V8 sports sedans used to be as common as anything in Australia,
but times sure are changing. Nowadays you want to get into a big booming V8,
you've got to spend big bucks on a car like this, the newly updated Mercedes AMG E63S.
Time to go check out a quarter million dollars worth of white noise.
The current W213 generation E63S has been around in Australia since 2017. That's when we pitched
it into a road and track compared against the Porsche Panamera turbo. It was a battle of the
heavyweights the Porsche just edged. The most obvious way to pick the new E63 is by its AMG
signature Pan America nose and once inside, this leery looking twin spar steering wheel.
Delve deeper and you'll find AMG has left the fire breathing 4 litre V8 twin turbo engine,
9 speed auto, and variable all-wheel drive system alone. Which is absolutely fine because this is
a massive drivetrain that truly lives up to the traditional AMG loud and proud mantra.
Benz claims an unchanged 0-100 km an hour time of 3.4 seconds and it's truly believable.
This thing punches like Muhammad Ali.
So that's all good, but there are some technical changes under the skin.
In particular, AMG's delved into the ride quality of the E63S.
Back in 2017, its rough and tough behaviour in even its most absorbent air suspension setting
was a key reason it lost that comparo to the Porsche. But AMG has done a heap of
calibration work since then and the E63S is now comfortable when you select comfort mode.
It's still not a magic carpet ride but you can live with it day-to-day.
Dial up the suspension and it's familiar unforgiving AMG stuff, suitable for smooth
roads and race tracks only. All up though, this thing loves hunting out corners as much and it
loves munching up straights. AMG has also done some work updating the technology of the E63S.
The spectacular wide-screen cockpit has always been here, but now it incorporates the latest
MBUX interactive infotainment tech and a new controller setup between the front seats.
Hey Mercedes.
Speaker 2: How may I help you?
Tell me the external temperature please.
The outside temperature is 36 degrees Celsius.
Phew, warm.
Then there's augmented reality display that overlays the sat nav screen with vision from
the forward looking camera, as well as some helpful graphics.
So where have we ended up? Well, to be honest, this is not the most significant mid-life update
we've ever sampled, but the E63S was a good thing already and the changes that have been made
are all for the better. Really, its just a chance to remind ourselves
how great big burly V8 sedans really are. It's really worth making a noise about.