Photo: Brabus
Ever since Daimler decided to fuse Maybach with Mercedes-Benz and create Mercedes-Maybach, the German luxury vehicles bearing this name lost some of their appeal.
From stand-alone limousines that had a completely different design (though easily traceable to their Mercedes-Benz roots), now they are simply more luxurious Mercedes models. The real treats hide beneath the skin, but on the outside, they're almost impossible to tell apart by the untrained eye.
Well, there's at least one good thing about this merger, and that's the fact it makes it easier for Brabus to have their way with the luxury model. The tuning company renowned for its libertine use of engine boring machines and oversized turbochargers got its hands on the restyled Mercedes-Maybach S 650 and would not let it go until its 6.0-liter V12 engine churned out the Brabus trademark of 900 hp.
To do that, the unit's displacement had to be extended to 6.3-liters, and that was just the start of the hardware modifications. Brabus installed a billet crankshaft, precision balanced connecting rods, forged pistons, larger turbochargers, a proprietary exhaust system with new downpipes as well as a different intake system.
The newly gained power (900 hp up from 529 hp) is enough to give the glorified S-Class a 0-60 mph (0-97 km/h) sprint of just 3.7 seconds, which would be impressive for a light sports car, let alone for a 6,200 lbs (nearly 2.8 tons) limousine.
All that power and performance is relayed through the redesigned front end. The Brabus gets a new grille as well as a modified bumper. The new look tries to be aggressive and elegant in equal parts, but the aggressive part somehow manages to murder the other, so it essentially resembles a beast on steroids.
While Brabus can't make the interior go faster (though if anyone could it would be them), it can make it fit better with the car's new personality. That means tons of leather options - varying in both color and styling - as well as carbon fiber trim (not something the standard S-Class could pull off) and aluminum sports pedals and paddle shifters.
The company also made a tiny alteration to the car's speedometer which now goes all the way to 250 mph (400 km/h). That's actually a bit optimistic since the Brabus will only do 217 mph (350 km/h), but it's not like anyone will ever find out where a Brabus-tuned Mercedes-Maybach limousine tops out in real life.
Well, there's at least one good thing about this merger, and that's the fact it makes it easier for Brabus to have their way with the luxury model. The tuning company renowned for its libertine use of engine boring machines and oversized turbochargers got its hands on the restyled Mercedes-Maybach S 650 and would not let it go until its 6.0-liter V12 engine churned out the Brabus trademark of 900 hp.
To do that, the unit's displacement had to be extended to 6.3-liters, and that was just the start of the hardware modifications. Brabus installed a billet crankshaft, precision balanced connecting rods, forged pistons, larger turbochargers, a proprietary exhaust system with new downpipes as well as a different intake system.
The newly gained power (900 hp up from 529 hp) is enough to give the glorified S-Class a 0-60 mph (0-97 km/h) sprint of just 3.7 seconds, which would be impressive for a light sports car, let alone for a 6,200 lbs (nearly 2.8 tons) limousine.
All that power and performance is relayed through the redesigned front end. The Brabus gets a new grille as well as a modified bumper. The new look tries to be aggressive and elegant in equal parts, but the aggressive part somehow manages to murder the other, so it essentially resembles a beast on steroids.
While Brabus can't make the interior go faster (though if anyone could it would be them), it can make it fit better with the car's new personality. That means tons of leather options - varying in both color and styling - as well as carbon fiber trim (not something the standard S-Class could pull off) and aluminum sports pedals and paddle shifters.
The company also made a tiny alteration to the car's speedometer which now goes all the way to 250 mph (400 km/h). That's actually a bit optimistic since the Brabus will only do 217 mph (350 km/h), but it's not like anyone will ever find out where a Brabus-tuned Mercedes-Maybach limousine tops out in real life.
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