Startech Range Rover Sport
Brabus – sorry, Startech – builds a widebody Range Rover Sport with some serious bling
Imthishan Giado
Second only to AMG, Brabus is one of the oldest tuners in the Mercedes business, known for taking plaid dull big Mercs, slapping on gigantic monoblock alloys and extracting ridiculous amounts of horsepower from protesting Stuttgart powerplants and giving them ridiculous names like ‘Black Baron’. But like marriages, thoughts eventually wander and after so many years of faithful duty, Brabus is cheating on the big M with the sultry new Range Rover Sport.
As any good cheater knows, you don’t use your real name at the hotel lobby. Hence this comes under Brabus’s STARTECH sub-brand which gives the already voluminous Range Rover Sport a dash of extra girth. 60mm, to be precise from the wider flares, necessary to house the giant forged ceramic-coated 23-inch alloys riding on paper-thin 305/30 rubber. Watch out for potholes. Not feeling this showy? 21-inch and 22-inch wheels are also available. Naturally, the car’s been lowered 25mm to match – none of that unsightly wheel gap.
The production bumpers are replaced with STARTECH items which Bra-sorry, STARTECH claim are OEM-quality and warranty-backed for 100,000 kilometers. At the back, there’s a suitably-ridiculous-but-kinda-awesome roof spoiler which can be ordered in (what else) carbon fibre. Interior options? There’s a carbon-fibre trim kit available but really, STARTECH will do whatever you can possibly conceive if the right millionaire comes along.
The car shown at the Geneva Motor Show is intended for the European market so underhood is a 3.0-litre diesel V6, albeit one breathed on by STARTECH to put out 323bhp and 501lb ft. No mention of whether it’s headed for the Middle East in the near future, but I wouldn’t bet against it.
