The Mercedes-AMG G63 is already a fairly extreme vehicle. The high performance version of the boxy G-Wagen 4WD uses a twin-turbo 4-liter V8 making 585 horsepower. But Brabus sees the extreme as a perfect launching point for the ludicrous, and has turned the G63 into a full-on off-road supercar.
Thus, the new Brabus 700 4x4² "one of ten" Final Edition starts with an AMG G63, but pulls its guts out in favor of a beefier 5.5-liter V8. The twin turbos get bigger and boostier, and there's gold heat shielding on the intake and boost pipes to make it one of the blingier engine bays we've seen in recent times.
Power is jacked up to a very adequate 700 horsepower (515 kW) and 708 lb-ft (960 Nm) of torque, and Brabus says it'll hit 100 km/h (62 mph) in 5 seconds flat. The regular old G63 does that in 4.5, so what gives? The tires, probably – Pirelli Scorpion ATR off-road specials. These hoops are also the reason the 700 4x4² is limited to a top speed of 210 kmh (130 mph); they'd fling themselves apart if you tried to drive this fridge of a thing much faster.
Indeed, supercar engine aside, this build concentrates on heavy off-roading. The axles have been pulled, and replaced with the ones Brabus developed for the G500 4x4², which give extra high ground clearance and a greater degree of articulation.
When AMG built the G63, it yanked out the G-Wagen's stock adaptive suspension to put in a higher grade of adaptive suspension. Brabus has yanked AMG's suspension out and installed its own, electronically adjustable but apparently non-active variant in. In addition to 4-mode damper settings, it's also capable of adjusting ride height at each axle. This squishy off-road suspension probably squats like a pooping dog under hard acceleration and contributes to the car's slower sprint times.
There's bash plates. There's carbon wheel flares. There's a dinky little carbon "roof spoiler" with some extra lights in it, and a two-tone leather interior with carbon inserts that looks a bit tougher than the more luxury-oriented work of AMG.
Pricing has not been announced, but you'll surely be looking at the quarter million US dollar mark or higher. Such is the price of Brabus, and we hope plenty of people buy them, so Brabus can scrape together enough money to overhaul its absolutely inexcusable website.
Source: Brabus
