Brabus SLR McLaren
The top of the line Mercedes Benz is the SLR McLaren. It comes with an AMG supercharged 5.4L V8 producing 617 hp @ 6500 rpm and 575 lb-ft torque @ 3250 - 5000 rpm. It costs about $450,000.
Brabus has a modified version of the SLR McLaren that's even more exclusive. The Brabus SLR produces 660 bhp (651 hp) @ 6500 rpm using the same supercharged engine as the base SLR. The power increase comes from improved fuel cooling, custom camshafts and a racing exhaust (which isn't street legal).
The performance increase results in 0-100 km/h (0-62 mph) times of 3.6 seconds versus the base SLR's 0-60 mph of 3.8 seconds (a bit longer than 3.8 seconds for 0-62 mph). Top speed increases from 207 mph to 210 mph.
Naturally, Brabus has incorporated lots of visual improvements to make the Brabus SLR stand out even more. The most obvious one is probably the 20 inch polished wheels. Some modifications also improve handling and aerodynamics.
The price of all this exclusivity is a whopping $750,000!!! That's an extra $300,000 over the base SLR. Hmmmm, I could get the Brabus SLR with the extra 34 hp or instead I could get the base SLR and a Lamborghini Murcielago and a Mercedes E500. Alternately I could get a couple of houses.
I don't know, I'm not too pleased with the SLR McLaren. It's an automatic to begin with, which is just wrong for a sports car, especially one of this calibur. Secondly, I thought it's supposed to be a successor to the infamous McLaren F1 car, which far exceeds the SLR McLaren in all aspects, particularly performance. Plus the McLaren F1 was a car from over a decade ago. And I just love the McLaren F1. Still, the SLR McLaren looks real slick, and the Brabus version does look even slicker.
Anyway, for more information regarding the Brabus SLR McLaren you can check out the article on RSportCars.
Published on March 2, 2005
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