Paint it yellow and you’d have the
fastest school bus in the world!
Panama City, the namesake capital of Panama
is a smorgasbord of colours, casinos and modern-day trappings. Till recently,
the Diablos Rojos—old dilapidated school buses that looked like graffiti walls
on wheels—were amongst the most identifiable fixtures in this city. Besides the
artsy reputation, these decades-old American school buses, converted to
function as privately-run transport buses, were infamous as death traps.
Drivers would race to get to the next bus stop and had tricked out these beasts
to go very very quickly. So quick, in fact, that it wasn't uncommon to hear a
Diablos Rojos topping out at 200 kph. Not surprisingly they were recently
banned from the city’s streets.
As school buses go, the Mercedes-Benz GL63
AMG is the modern-day reincarnation of the Diablos Rojos, minus the trademark
yellow shade and warning signs on the flanks. You could say it's also a very
expensive, but quick way of ensuring your kids never miss class. That’s got
less to do with the $276,810 (ex-showroom, Mumbai) price tag and more to do
with the burly dimensions and nuclear reactor under the hood.
The
Mercedes GL63 is the powerhouse of the GL range
Considering it seats seven, you could offer
to drop your neighbour’s kids to school, too! And just when we were beginning
to believe W.O. Bentley’s claim that only his firm made rather quick trucks!
Under that massive exterior and bulk lies a
raw, unhindered power source, powerful enough to distort the earth's polar
motions. The massive 5.5-litre, bi-turbo V8 produces just as much power as the
G63 AMG and the ML63 AMG and churns out an unearthly 552 bhp. The torque output
at 77.5 kgm (peak torque from 2,000 to 5,000 rpm) is straight out of American
dragster territory, as is the acceleration—a claimed 0-100 kph time of 4.9
seconds. We couldn't better the 5.46 seconds we set on our timing gear, but
honestly it wasn't about the time but the sheer explosive manner in which the
GL63 AMG got there.
Big
bumpers, LEDs and 21in alloy wheels are all fitted as standard
Here’s a brief course on how to scare the
living daylights out of yourself. First get into the GL 63 AMG; set everything
to Sport; dial in the revs and get your left foot off the brake; brace for the
tail to squat and the nose to rise. That’s the last thing you’ll remember
before the wheels find enough traction and all that mass lunges forward.
There’s a slight chirrup from the motor as the turbos kick in and the tacho
needle climbs all the way to the redline, while the 7-speed gearbox ensures you
don't miss or skip a beat. There's also lots of noise—the raspy growl of the V8
as the motor spins; the screeching sound that follows as the truck hits the
redline in each gear; and the wind howling over the mirrors.
The
engine note is as outrageous as its performance
The roll-on times are pretty impressive
too: 80 to 120 kph comes up in just 3.2 seconds (in third gear), while the
stretch from 100 to 140 kph takes 3.8 seconds (the shift to fourth gear leads
to a fractional loss of time). The truck also has some sort of rev-matching
inbuilt into the gearbox and ECU, which works pretty damn fine. While certainly
first-rate and fairly quick, the gearbox isn’t a patch on the likes of the
dual-clutch units on the BMW M Series.
The progress rate to 200 kph, though, is
pretty darn impressive. Where the G63 AMG starts to tramline and flit around
like a dragonfly, the GL seems to find unbelievable amount of grip and
straight-line stability anywhere around the double tonne.
