Merc with all the right stuff

was difficult to keep calm knowing that under the bonnet I had 380kw waiting to roar.

When the sound coming from the four exhaust pipes was not influencing me, the best I managed was 13l/ 100km and when my foot was glued to the accelerator, my consumption shot up to 17.3l/100km. I became a regular at the petrol station near my house and I am still apologising to my wife for draining our account.

When the vehicle was not drinking petrol, my attention was on its technology.

The AMG comes standard with lots of features such as navigation, an SD memory slot, CD, Bluetooth, two USB ports, an Aux slot, keyless start, adaptive cruise control, lane monitor, multifunction sports steering wheel with AMG tag on it, shift paddles, cruise control, touch pad to control media and screen, 360 degree camera, analogue clock on the dash to mention but a few.

At night the panoramic sliding sunroof brings in natural light to create ambience, but should this not be enough, the car comes with lighting colour options.

My four- year- old daughter loved this feature because at night the colours in the car kept changing from orange/gold, turquoise/lime green and brown/grey. And if you go to shopping centres such as Sandton City and forget where you parked the car, the locator illumination will help to detect where it’s parked.

This Mercedes-Benz comes with apps that can also be utilised but that’s only possible after a lengthy registration process and authentication from Merc using the VIN number. Once set up, sites such as Google, Facebook and Twitter can be easily accessed. One can also bookmark favourite sites and get internet radio with your phone set as a personal hot spot.

The car also offers four languages, English, Spanish, French and Portuguese and in the near future we hope Mercedes will consider including some South African local languages.

With so much technology I’m surprised it cannot drive itself.

A lesson that I have to learn over and over again in life is that, we must never say never because I have been one of the critical people who’ve always judged those who buy expensive cars. I’ve always called them names and said they waste money, but now after experi- encing this beast, I found myself excited and dreaming.

Test driving cars has been part of my life for a few years now and not many cars have left me with this feeling... but somehow this car inspired me, it made me want to work harder, dream and want more.

But sadly I’m just a humble photojournalist and this R1.4 million monster might be just a dream? How much is a Lotto ticket?

This is probably the most common view other drivers will have of the awesome Mercedes Benz AMG C63 S.