Speed demon in a luxury sedan’s body
There’s simply no way a car this big and heavy can accelerate with such force. At more than 2,180 kilograms, with an overall length of 5,255 millimetres, the Mercedes-AMG S 63 has more in common with a houseboat than a sports car.
And yet this four-door super sedan can outrun some elite performance machines, tearing through 100 kilometres per hour in as few as 3.5 seconds.
This magnum-calibre Merc is equal parts flagship luxury sedan, muscle car and physics-defying science experiment.
Ahand-built heart
Delivering merciless-yet-silken acceleration is a handmade 4.0litre V8. Tuned for S-Class duty, it serves up 603 horsepower and a massive 664 pound-feet of peak torque.
It features a pair of twin-scroll turbochargers nestled in the V8. Cramming them in the centre of the engine bay rather than hanging a blower off each cylinder head provides reduced exhaust emissions and quicker response.
Curiously, this engine is under-square, meaning its bore is smaller than the stroke. Generally, this sort of configuration helps produce extra low-speed torque and is more thermally efficient.
Nein-speed automatic
Cylinder deactivation shuts half the pots down under light loads while engine stop-start kills combustion when the vehicle isn’t moving to further cut consumption. A small lithiumion battery replaces a tradition- al lead-acid unit, while the spare-tire well is made of carbon fibre, both of which save weight.
Further improving both acceleration and efficiency is an AMG Speedshift nine-speed automatic gearbox. For enhanced performance, it features a wet clutch, which is lighter and more responsive.
Unfortunately, this gearbox isn’t always the smoothest. It can judder a bit while taking off from a stop. Step off also seems soft in normal driving.
3 … 2 … 1 … Blast off!
Newly available in the S 63 is Race Start, a feature that makes it as easy to get to 100 in fewer than four seconds as it is to drive with two feet. The automaker advises against using this feature on the street, but in truth, the experience is so straightforward, so absent of frightening drama, there’s little reason not to give it a shot on an empty stretch of dry road. You’ll be dumbfounded how such a large car can accelerate with such ferocity.
Benchmark quality
S-Class has set the standard for cabin quality in the luxury segment and the S 63 continues to push the bar even higher. The gorgeous perforated leather is slathered across the chairs, dash, and doors like gold leaf on the ceiling of a cathedral; the metal tweeter grilles with the optional Burmester sound system twist outward in an electronic ballet rivalling Swan Lake.
You can treat your rear-seat passengers to world-class amenities such as massaging buckets; a two-screen entertainment system; as well as heated door-panel and centre-console armrests.
But perhaps the bigger news is the addition of two touch-sensitive buttons on the steering wheel spokes. They let you easily swipe through different menus in the instrument cluster or even control the entire multimedia system. This helps make a complicated system just a little easier to operate.
The sheer amount of technology offered in this car is mindbending. You could spend hours scrolling through one menu after another, changing the balance of the seat heaters, choosing one of 64 different colours for the ambient lighting system, adjusting the how the gauges are displayed. The breadth and depth of the features on offer is challenging to grasp.
One potential downside to this car’s dense features content and/or quality construction is connectivity. In testing, it behaved almost like a rolling Faraday cage, magically blocking cellular service, particularly when the signal was at less than full-strength. Curiously, I had to roll the windows down on more than one occasion to complete a phone call or access 4G/LTE data.
The drive
The S 63 is down to boogie any time, at any speed, in any gear.
Helping tailor the car’s performance to your mood, four different drive modes are offered: Comfort, Sport, Sport+ and Individual. Naturally, the last one allows you tweak various vehicle setting to your liking. Much appreciated are discrete controls for the variable exhaust system, suspension and three-stage ESP
Given its performance pedigree, this car handles remark- ably well for something with the footprint of a garbage truck. S 63s feature an extra dose of front-wheel camber, a bigger stabilizer bar and more rigid subframe mounts at the rear to help tighten things up. This S-Class remains remarkably poised in every driving situation.
The verdict
Storming down an Autobahn at triple-digit speed, taking your spouse out for a night at the opera, heading on a crosscountry drive: the S 63 can do it all while offering borderline-obscene comfort and enough engagement to keep driving enthusiasts interested.
Thanks to its broad range of capabilities this roadgoing missile is breaking all the rules.