How Much Power is Enough? Brabus Thinks 640-HP is Just About Right
If you want to be driven, there's nothing more opulent than the back seat of a Maybach 62. But Brabus, the German tuner famous for upgrading Mercedes-Benz cars and SUVs, builds cars for drivers, not just passengers.
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| The already opulent Maybach has been made even more impressive thanks to the skilled craftsmanship of Brabus. (Photo: Brabus North America) |
The company's latest creation, unveiled at the 2004 Geneva motor show, delivers more luxurious interior materials, an upgraded entertainment system and a performance increase of 90-hp over the car's already impressive 550-hp V12.
The Brabus Maybach SV 12 boasts a 12-cylinder twin-turbo Maybach engine, with a displacement boost from 5,500 cc to 6,300 cc for 640-hp. Its 756 lb-ft of rear-wheel torque, available at 1,750 rpm, is sufficient to motivate the larger than life super sedan to 100 km/h from standstill in a mere 4.9 seconds - in shorter Maybach 57 guise - before reaching an electronically limited maximum speed of 300 km/h (186 mph).
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| Brabus took the Maybach's 12-cylinder twin-turbo engine, and increased the displacement giving the SV 12 640-hp. (Photo: Brabus North America) |
The Maybach is already one of the most exquisitely finished automobiles available at any price, but Brabus has improved on it nevertheless. Now, more luxurious seats focus on enhanced style as well as support, featuring the best leather and Alcantara available. The upholstery features more than 1.2 kilometers (three-quarters of a mile) of hand-stitched thread, with waffle-stitching as part of the transmission tunnel. Custom-made lamb-skin over-rugs protect the standard carpeting.
The Maybach's personal business jet-like interior gets updated with 16.9-inch (429 mm) monitors (actual size 15.2 inches/386 mm) set into the back of the front seats. They're larger than the standard Maybach screens, which measure only 9 inches (229 mm), and are now integrated to an 80 gigabyte PC developed especially for this application. Connected via W-LAN (wireless LAN) with a 4-line GPRS-Router, the computer allows internet access 1.5 times faster than the speed of an ISDN line.