as well as the latter with a Radiant Red roof.
You can also opt for Digital White with an Eclipse Black roof. Laser Red with an Eclipse Black roof and Atom Grey (matte) with a Radiant Red roof. Every variant features a Laser Red and Eclipse Black interior.
That means you get cool things like red seat belts, black microfibre suede seats with the iconic BRABUS logo embroidered in the headrest, an Alcantara lined steering wheel with red stitching and metal plated pedals. The combination makes for a truly distinct look.
Design-wise, the interior features elongated lines throughout the cabin, hidden buttons for storage and an overall classy look and feel. The heated steering wheel is a rather luxurious touch, while the front seats sport heating and ventilation.
The smart #3 (yes it really is written with a lower case S and a hashtag before the identifying model number) has a sky roof which makes the cabin feel larger, and letting in plenty of light.
There is no ability to pull across a shade to seal the roof, however Smart claim that is it 99 per cent UV protected, which helps keep out the harshness of the sun but doesn’t eliminate the heat coming through. It’ll keep the air-conditioning and vented seats working overtime.
On the road, the smart #3 drives like a go-kart, which means it’s a tonne of fun – although it can feel quite demanding. You can change the regen braking to be more like a traditional vehicle, but given it’s virtually one-pedal driving regardless, it can be quite tiring.
Cruise control is there to help you out, but driving an electric car is a different experience to a traditional internal combustion vehicle, and something you should prepare for. The suspension in the BRABUS variant is rather hard, and there’s a bit of road noise.
As this electric vehicle runs silent, this is hard to miss. The benefit of this set up though, is it allows you to feel glued to the road, and given how quick this thing takes off, we will take all the security we can get.
Peak power sits at 315kW, with a 0-100km/h sprint time in an outrageous 3.7 seconds. Its single gear motor ensures seamless power delivery and a bucketload of fun. Range is a claimed 415km, in Eco mode, if you drive like a nanna.
In the real world, it’s more like 300km, particularly if you drive it like the BRABUS name suggests you should, which will lead to a little bit of range anxiety. If going the distance is important, opt for the standard smart #3, which is good for close to 455km.
Charging wise, the smart #3 supports both AC and DC fast charging. The latter allows for a 10 to 80 per cent charge in under 30 minutes at 150kW. The smart car is in many ways, reflective of its name, with a host of safety technology.
The list includes adaptive cruise control with stop/go, highway assist with automated lane change assist, traffic jam assist, lane keep assist, a lane departure system, blind spot detection, traffic sign recognition, intelligent speed assist and intelligent lightning.
There’s also adaptive high beam assist. Unfortunately several of these beep more than a game of Mario Kart, with no banana in sight for a road rage incident. Technology includes a 12.8-inch high-definition touchscreen infotainment system.
It’s running on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8155 intelligent chipset, offering a highly responsive and customisable user interface. Features such as Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, a 3D AI-based voice assistant, and a 640w Beats sound system elevate the experience.
A narrow instrument cluster and head-up display also feature. The smart #3 has a 5-star ANCAP safety rating and is priced at $76,000 drive away. It’s backed by a 5-year or 150,000km warranty, and an 8-year or 150,000km battery warranty.
You can find out more on the smart website, or by talking to your local dealership. To get a low rate finance quote, talk to Australia’s best reviewed car finance broker; Credit One. To see a great range of vehicles for sale, check out OnlyCars.com.au.
Our test vehicle was provide by LSH Auto Australia for independent review purposes.
