CARWOW THRASHES BRABUS – THE ULTIMATE GERMAN POWER SHOWDOWN WITH A FLEET OF EYE-WATERINGLY EXPENSIVE BRABUS CARS.
Mat Watson and the Carwow crew recently landed in Germany, and they lined up something properly mental. Seven BRABUS machines. Two drivers. One airstrip. And to crank the pressure to full send, Mat’s facing off against none other than Constantin Buschmann, the CEO of BRABUS himself. Yeah, the man who signs off on every fire-breathing monster that rolls out of Bottrop is getting behind the wheel. The format is simple, brutal, and very typically Carwow. They start small - if you can even call a 319 kW electric Smart “small” - and work their way up through a series of increasingly wild BRABUS creations. Each round, the losing car gets parked, and the winner moves on to face something faster, louder, and probably a little bit angrier.
Things kick off with the Smart #3 BRABUS and Smart #5 BRABUS - both all-electric and both packing dual motors with all-wheel drive. The #3 dishes out 319 kW and 543 Nm, while the bigger #5 hurls 482 kW and 710 Nm through all four tyres. We’re talking 0-100 km/h in supercar territory from cars small enough to fit in a city parking space.
But that’s just the warm-up. Then comes the BRABUS 850, a 6.2-litre twin-turbo V12 luxury missile based on the Mercedes-Maybach S650. With 634 kW and a ridiculous 1,400 Nm of torque, it’s not just fast – it’s physics-defying. Priced at around £400,000 (a mere R9,262.153.68), it’s a masterclass in how to make a rolling penthouse go toe-to-toe with hypercars. Just when you think that’s peak BRABUS lunacy, the BRABUS 1000 ALL GRAY rolls up. Based on the AMG S63 E-Performance, it combines a 4.5-litre twin-turbo V8 with electric assistance for a total of 746 kW and 1,620 Nm. It’s a heavyweight at 2,845 kg, but that doesn’t matter when you’ve got torque figures that could tow the moon.
Next up, the BRABUS 1000 GT63 E-Performance - same monstrous powertrain, but less weight and even more focus. At 2,265 kg, it’s a sharper tool in BRABUS’s arsenal, and with a price tag pushing £500,000 (just R11,577,692.10), it’s not for the faint-hearted. Finally, the jewel in the crown: the BRABUS Rocket GTS. Based on the AMG SL 63 E-Performance, it’s the ultimate expression of what happens when engineering meets insanity. The same 746 kW and 1,620 Nm setup, but lighter still at 2,245 kg. Oh, and the price? A casual £900,000, or a cool R20,839,845.79 in our amazingly strong currency. That’s near Bugatti money. But when you see it rip down the Silverstone-like tarmac, you get it. Every penny buys a new definition of speed.
If you’ve ever wondered how a Mercedes-Benz ends up wearing the BRABUS badge, it’s not just about bolting on a few bits of carbon and calling it a day. Founded in 1977 by Bodo Buschmann, BRABUS started as a small tuning outfit obsessed with perfection. What began as tweaking Mercs for more power and cleaner design has evolved into crafting some of the most powerful and luxurious vehicles on the planet. They’ve built icons - the BRABUS Rocket 900 (a 370 km/h four-door GT based on the E-Class), the BRABUS XLP Adventure (a G-Wagon pickup with portal axles and a tent on the roof), and even the wild BRABUS Shadow 900 Black Ops boat, which packs 900 hp and looks like something Batman would daily. Today, under Constantin Buschmann, BRABUS isn’t just a tuner – it’s a global lifestyle brand. They’ve gone from refining German muscle to building their own superboats, motorcycles, and even designer furniture. Everything they touch becomes an exercise in excess done right.
Back to the strip - we’ve got cutting-edge EVs lined up against V12 monsters, plug-in hybrids flexing against the pure combustion titans. It’s old-school grunt versus next-gen electrons, and every run down the airstrip is a thunderclap of torque, noise, and tyre smoke. Where are you placing your bets?
Take a look at the YouTube video from the Carwow crew as they head to Germany to play with a fleet of highly modified BRABUS cars. Nice life for some, 'ey?: ULTIMATE BRABUS DRAG RACE | carwow
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