A Mercedes supercar station wagon?
Its resume reads like an overachieving supercar.
A twin-turbocharged V-8 stomps 577 horsepower to all four wheels; zero-to-60 mph in 3.6 seconds; and a sticker price that speeds past $100,000 for a station wagon that seats five comfortably.
Wait, what was that last part?
Yes, for the few buyers who crave a vehicle that can haul the entire family to a night at the movies fast enough to earn them a night in jail instead, MercedesBenz would like to offer the E63 S AMG station wagon.
Trouble is, that’s a short list of people. Around 130 — if we’re counting — drove home in one of these beasts in the U.S. in 2013. Toyota sold the same number of Camrys every three hours in 2013.
So why does Mercedes build this car?
To hear the brand tell it, the question should be: Why wouldn’t Mercedes build this car? All the pieces already exist in its workshop, so the tri-star brand faced almost no development costs to bolt together the E63 wagon. The media attention a 577-horsepower station wagon brings the brand shouldn’t be discounted either.
This AMG hyper-wagon traces its roots to the Mercedes E350 4Matic wagon, an all-wheel-drive V-6 model that serves as the perfect host, and which the brand was building in quantity anyway. Mercedes then shoehorned in a 5.5-liter, twin-turbocharged, all-aluminum, hand-built masterpiece of an engine.
This power plant also happens to be in a vast majority of other AMG products, ranging from the ML mid-size SUV to the S63 fullsize sedan. The engine uses direct-injection and a start/ stop system, providing enough fuel economy to avoid any gas guzzler tax.
This means the E63 AMG wagon starts at a cool $103,295, though our tester added options including a carbon fiber engine cover, red nappa leather seats, and a grab-bag of tech goodies like adaptive cruise control, active lane-keeping assist, and collision avoidance braking, bringing the total to $113,675.
For that money you get the fastest wagon in the land, with a top speed of 186 mph.
Yet the car is surprisingly docile, considering the anger lurking underneath. The seven-speed automatic transmission has three automatic modes — Comfort, Sport and Sport Plus — and another fully-manual mode. In Sport Plus, the otherwise forgettable luxury station wagon uncorks itself toward the horizon with a fury normally reserved for drag racing. Before you know it, you’re in the next county. Or jail.
That kind of acceleration — and the grip necessary to contain it — are the reasons Mercedes made all-wheeldrive standard on all EClass AMG models for 2014.
Thankfully, the car also turns with reasonable ease. This wagon’s driving habits do a fair imitation of a rearwheel-drive car, thanks to the all-wheel-drive system directing two-thirds of the engine’s power to the rear wheels. Meanwhile, the steering is direct and communicates well with the road.
Helping the E63 AMG wagon’s appeal is its look. For 2014, the car got the same (much-needed) midlife nip-and-tuck as the rest of the E-Class lineup. The refresh adds some curves and grace to a car that previously had the severity of an overbearing headmaster.
Because Mercedes added all-wheel-drive to this E63 wagon’s recipe for 2014, the brand expects those meager 130 sales to increase by as much as 25% in 2014 — to a whopping 162 new buyers, many of whom will be in California, unquestionably AMG’s strongest market.
So be careful the next time a station wagon challenges you at a stoplight.