Mercedes-amg E63 S
A kerbed wheel, and a growing admiration for AMG’S 604bhp V8
LANE SIX AT HEATHROW’S TERMINAL 2 short stay car park is a sneaky barsteward. It knew that I knew that it was there, lurking in the shadows, its entry late and on a bit of an acute angle. I doubt it knows the E63 S has such poor steering lock, but I do know it enjoyed roughing up the outer edge of a 20-inch diamond-cut wheel. Bollocks.
It’s a horrible noise and an awful sensation. Like all such incidents, it plays out in slow motion, brain frozen and unable to tell your limbs to react to avoid the inevitable impact. ‘I should get him to stop and reassess but I can’t. I can’t stop him from smearing soft aluminium against hard stone. Perhaps it won’t be as bad as he thinks it’s going to be. It doesn’t sound bad. Hardly felt it.’ Stupid brain.
It was bad; every wheel kerbing is bad, worse when it’s avoidable. And now it glares at me every time I approach the driver’s door. The bright metalwork shines back like an open flesh wound, standing out from the dull brake dust worn by the rest of the wheel. A look of ‘How could you?’ I know, I’m sorry AWG, it won’t happen again. I hope.
A blemish. The first and hopefully the last as the miles continue to rack up apace as the industry wakes from its Covid slumber. Airport runs, factory visits and events wider afield call for more wheel time. More early starts and late runs home. More time to appreciate just how all-encompassing the E63 is. Practical too, as the six-foot dining-room table that slid effortlessly through the boot opening and across the folded rear seats confirmed. Who needs an estate? Other than the dog, of course.
Running a 4-litre, twin-turbo V8 during a period when fuel prices are reaching for the skies has resulted in some light-right-foot driving and a little more searching for less profiteering forecourts of late. It’s amazing what you can get from an E63 S motor, though, with one recent trip returning 29.7mpg on a drive that wasn’t as souldestroying as it sounds.
This is an engine with such reach and flexibility yet with no sacrifice to delivering on what its numbers promise. Each passing mile and every trip highlights the limitations of its rivals’ equivalent V8s, an RS6/7’S motor feeling a little anodyne in comparison, an M5’s larger 4.4-litre engine lacking the whip-crack firepower, unless it’s in a CS. It feels like this engine was made for this car before being distributed around the wider AMG family.
Date acquired November 2021 Total mileage 11,541 Mileage this month 1554 Costs this month £0 mpg this month 22.2