German Car Forum

And they said that rear looked Korean!

Looks super sexy..

Stuttgart, Germany – As I was accelerating towards 250 km/h on the autobahn last week in the new Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG, I wondered what would happen when I reached its 250 km/h electronic speed limiter. Would it sound an alarm? Would the engine power be cut off abruptly or smoothly? Would I feel a loss of control? Would I feel cheated?

Unfortunately, I never found out: just as I reached 240 km/h, a “slow-moving” Opel appeared in front of me doing about 180 km/h – and took his time getting out of my way. Yes, even the autobahn has its left-lane bandits!

Germany’s high-speed freeways are definitely more crowded these days - if you want to go really fast, you have to pick the right time of day – or if you’re really brave and have good headlights – go in the middle of the night.

My fearless passenger and co-driver, Rob Rothwell, managed to snap a shot of the E63’s speedometer at 228 km/h with the tachometer hovering around 4,300 r.p.m. (I was too scared to take my eyes off the road to read the speedometer). It’s clear that with a redline of 7,200 r.p.m., the E63’s actual top speed would be well over 250 km/h. In fact, in Germany, AMG offers an optional “Driver’s Package” on the new 2010 E63 with a 300 km/h speed limiter, suggesting that the top speed is over 300 km/h! The package includes a mandatory high-speed driver training course at the AMG Driving Academy in Germany. Das ist gut!

You could argue, with some conviction, that these numbers are meaningless (not to mention illegal) in Canada. But you could also argue that any mid-size sedan capable of travelling, accelerating, and braking at autobahn speeds will offer vastly superior handling, braking, and stability at legal North American highway speeds. And that the reason German performance sedans have such a good reputation for vehicle dynamics, high speed stability, and safety is the absence of speed limits on (portions of) Germany’s autobahns.

Still, in a world now focused on reducing carbon dioxide emissions, excessive fuel consumption, and harmful exhaust emissions, a 518 horsepower mid-size sedan with a 6.2-litre V8 engine, a zero to 100 km/h time of 4.5 seconds, and average (NEDC-spec) fuel economy of 12.6 L/100 km (22 mpg Imperial) isn’t exactly a poster child for social responsibility.

Aware of this, Mercedes-Benz AMG spokespersons at the E63’s introduction made a special effort to emphasize that the new 2010 E63 AMG offers 12% better fuel economy than the previous model which had basically the same engine, and is the most fuel-efficient 500+hp sedan in its class. The gains in fuel efficiency were made possible by new cylinder wall coatings that reduce piston friction, more accurate delivery of fuel, and a revised alternator. As well, improved aerodynamics and a new seven-speed wet clutch transmission with lower rotational inertia than the previous 7G-TRONIC seven-speed automatic contribute to the improved fuel economy.

But with a suggested retail price expected to be in the $120,000 range (the 2009 E63 MSRP was $121,100), fuel economy is not likely to be a big concern for E63 buyers. And you could argue that with such a limited number of AMG models on the road, their contribution to global warming will be marginal. But I wouldn’t bother trying to convince David Suzuki of this.……

CanadianDriver First Drives First Drive: 2010 Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG

^Sorry but this car is just drop dead BADASS!

No need to be sorry It's pretty badass indeed, can't wait to finally see it in the metal..

I still have to get used to the exhaust though. It sometimes looks like they are not alligned properly or something, but that most definitely is because of the squarish shape.....

What an amazing car and the new exhaust look amazing!!

Body kit is too boxy, I like the older generation more.

and ya, the exhaust is very awkward indeed, just focusing on them.

That is the same thing I was thinking. The E63 AMG is a wonderful car, but the exhaust is unsettling.

They just look not proportioned right or something (the exhaust). I just think M-B didn't put as much attention into proportions on this W212 as they have in the past, which is pretty upsetting.

I'm curious, what parts do you feel are disproportionate?

I love those exhausts, much more original and elegant than the previous oval ones. I think they really look fantastic.

Same here, very artfully resolved as an actual styling feature of an otherwise bland rear-end. Rather this than the old quad-bazooka thing - which was a little crass for an E-Class.

Besides me thinking the overall look of this cars proportions are relatively awkward, I think the E63 don't flow too well with each other, and just sit awkwardly, maybe not insanely, but they're certainly not clean. Also the headlights, they look awfully immature and non proportioned with each other. The inside one angles to closely toward the grille in relation to the outer one (they just both seem like they're doing their own things). I've stared at them for seemingly hours trying to figure out a method to the madness, but I just think it's sloppy, personally.

The acceleration seem to be the same as previous E63

From AMS:

Extremely dynamic yet with ample space and lots of comfort....

...looks like they have a winner. They didn't like the costs and milage, but those things are given.

I do think they look nice and special. It's just sometimes, under certain conditions, they look off from eachother. But that's only in pics, as I have yet to see this beast IRL.

BTW, in regards to my post about the "off" proportions on the W212, I just want to post a couple pictures which kind of (to me) show what I'm talking about, apologies for going O/T:

I don't know if it's the angle or what, but this particular picture shows the awkwardness, and makes the car look frankly fat and hideous IMO, but admittedly, it's a bizarrely bad pic:


And this angle shows off the abundance of lines, and how the clunky headlights lack in coherency:

Oh my...I think I see what you mean. That is not good at all. The E-class is still very "iffy" in my book. I've seen it in person and it doesn't seem bad in photos, but other times it looks just odd. Doesn't look like a Mercedes-Benz at all in that photo. I see more CTS in it then ever before.

The proportions aren't perfect, but come on guys...that side profile pic is distorted.

M

THat's some weird wide angle shot or something. Not representative imo

Guys, we always discuss the design, what we like and dislike. Its a E63, a perforamcne car, lets focus on performance for a while

PS I was in Copenhagen the other day and the new E-class has become the new car for taxi drivers. Taxi E-class'es were all over the city

I hope so, because it doesn't look good at all in that photo.




I "kinda" like the E63 AMG appearance, but other then the engineering achievements and superb interior...I would never get one. Now the W211 Yes..

The C63 & S63 AMG have such a smooth and welcoming appearance, where the E63 AMG has that straight forward "Just jump in me don't worry about how I look" exterior. For the first time in History I am actually looking more towards the next M5 then this E63 AMG. Only Boxy Benz that was ever exceptable to me was the W140.

This is not to say that the E63 AMG isn't an amazing car, but design wise Benz did not go in the design direction "I" was hoping for...

Agreed wholeheartedly in every way there.

I'm just gonna have to accept that the W212 is out, and I've seen some I like, but all in all it's not a great M-B design, and doesn't have that "M-B" road presence, the couple I've seen (I'm shocked I haven't seen more in L.A yet) I've had to REALLY blink and double check a few times to make sure it wasn't a Lexus/Camry/Hyundai, etc. etc. Very non-descript from other cars with current styling.

On the plus side this car has made me love the W221 a lot more, now I'm really really wanting one.

Sorry for O/T again, just wanted to add that in and I'm done.

vs M5 and XFR test done by AMS. As fast as M5 till 120km/hr, but then falls back. Slower in slalom and other handling test. Takes longer to brake too. But I guess it gets better fuel consumption (but worse than XFR). So yea seems like it performs worse than the 5 year old M5.





RS6 test by AMS. E63 is surprisingly as expensive. Does any one know what the 138k price for E63 is? Seems too hight for 'as tested price' since the option list is not too long.

Was this a comparison or are they two seperate tests?

In reality, is this car gonna be that much faster, if at all faster than the W211 E63? It has marginal HP gains, and I'm sure the weight is up, if it is at all faster, I'd probably credit it to the tweaked tranny. Also to note, the 2003 era E55 is probably not gonna be much slower than it stock for stock, perhaps maybe even a tad quicker in the 1/4 (it's a drivers game against a W211 E63, with maybe a bit of an advantage in a 1/4 drag).

Still a great performer though, and I'm sure the handling will be improved a little, but the regular W212 doesn't out slalom or out brake the regular W211 (exact same numbers), so I wonder if the E63 won't show improvements in those areas as well.

Face it, cars are getting so damn fast, it's gonna be harder and harder to top.