Take the new Mercedes-AMG E63 S for example. It’s a big, heavy, luxury saloon car that will propel you from a standstill to 100km/h in around 3.3 seconds. It is a car that has ruined us here at Autodealer.
We get to experience many different cars, from small budget cars to supercars and everything in between, but now and then a car will arrive at our office that rewrites the rulebook, a car that blows our minds every single time that we get into it. The E63 S was one of those cars. It’s a car that has, in a way, made other cars feel tame by comparison. To explain this I need to focus on the BMW M4.
You see, the BMW M4 in Competition Pack guise is a wonderful machine with its twin-turbocharged straight-six engine. It produces 331kW/550Nm and is by no means slow. It is a performance icon and for good reason. It can be savage at times if not respected and sits in your driveway waiting for the day that you start to take liberties with it so that it can show you who is actually boss. The E63 S, on the other hand, makes the likes of the BMW M4 and others in that segment look like a substandard comedian at a child’s party.
The reason for this is simple, Mercedes-AMG decided to lower a highly modified version of its M177 4.0-litre twin-turbocharged V8 into the front of the car, put a tuned, rear bias version of its 4Matic all-wheel drive system underneath and at the rear managed to get an angry male lion into the exhaust system. This same engine is used in the AMG C63 S and even the AMG GTS, but where those cars make do with a kindergarten kilowatt output of 375kW, the E63 S develops a full-blown, internal organ reorganising 450kW/850Nm.
Thanks to the 4Matic system the E63 S will get to 100km/h in around 3.38 seconds, causing the driver and every single passenger to resort to using very colourful language if the remainder of their breath that hasn’t been knocked out of their body by the accelerative forces.
To put it in more accurate terms, the E63 S will do the ¼ mile (400m) in 11.48 seconds at a speed of 204.23km/h (tested by True Speed South Africa). To easier understand that you should imagine a machine weighing in at 1955kgs getting from stand-still to crossing the 400m mark at over two hundred kilometres an hour.
It will reach the 1km mark in 20.58 seconds at a speed of 263.08km/h and will be held back electronically at 307km/h in 7th gear, of which it has 9. It is a true testament to modern engineering. Every single time I got behind the wheel the car did not fail to take my breath away and not just in terms of its performance but also the luxury and refinement that accompanies such performance.
You see, it’s still an E-class, meaning that it offers a luxurious driving experience. Expect leather everywhere inside, massaging seats which also happen to be ventilated and two large high-definition screens mounted on the dashboard. One screen offers a visually pleasing infotainment experience while the one in front of the driver acts as a digital instrument cluster as well as providing infotainment controls.
The E63 S offers a truly memorable experience. Despite its heft, you can throw it around with confidence. It’s a mad machine that encourages you to misbehave. It makes other cars which we thought were fast feel slow and it does all of this while remaining a comfortable Mercedes-AMG that also features all of the latest active safety features.
The real scary thing about this car is the fact that it is not alone in its segment. BMW has unleashed its mighty M5 and Audi is soon to follow with its RS6. As these cars get faster, so too will the supercars that they are embarrassing. It’s cars like the E63 S that give us petrol heads hope for an exciting future.
Picture: Roarke Bouffe
