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Brabus Mercedes GLS 850 Is an XL Luxury Guzzler

In the good old days when the ML only had a 200 horsepower diesel V6, Brabus was known primarily for its SL-Class, which was one of the fastest cars in the world at that time.
Brabus Mercedes GLS 850 Is an XL Luxury Guzzler 12 photos
Photo: Brabus
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But nowadays, you can get the same levels of power (not performance) in an SUV the size and weight of a house. We are, of course, talking about the GLS. This newly baptized flagship of the Mercedes SUVs is actually just a re-designed version of the Alabama-built GL-Class.

Anyway, the new Brabus kit was announced about a month ago, and we didn't have time to cover it. However, it just popped up on our Monaco radar, giving us a second chance.

With so many overpowered SUVs out there, people aren't shocked to see the 850. But this is a 7-seat vehicle with 850 fracking horsepower. That's like a Lamborghini Huracan with 240 extra ponies that can also carry five more folks. So the XL in the car's name is remarkably fitting.

Is this utterly pointless? Yes, but so are many of the toys only rich people can afford. Brabus is still the best in the game when it comes to combining luxury with unique engine work.

For the GLS 850 XL project, they took the already beefy 5.5-liter twin-turbo V8 that AMG made and changed nearly everything about it. It now displaces almost six liters, has completely new turbocharging and injection and probably a bit of gold plating here and there.

Thanks to the 1,450 Nm of available torque (1,069 lb-ft), this mother trucker will sprint from 0 to 100 km/h in 4.2 seconds and has to be limited to 300 km/h (186 mph).

Just like power, this Brabus body kit is as pointless as it is exciting. The usual array of skirts and spoilers has been added to an SUV that hides its age and bulk well. The fender flares are subtle, and so is the air diffuser. There's also the tailor-made 23-inch BRABUS Monoblock wheelset, although the owner oddly opted for silver instead of black.

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About the author: Mihnea Radu
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Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida.
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