2011 Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG Review

It’s hard to argue that Mercedes is not one the major driving force between the integration of style, luxury and performance. Yes there are other companies who can easily compete in their range, but the three pointed star is still the king of the bunch.

If we were looking for a word to sum up our emotions concerning the new 2011, ecstasy, gorgeous and sexy would be the least of them. It’s hard to deny that after years of being in the R&D clinic for regular checkups that the 8th generation E63 AMG hasn’t got a few things going for it. But before we spill all our emotions about the car over those pages, we’ll just get into the details and let you decide.

Since generation seven, Mercedes has done an outstanding job of refining the E Class series, and from the E350 right down to the E-Cabrio, the E Class is a work of art. It’s not hard to tell that many a heads rolled in Stuttgart to bring us this piece of near perfection.

It is a bit impossible to imagine that a vehicle could make even the bumpiest roads feel comfortable and as if they were made from glass. It’s truly amazing the work that has gone into the suspension and drive train of the E63 AMG. And if for whatever reason, those do not provide the comfort you are looking for, you can always sweeten the deal with a grand massage given to you by your seat (sorry, happy endings not included).

As said before this is an AMG version so you can imagine that a lot of work went into designing the drive train and suspension for those times when you’re more interested in racing the dude next to you than floating along the highway or city streets. Because of that Mercedes has included the AMG Drive Unit which is located before the gear selector. There are two options to bring the vehicle to the desired condition to those awesome speeds. First you have “Sport” mode and “Sport Plus” mode. As you can imagine, the plus mode does offer extra firmness to the ride as well as brings out the true AMG in the vehicle. On a side note, because of the distribution of the weight as well as the fact that the car is front-engine with rear wheel drive configurations, Mercedes had to opt for air suspension for the rear wheels to smooth out the ride instead of going with the leaf spring option (which would require them to return to Chrysler for help involving that).

So all the technical crap aside, it basically translates into a better ride, one that is not too soft since we’re still dealing with front coil suspensions and for air suspension for the back. It might sound simple but after viewing the breakdown of the suspension system and then driving in the vehicle, you really appreciate the time that was spent on this, after all you are paying $90,000+ for this vehicle (oops did we say that too soon).

On to the matter of the transmission, it has long been a disputed fact that BMW M5’s six speed manual transmissions was the best money could buy. We can’t necessarily disagree with that as the M5 has nailed the 6-speed manual. However, it cannot be said that BMW’s dual-clutch box is a puny counterpart. We’re dealing with a 7-speed automatic transmission that’s AMG powered, and yes that doesn’t say much about reputation, but seeing these are not the days when Mercedes transmissions totally sucked (thanks in part to its Chrysler association), and nothing beats real world examples, and thankfully it has proven that this is indeed an awesome option. In the end it will depend on what you rather more, the BMW option or the AMG option, however, we can say with all certainty that it will be nearly impossible to find a better option.

One of the things that we like so much about the transmission is the fact that you have different modes. For instance, there is comfort mode, which as the name sounds shifts gears a lot smoother than sport mode which holds gears longer of course Sport Plus is even longer. In all honest it would be awesome if we could see this type of transmission performance on all AMG models. Hopefully Mercedes will pick up a few cues and do so.

Thankfully there is manual mode so you can shift gears manually, and by manual we mean full manual control of all gears and shifting. And in case you wanted to know, the shifting is 100 milliseconds. Yeah, it might be slower than other market options, but you don’t get the luxury of the Mercedes line. So yeah, we dare you to find something more awesome.

You get the option to choose RS mode which Mercedes claims is the quickest way to go from 0-60mph. Of course, unless you have a computer to record your time, it will be next to impossible to tell the difference. But the RS mode on the transmission is great for distributing torque and horsepower evenly so there is minimal wheel spin, and we’re sure it’s enough to wow your friends.

Onto the engine, it’s inevitable to compare 518 horses and 465 pound-feet-of-torque to the other offerings on the market. But before we do we’ll tell your horsepower and torque are not all, and I’m sure any car enthusiast will agree. We’re dealing with a 6.2 liter, direct injection V8 terror, something that peaks at 6800rpm’s. More importantly, it gets you from 0-60 in 4.5 seconds while completing the quarter mile in just 12.7. Thanks to the limit on speed, the vehicle tops out at about 191mph, and no we’re not going to advise removing that limit, although it would be nice to see it top the 200mph mark. There are few words we could use to express the awesomeness of the engine’s sound. If you crave that beast hissing sound even at idles, you’ll get more than enough from the E63 AMG.

Onto the inside of the car, you can expect to find the whole Mercedes fashion inside. We’re still shocked how they blended sport and performance into the E63 AMG. Sitting in the driver or front passengers seat, you feel like Bentley and BMW had an affair and their offspring was the E63 AMG. The inside is the perfect blend of luxurious materials and that dark sport feel. The seats are comfortable and if you missed it before, they massage as well as heating and cooling. Climate control, ambient lighting, we’re just touching the surface. If we had to pick a word to sum up the interior it would be stunning.

When it all comes down to it and we pull ourselves back into reality, the question is posed, is the E63 AMG worth it? We can’t deny the fact that this is a stellar vehicle and most naturally most of those who would even consider buying this machine would be buying it cash (or near that at least). So no I wouldn’t justify you taking out a loan to buy the vehicle, no matter how awesome it is, However, if you have a couple thousands or millions lying around and not sure what to do with it, you just might be pleasantly surprised at the offering of the E63 AMG, given you are prepared to fork over $93,000 for the premium feel of the vehicle.