Top Gear’s head test driver, Ollie Marriage, had the privilege of driving an HWA Evo prototype — the first road car from HWA — at Bosch’s Boxberg proving ground near Stuttgart.
Photo: Youtube capture Top Gear
HWA is in the advanced stages of developing its first road-going model, the HWA Evo, a reincarnation of the legendary 1990 190 E 2.5-16 Evo II. Ollie Marriage was given the opportunity to drive the very first prototype of this model at Bosch’s Boxberg track near Stuttgart.The HWA Evo features a twin-turbo V6 engine, a full carbon-fiber body, and, most importantly, a manual transmission. With a massive price tag of £725,000 ($978,540), Ollie goes on to explain why this is not just a restomod.
Ollie drove the car at sunset on both the handling circuit and the high-speed oval at Boxberg, noting right away that this is a development car — it’s not finished yet, there are still some rattles, and the seats aren’t the final production ones.
According to Ollie, the engine is extremely responsive, but for now, it can only be revved up to 5,000 rpm because engine calibration is still underway. He says no Mercedes engine (rumored to be the M276) has ever pulled this strongly while sounding so smooth and with such a rorty exhaust note. The engine revs cleanly, smoothly, and linearly.
The car feels very balanced and turns in beautifully. Ollie expected it to feel like a BMW M3 or something similar, but it doesn’t. The HWA Evo retains a Mercedes character, not like a C63, but something more refined, almost Porsche-like.
There is some body roll on the handling course because the car is currently locked in Comfort mode, but the HWA Evo has a tremendous amount of grip. The steering is just a bit too light. Ollie says he can’t slide the car because he can’t rev it beyond 5,000 rpm, which is frustrating, but the way it drives and handles is brilliant. The brakes and traction control still need further tuning.
HWA will build eight prototypes, with the last two being used for crash testing. Since this is HWA’s first road car, installing Bosch electronics took more than a year. Only after that can HWA fine-tune the dynamics and finalize the car. The model driven by Top Gear is the first prototype, as stated on the brace in the engine bay.
Ollie Marriage explains why this is more than just a restomod. Both the front and rear ends are completely new because HWA needed a modern crash structure, and the entire car required greater torsional rigidity. The car is also longer than the original because the front wheels have been moved 50 mm forward, and the rumored M276 V6 engine has been moved behind the front axle for better weight distribution.
Inside, the rear bench isn’t installed, revealing wiring and a roll cage that will be hidden in the production version. For now, the roll cage is visible, but in the road car, it will be concealed within the B- and C-pillars.
Although the central section of the body is carried over from the original 190, it has been reinforced, and carbon fiber is visible everywhere. The entire car is made from carbon fiber, making the hood and trunk lid extremely light. The rear panel and rear fenders are essentially a single carbon-fiber piece.
Initially, the V6 was planned to produce 450 PS, but “we realized it could give a bit more,” says Gordian von Schöning, CTO at HWA AG, adding that the engine can deliver a little over 500 PS.
HWA has already built the first three prototypes and is now working on prototypes 4, 5, and 6, which mark an important step in the development process. Prototypes 7 and 8 will be crash-tested, after which production will begin. The first production chassis — chassis number 000 — has already been sold at auction and will be delivered in early 2026.
The exhaust tips on the prototype are not final; the production ones will be oval and larger than those on the original. Since the car has an integrated roll cage, no additional homologation is needed for racing — it can be used in competition.
However, for a 24-hour race, like the one HWA plans for 2026, certain modifications are necessary. Gordian says the car has been accepted into the SP-X class for the Nürburgring 24 Hours, a category similar to Le Mans’ Garage 56. After discussions with ADAC, they agreed that this isn’t an old car but a modern crash-structure vehicle built to current standards. It hasn’t yet been decided whether the race version will have a manual or automatic transmission.
Gordian adds that everyone involved in building the car — from mechanics to engineers — is a racing driver, to varying degrees. “It was hard to stop them from building a race car and get them to focus on making a road car,” he says with a smile.