Mercedes’ S-Class has been a byword for excellence for the reason that first one formally debuted with the W116 chassis method again in 1972. They’ve recurrently been the primary vehicles available on the market to debut new and thrilling tech like adaptive cruise management (Distronic), seatbelt pre-tensioners and even anti-lock brakes, which debuted in 1978. The 2024 Mercedes-AMG S63 E-Efficiency doesn’t debut something that groundbreaking, however holy hell, does it ever carry that custom of excellence ahead.
Full Disclosure: Mercedes-AMG wished me to drive the S63 E Efficiency so badly that they put me up for an evening in a swanky lodge in Santa Monica and teased me with a 300SEL 6.3 that I wasn’t allowed to drive at an ostentatious Malibu mansion. The 6.3 was brown.
The S63 E-Efficiency is notable for a number of causes. First, it’s essentially the most highly effective manufacturing Mercedes ever, with a whopping 791 hp and 1,055 lb-ft of torque coming from the 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 engine and electrical motor mixed. Subsequent, it weighs as a lot as a Ford F-150 Raptor, at almost 6,000 lbs. It is also the primary plug-in hybrid S-Class, and it’s the primary S-Class to not have a stand-up hood emblem. Massive adjustments are clearly afoot in Affalterbach.
The S63 E Efficiency encompasses a 13.1-kWh direct-cooled battery pack which, other than consuming up trunk area, helps you to drive the S63 on pure electrical energy for round 20 miles (based mostly on Euro estimates, EPA figures will probably be decrease and are available out in direction of the top of 2023) and at speeds as much as 87 mph. AMG claims the automobile will hit 60mph in simply 3.3 seconds and rocket as much as an electronically restricted prime velocity of 155 mph.
The S63 will get a ton of different AMG-specific tweaks as nicely, like a two-speed rear axle that helps to maximise each acceleration and prime velocity, an AMG-tuned air suspension and drive modes and a bunch of AMG-specific styling tweaks like the large Panamericana grille which does an superior job of hiding all of the ADAS sensors packed into the entrance of the automobile. The nine-speed MCT transmission can also be tuned by AMG and customarily works nicely.
Right here’s the factor, although. All that efficiency is actually fairly pointless. Don’t get me incorrect, launching a automobile that huge and heavy is fairly intense, however all that weight makes these big energy and torque figures really feel “regular S63 quick” at the price of additional complexity. I like that there’s all the time energy obtainable for a fast overtake, however the thrilling a part of this automobile is its capacity to drive on electrical energy alone.
Why is that thrilling? Nicely, first, EVs rule. Secondly – and that is extra germane to our friends in Europe in the meanwhile – plenty of cities like London, for instance, are beginning to cost individuals with huge indignant combustion engines to return into town middle. Another cities are banning inner combustion altogether. The S63 E Efficiency could possibly be a sport changer for the well-heeled businessperson. Over right here, we’ll recognize the additional cruising vary that the hybrid system will most likely give us from the S63’s 20.1-gallon tank, and naturally, some individuals will choose it over a non-AMG S-Class only for the badge.
Whereas I’m lukewarm on the ability, I’m fully floored by the chassis. The S63 can do issues {that a} automobile its dimension shouldn’t be capable of. I assumed AMG was bananas for sending me out on Malibu’s impossibly tight and slender canyon roads, however this big boat of a automobile has an agility that may disgrace some vehicles half its dimension. That is largely right down to the AMG-tuned air suspension and four-wheel steering, neither of which is revolutionary by itself, however each are executed flawlessly right here.
I additionally recognize how permissive the traction and stability management packages are, even exterior of Sport Plus mode. It lets the automobile transfer round – even breaking rear traction – however intervenes easily and rapidly to maintain issues from getting out of hand. I believe that the S63 E Efficiency could be a blast round a racetrack, regardless of that undoubtedly not being its supposed use case.
Other than the zany powertrain, the remainder of the automobile is essentially simply an S-Class, which suggests it’s completely spectacular. The whole lot appears to be like and feels costly. The seats are extremely adjustable and comfy, and so they function the power to show heating and cooling on concurrently, which is dumb, however I find it irresistible. The inside is well-isolated from the street, and whereas AMG makes an attempt to pipe in some sound, it doesn’t sound good and even remotely just like the V8 that lives beneath the hood. There’s a bizarre, raspy five-cylinder notice to it in Sport Plus, and never in a cool method, although this may occasionally get adjusted because the automobile will get nearer to happening sale.
Additionally, being an S-Class, the S63 is packed to the gunwales with security tech. This factor has all the things you’d anticipate on a contemporary six-figure automobile, and all of it works nicely. This consists of adaptive cruise management, driver consideration monitoring, energetic lane preserve help, energetic lane centering, evasive steering help, brake intervention, blind spot help and the record goes on. While you shell out for an S-Class, you anticipate the very best, and also you received’t be let down right here.
Inside downsides are minor and few in quantity however embody Mercedes’ weird-ass-gonna-make-me-barf 3-D impact on the gauges and heads-up show, however that is simple to show off. Additionally, the hybrid pack eats into trunk area (10.8 cubic ft vs 18 cubic ft), so whereas not precisely sports-car-small, the S63 PHEV’s boot isn’t what you’d name cavernous.
Mercedes is taking part in it a bit of near the chest by saying that the S63 E-Efficiency will hit the market across the finish of the yr. We’d guess that can find yourself being December. Mercedes is even cagier about pricing for its newest technological terror. A standard S63 sans hybrid will run you round $153,000 earlier than you get to including choices. We’d be shocked if this new one doesn’t run nearer to the $170,000 mark, given the marketed efficiency and the added value to fabricate it.
So, with all that in thoughts, what’s my takeaway?
The S63 E-Efficiency isn’t actually improved by the added energy and tech, a minimum of not in ways in which the US market will recognize. Positive, it’s fast as hell for one thing that weighs as a lot as a fishing trawler, and regardless of the handful of minor pre-production hiccups I skilled throughout my restricted time with the automobile, when it’s prepared for showtime it’ll have been ruthlessly engineered to be pretty much as good as it may be, as is Mercedes’ customized, notably with the S-Class. The factor is, the hybrid system seems like an answer to an issue that solely exists due to rules and model picture, not a treatment to one thing that the S-Class was missing beforehand.
I completely beloved the 2024 S63 E Efficiency, however for my cash, I’d purchase an S580e and pocket the distinction. If badge, aggressive styling or bench racing bragging rights matter to you, you then’ll love the S63, and there’s nothing incorrect with that.
