Mercedes-AMG S 63 E Performance, the perfect car?!?

The perfect car, that’s a very heavy title to bear. Can AMG’s view of the S-Class really be the perfect car? Does the perfect car even exist? If so, how close was the Mercedes-AMG S 63 E Performance to the title? Let us dig a little bit deeper into this.

History

The first ever Mercedes S-Class came on stage more than 50 years ago! The S stands for the German word “Sonder” which translates into “Super”. The most safe, the most luxurious, the most expensive, the most reliable, the most technologically advanced. All of these things are getting combined into one car. The S-Class. The most powerful could also be included since the W220 was the first to get the AMG treatment.

The perfect car, but …

Maybe not the perfect S-Class. At the CJ headquarters, we had a heavy discussion about this car! I’m talking about the best car EVER and they keep repling “It’s not even the best S-Class”. Do you know what?!? We’re both right. This Mercedes-AMG S 63 E Performance isn’t the best S-Class, this AMG derivative of the S-Class is just not comfy enough to win that title! Our men, Beau, once tested the Mercedes-Benz S580e and to be honest: that car was just next-level driving comfort. That car was like floating through air and this S 63 just isn’t.

“But Kenny, you’re wrong. This isn’t the perfect car”. No guys, you are wrong. Yes, this isn’t the most comfy S-Class out there, but it still scores a solid A. The S 63 AMG will still make a premium German car (like a 5 series, A6 and E-Class) feel like a brick on wheels even though those cars already have a great amount of comfort. And the little bit of comfort the S 63 sacrifices for the immense power and handling it got instead, that’s mindblowing!

This extreme S-Class needs to pull almost 2,6 tons and you would think this car handles like a container ship, but you would be wrong -again-. No, it ain’t a Lotus Elise, Toyota GR86 or Alpine A110. It ain’t no 911 or Jaguar F-Type R eighter, but I reckon it could follow an Audi RS6 or BMW M5 on a twisty B-road if it had to. The 4.0-liter biturbo V8 produces 612 hp and 900 Nm of torque and is linked to a 190 hp and 320 Nm electric engine to give a combined power output of 802 (!) hp and 1.430 Nm of torque. In an S-Class! This boss-S can hit 100 km/h in 3,3 seconds thanks to four-wheel drive and a lighting-fast 9-speed AMG-Speedshift gearbox and up to a limited top speed of 250 km/h (or 290 km/h, if you give Mercedes-AMG even more money). The electric motor in this car focuses on sportivity and not efficiency, the proof for that is a battery of 13,1 kWh good for -a theoretical- 33 kilometers. The electric boost gives you instant acceleration and response on the gas pedal, but the strangest thing is: if you told me this was 650 hp, I would have believed it. 800+ sounds so scary, but somehow it isn’t in this S-Class.

Massive

The Mercedes-AMG S 63 E Performance comes exclusively as a long wheelbase car, which means it has a total length of over 5,3 meters. Combine that with a width of almost 2 meters and you get a mastodon of a car. Don’t get scared, the turning circle is pretty decent. This bigass car gets a bigass Panamericana-styled, modern AMG grill and I personally don’t like the look of it. It looks so extremely after-market. You could almost think that it’s tuned by a Polish “tuner” -read: small garage around the corner- and they installed the grill afterwards. I would have believed it. Personally, I like the grill of the previous gen (W222) or the non-AMG better. But, that’s probably me being -or acting- old again.

Moving to the side of the vehicle and the massive wheelbase of 3,2 meters instantly catches your eye. The car is so ridiculously long. Just like the normal S-Class, the S 63 has door handles that disappear into the bodywork to provide a very slick and elegant look to the whole car. You could even argue about the AMG badging on the side being something that disturbs that clean look. At the back, the S 63 E Performance gets the “AMG representative” rear diffuser and 4 ornamental, square-read: fake- exhaust tips. But, we are cool with that because even with all the regulations around CO2, this car sounds awesome for a luxury saloon.

Lucky bastard times two

I was the lucky bastard in our team to test drive the mindblowing S 63 AMG, but also our boy Tommy had the chance to take it for a spin (and made a little movie about it). But, I’m not talking about us being the 2 lucky bastards. No, somewhere in the world some big CEO-dude will order the Mercedes-AMG S 63 E Performance for his driver to get from A to B at groundbreaking speeds and in immense comfort. The driver will feel the fantastic steering wheel with the typical AMG buttons and will never want another car. The driver-aids, but also the massaged, heated and ventilated seats and big infotainment system will only help the driver do his job that much better. The only thing I wasn’t really feeling was the 3D digital dashboard in front of your nose. It made me feel nauseous, maybe I need to get my eyes checked.

The bossmen will sit in the back with an extreme amount of leg and headroom, let the chair tilt a little bit and start working in his mobile workspace. Maybe more important is the fact that there is a second seat in the back (and no, that ain’t special) for the beautiful secretary (and that’s important for all kinds of business-things). Also important to note is the fact there will be just enough space for his golf sticks in the boot.

Just like the power

What is just like the power output? The price! Every 1 horsepower will cost you just over 278 euros (BE) and if you start adding some options -yeah, you still can take a lot of options on this car- you will easly pass 335 euros per 1 hp. In normal language, this means: it starts at 223.000 euros and our model was north of 270.000 euros (BE). I have a hard time with the fact you can still select over 50.000 euros in optional extras when the car is already over 200.000 to start from, and you aren’t shopping at the higly exclusive brand.

Conclusion

We started the article with the question: is the Mercedes-AMG S 63 E Performance the perfect car? The answer is: yes. The car can do literally everything a car should do. It has enough space, it’s extremely fast and has more than a decent amount of comfort. So the car gets a perfect report.