Of all the busy bees on the bustling German tuning scene, Brabus must be the busiest. In just the last couple of months, we’ve had the Brabus Rocket and a 700hp Rolls Cullinan and even the Big Boy motorhome. And now it’s just announced three new derivatives for the ever-expanding pile of stuff it sells. Happily, these signal a return to the basics: all are souped-up iterations of current Mercedes-AMG products, and are therefore as easy to understand as the instruction manual for a hammer.
Let’s go in reverse order of importance. There is a performance upgrade available for the GLC 63, but as it’s virtually identical to one available to the C63 (and as we don’t much care about the GLC) let’s gloss over it. The Brabus PowerXrta B20E-730 - to give it its full name - is much more interesting when applied to Mercedes-AMG’s mid-sized hybrid, because the plug-and-play auxiliary control unit increases the output of the four-cylinder engine from 476hp to 526hp, which is obviously a lot for something displacing just two litres.
As the name suggests, that means you get a total system output (the 201hp electric motor on the rear axle is untouched) of 730hp alongside 826lb ft of torque (!), which results in 0-62mph in 3.2 seconds and an electronically limited top speed of 174mph. This can be combined with the usual light enhancement of the C63’s appearance, 21-inch ten-spoke wheels and height-adjustable Brabus sports springs. None of which, frankly, makes us want to actually buy a C63 (on the basis that output and appearance were not its core problem) but the option is there if you’ve somehow blundered into owning one.
Which brings us to the GT 63. “One can never have enough power, especially not in a sports car,” says Brabus. This is obviously not true - especially when referring to a car that was already well stocked with the stuff - but it’s just the sort of hokum we expect from the brand, and it has certainly followed through with the PowerXtra B40S-750 upgrade. This replaces the standard turbochargers on the 4.0-litre V8 with larger, lustier alternatives, and adds to new control modules to apply special maps for injection, ignition and boost pressure control.
The result is an eye-opening 165hp and 74lb ft of torque increase in output - still a little way short of the hybridised amount you get in the E Performance version, but who cares when you’ve got a 750hp V8 and 2.9-seconds-to-62mph to think about and a new stainless steel, butterfly-valved sports exhaust to listen to. The fact that Brabus also offers a more modest PowerXtra B40-650 performance kit, with 650hp and 627lb ft, suggests that the 750 version is amusing to the point of bonkers.
And expensive, of course. But the GT 63 is already a very expensive car, and we rather like the thought of going all-in on the V8 hot rod concept - especially as the Brabus makeover is relatively subdued, even allowing for the enormous wheels and tyres (12Jx22 on the rear) it has fitted and the 25mm ride height drop you get from the in-house springs. Obviously you can also go to town on the interior if you wish, but the GT 63 is already very pleasant inside. Now it has the iron fist to go with its velvet glove.
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