MERCEDES-AMG E63 S
BUCKING THE TREND
LACHLAN TAKES A LOOK AT THE LATEST CREATION FROM MERCEDES-BENZ, A NEW VERSION OF AN OLD FAVOURITE, THE AM GE 63, NOW WITH AN SON THE END
Alot is being said about the future of motoring. Selfdrive this, electric that. Soon enough, we’ll all be passengers in electric cabs being efficiently shuttled from one place to the next, with nary a concern about parking, bad driving, or registration and insurance costs in sight. But, as we apparently zoom towards this new era of road use, I look around our roads and I see quite the opposite. I see a plethora of uninspired vans, hatchbacks, and sedans, driven by people who probably don’t want to be behind the wheel but are forced to be there. They aren’t particularly interested in driving but see it as a necessity in modern life. And fair enough, too. Without this new era of transport to get them from one place to the next with the ease and comfort that we’re told we’ll see from our automated fleet of Uber cars, and with the woeful public transport options offered by every town and city across New Zealand, there are very few options but to buy one of the thousands of used imports flooding into New Zealand every month.
So, while the masses await the arrival of this new dawn, it seems that those of us who enjoy driving, who love the smell of benzine, and who appreciate form and function when it comes to automotive design are left looking backwards, remembering the good old days.
As it turns out, it needn’t be so. For as much as Silicon Valley continues its line of self-driven ease, there are some pig-headed geniuses who are still barking up the tree that is driven by passion and fossil fuel. At the forefront of this is Mercedes-benz’s high-performance division, AMG.
Its latest creation is a new version of an old favourite, the AMG E63 — now with an S on the end.
Power and performance
We’ll start with the good news. The new E63 (S) proves once again that the old adage about displacement being irreplaceable is now gone. The new version does things bigger, better, and faster, all while powered by a smaller, more efficient 4.0-litre V8 twin-turbo engine good for 450kw and 850Nm of torque. Those numbers seem entirely mad when you consider that this engine is down the equivalent displacement of a Toyota Yaris since its last iteration.
And now the bad news. It’s not a biggie, but enough to irk. The car comes standard with five high-visibility vests in the boot. So that means that someone in Germany has made it their mission to ensure that each and every new Mercedes is shipped from the factory with several highvisibility vests. And, in this, a car capable of getting to triple the speed limit in less time than it takes to take said vest from its high-vis packing and put it on, is perhaps a nod to the self-drive revolution and a ‘safety-first’ mentality (although I truly believe that this is a front from a number
If there is a person mad enough to want to unleash all those kilowatts at a track, there is a way this clever-clogs AMG can force all of the power through the rear wheels — by engaging Drift Mode
of companies) creeping into our world of beastly performance and seemingly endless horsepower.
The new E63 S is the first all-wheeldrive version for AMG, something it calls ‘4Matic’. So why did an all-wheel-drive system slip in there? While it’s a lot of fun to go sideways around a track, very few owners of these high-performance sedans will ever go anywhere near such a facility. Instead, they will take their big haulers from the city to the beach, to the mountain and beyond. They’ll want traction, lightning-quick passing capability, and a bit of assurance in the corners. They’ll also undoubtedly appreciate the sub-three-second zero to 100kph time that this car is capable of, thanks in no small part to this all-wheeldrive system. Top speed is limited to 250kph, a speed that is reached in just over 14 seconds. A standing quarter-mile will happen in 11.1 seconds, and the big AMG will throw the anchors out at 120kph and be stopped within 50m.
And if there is a person mad enough to want to unleash all those kilowatts at a track, there is a way that this cleverclogs AMG can force all of the power through the rear wheels — by engaging Drift Mode. Of course, we didn’t attempt to engage such a foolhardy feature. Mainly due to the fact that we didn’t quite make it to the track. Maybe next time, Mercedes. Around town This is all very impressive and will undoubtedly be handy on Shortland Street, Victoria Street, or Lambton Quay at 5.30 in the evening, but the E63 impresses almost as much at a dawdle as it does at white-knuckle speeds.
With a nine-speed gearbox, a bit of start-stop technology, and myriad driving modes, the E63 is surprisingly frugal, with 5km/litre being standard across all driving types.
On that nine-speed box — it might seem that this number is getting out of hand, but the ratios are about perfect for New Zealand roads, so perhaps the new 10-speed units being produced aren’t all that ridiculous after all. Tech crunch A big part of buying a new car these days is the technology available. For better or worse, the spiritual leader of automotive writers around the world is Jeremy Clarkson. He irreverent, arrogant, funny, and has an eye for trends in cars. He once said that the tech found on a Mercedes-benz S- Class today will find its way into everyday road cars in about 10 years. These days, the top tech available in the S- Class is more widely spread, but
the sentiment remains; Mercedes-benz is at the pinnacle of the automotive tech business.
Our photographer Adam pointed out that the dash cluster and centre screen in the E63 are what appear to be an enormous, long, smartphone screen. We then discussed at length how the installation process might work. Awkwardly, was the consensus. While the content on the screen is cool, interesting, and aesthetically perfect, the design of this part of the car itself seems a bit clunky. Ten years ago, ginormous screens weren’t part of the design process; now they are vital to stay one step ahead of the competition and to ensure that we have a screen in front of us at all times. Vital to modern living.
So, there are power and G-meters; there are fuel and tyre data for Africa; there is even a screen that tells you the time and another part that tells you how much fuel remains. These are important, but in a car with this kind of power, making the noises it does, looking the way it does, the tech is secondary to what the E63 is really for. It’s for us, you and I. People who love cars. It’s a true joy to drive. Sure, it’s not as comfortable as a normal E-class, or as cheap as one either, but this fire-breathing German brings a glimmer of hope to a sometimes hopeless world of high-vis-vestwearing fun police.