Mercedes-Benz India have launched the new E 63 AMG in the country. We got behind its wheel recently and took it out for a spin around the Buddh International Circuit
THE MERCEDES E 63 AMG, launched recently, is a sports car disguised as a luxury sedan; in other words, a four-door luxury sedan that can turn into a sports car on demand. It is based on the new E-Class, which has received a comprehensive facelift and was launched in India last month, but the E 63 AMG features many upgrades in styling and equipment and is powered by an AMG-developed V8 engine, which is two-and-a-half times more powerful than the top variant of the standard car!
The most striking change in design in this car is at the front end, where it has a more aggressive grille and bumper with a chrome strip on their inner border and a front splitter at the lower end of the bumper. It gets 10-spoke (18-inch) AMG wheels as standard and the air vents behind the front wheel-arches have the ‘V8 BITURBO’ badge of the engine next to them. At the rear, the car has the AMG sports exhaust with four chrome-finished mufflers in sets of two and a rear diffuser between them, while the boot-lid carries the E 63 and AMG badges. The car also comes with carbon-fibre panels on the exterior as well as inside the cabin.
The interior is all black with silverlined switches and a-c vents and the upholstery is stitched in nappa leather, with perforations in the centre for ventilation. The driver gets a three-spoke AMG performance steering wheel with aluminium paddle-shifters. There is AMG embossing on the door-sills and seats and an AMG-specific analogue clock on the fascia. The instrument cluster includes three analogue pods behind the steering wheel and an 11.4-cm TFT multifunction display in the centre of the dashboard, which houses the AMG main menu, including RACETIME, AMG start-up screen and a speedometer dial. Other noteworthy features include the large panoramic sunroof and the LED screens for the second-row passengers.
Safety features include adaptive headlamps, parking assist, eight airbags, ABS, brake assist, ESP, crumple zones, adaptive braking with HOLD function, acceleration skid control (ASR), reversing camera and ATTENTION ASSIST as standard. Needless to say, this car is packed with a comprehensive list of connectivity, comfort and convenience features.
Mercedes-AMG have downsized the naturally aspirated 6.2-litre V8 petrol engine found in the E 63’s predecessor; the new car has a 5.5-litre V8 with twin turbochargers that earn it the BITURBO suffix. It produces a massive 557 PS at 5,500 RPM and a peak torque of 720 Nm is available between 1,750 and 5,250 RPM. The engine is mated to an ‘AMG SPEEDSHIFT MCT (Multi- Clutch Transmission) 7G-Tronic’ seven-speed automatic gearbox, which has four driving modes.
The Buddh International Circuit was an apt venue for this drive, for it gave us the opportunity to experience the full potential of the car. The first noticeable thing upon firing the engine is the drumming sound of the V8, which grew louder as I floored the pedal at the pit-lane exit. It wasn’t the full blast, though, since I was driving in the ‘C’ mode (‘Controlled Efficiency’), so the gearbox kept the engine speed low by shifting up through the gears. It must be mentioned here that the ECO start/stop function works in this mode alone.
The sides of the car’s sports seat closed in on my left side as I took the first right-hander. This feature keeps the driver firmly in place on the seat while going through corners. I also tried the soft and medium settings of the suspension before switching to the stiffest set-up. Pressing the memory button after adjusting the seat and suspension saves the setting until it is changed.
All right, back to the drive. After exiting the last corner of the sighting lap, I turned the E-Select shift-wheel of the transmission to ‘S’ for a sportier ride. In the ‘S’ mode, the engine is revved up to 5,500 RPM in each gear before shifting up to achieve top power. Add to that the 720 Nm of peak torque, which is available almost instantly when you press the accelerator pedal and for a good 3,500 RPM, you get blinding acceleration like the one I enjoyed on the start-finish straight. Mercedes-Benz claim 0-100 km/h acceleration in 4.2 seconds for the E 63 AMG, which makes it one of the fastest cars in the country, but, of course, that is yet to be verified. The AMG steering wheel is very sharp and sensitive, so it doesn’t need hard turning, but does need smooth driving.
For the next lap, I switched the transmission to the ‘S+’ mode where the gear-shifts are faster. You can hear the gear-shifts clearly while driving in this mode and they are accompanied by small jerks. I achieved a top speed of close to 240 km/h on the back straight on that lap before slamming the brakes for the sharp right-hander, which was about 10 km/h shy of the electronically restricted top whack of 250 km/h.
The car also has an ‘M’ mode for manual shifts, using the steeringmounted paddle-shifters, and an ‘RS’ mode for ‘Race Starts’, commonly known as launch control, but I stayed in ‘S+’ for optimised and fast gear-shifts.
I experienced a few tail-slides as the E 63 AMG is a rear-wheel-driven car and the Michelins screeched a lot in some of the corners, but the E 63 AMG never lost its composure as the electronic aids take over immediately to make it an easy-to-manoeuvre and fun-to-drive car.
The E 63 AMG’s claimed fuel efficiency is 10.52 km/l (in the ‘C’ mode). It can seat four passengers in great comfort and has a boot space of 540 litres, giving it great utility to complete the package. The base price of the car in India is Rs 1.29 crore (ex-showroom, New Delhi) and it goes up according to the amount of personalisation and customisation.
Story: Piyush Sonsale
Photography: Mercedes-Benz India
