4+ months of Brabus ownership

[j333evo]

Hi all,

I came across this forum a while back while investigating some issues with my Brabus. Most are covered on here from charging faults saying cable is wrong to car constant turning off location services so the app doesn’t know where car is or how much charge it has. No need to go over those. So far I’ve had it just over 4 months and covered about 4750 miles. I use it for my 90 mile round trip commute.

After a software update which gave the car the heated steering wheel function, my cars display became very unresponsive and would crash. You couldn’t access anything at times and would get a pop up saying the 128gb hard drive was full and I had to free up storage. Though it never gave an option of how this was meant to be achieved. I lost access to heating, sat nav and it even stopped having a radio. One evening driving to work in the dark it completely shut down and in turn decided it was ok turning off the little display and HUD at the same time while I was doing 60mph on an unlit single carriageway. Dangerous and distracting.

Anyway long story short Smart had no clue what was going on even though I sent screen shots & videos which they thanked me for. They even phoned me from Germany to discuss it. I sat for about an hour very slowly trying to access the system menu as it took this long for the screen to action any command. Eventually I reset it all and it seemed to resolve its issues. Smart also got me to reset the telematics by holding down the SOS button for 8 seconds. The latest update has been fine.

It’s not all doom and gloom, the car is well made and does the commute stuff really well. It has decent steering and for a heavy EV car the ride is acceptable. Seats are comfortable if unsupportive in a car with this amount of power. Needs much bigger bolsters.

Thankfully it has proper buttons on the steering wheel and stalks for wipers/indicators etc as the advent of cheap screens replacing more expensive gauges and physical buttons is a plague that looks like NCAP are taking an interest in now on grounds of distractions and safety. And by using salary sacrifice I can reduce my tax burden.

Apart from a transporter of them on the M1 I’ve not seen an other on the road yet.

[beematthews]

Hopefully all your issues are now sorted. I'm in Northern Ireland and have never seen a #1 either, actually there doesn't seem to be a smart dealer here anymore. Smart had been in with Mercedes Benz Belfast before but their website doesn't list any dealers in Belfast now, even though the smart signage is still there at the dealer. One day I will make it in and ask.

[REZadd]

Many thanks for sharing your experiences with us j333evo. I'm glad they were able to sort your issues. I can't imagine what I'd do if everything went off whilst driving. I live in west Leicestershire, and like most, have yet to see another #1, except in a Mercedes dealership. I've had my Premium for just over 5 months now, just over 4,000 miles, and still enjoy the smooth drive I get from it. No major faults with mine as yet.

[Milligoon]

I guess being an early adoptor is a bit of a gamble?

Mines still the only one I've seen in the wild

[Deleted User 204]

Yes, other than at the Dealership, I have not seen one
Turns many heads

[StephenA]

I've had my Premium model for 5 months and again, other than around the dealer location, about one hour from me, I've yet to see another one. A lady approached me last week to ask what the car was and to comment on how 'cool' she thought it was. She is looking at a new EV and said that she will definitely look at one. However, I wonder if smart's policy of distributing these through a small number of major dealers in cities means that fewer people give the car consideration as they see the distance to the dealer as too far to travel.

[Deleted User 204]

According to SMMT UK, SMART have registered 225 vehicles in the 1st two months of 2024 (assume all #1)

For perspective only,
TESLA have registered 4773 in the same period
BYD 519
ORA CAT 112
POLESTAR 495
CUPRA 3001

Interesting, Smart#1 are Rare/Exclusive/ or Unpopular…..depends if glass half full or empty
Certainly niche at the moment

Early days though.

[j333evo]

Thanks for all the responses. Good to know that my misfortune was isolated. Though to clarify Smart didn’t offer a fix I did it through shear stubbornness and perseverance to eventually get to the reset function. They did offer the telematics reset which didn’t seem to do anything.

I think the lack of advertising plus lending them to car journalists in big publications for long term tests must have an effect. I’m already seeing adverts on TV for the Volvo EX30 which is built on the same platform. A car I wouldn’t consider due to its terrible dashboard design and horrible portrait screen in the middle.

Also mixed messaging on website and dealer locations is confusing. Mine was delivered to my house but came from Mercedes in Oxford some 50 miles away from my home. Yet the closest 2 Mercedes dealerships which used to have smart and still have Smart branding don’t do them anymore. It’s very confusing for any consumer. I couldn’t get a test drive anywhere before taking mine through company scheme. I took a chance.

Though with a couple of hundred sales this year so far it’s going to be a quiet forum

[StephenA]

The Volvo EX30 also appears to have poor rear legroom. It is shorter than the #1, all of it in the wheelbase.

[Milligoon]

I really wanted to like the EX30, but the lack of equipment in particular the driver display the cheap interior compared to the XC60 I'd had, the tight rear space killed it for me and I used to have a Honda e yet at 6'3" I could actually sit in it behind myself (with a bit of manspreading as it is a 4 seater)