Sports Car Blog

At just over USD130,000, the Mercedes Benz S63 AMG is one of the most expensive models in the German stable. It’s also, incidentally, one of the fastest.

With a 6.2 litre, V8 under the bonnet pumping out a whopper 386 KW of power, the S63 can sprint from a standing start to 100km/h in a blistering 4.6 seconds. That’s as quick as the fastest cars that we’ve had in our hands, and quicker by a long shot than just about anything except Ferrari.

The S-Class is the largest model that Benz makes and comes in short and long wheel base versions. S63 AMG is based on the short wheel base version of the car, but at 5076mm and weighing in 2070kg, it’s still no shrinking violet.

The AMG treatment has transformed the car into a much more responsive, better pointing and handling piece of machinery. It’s an amazing-looking thing, dressed in gleaming black with chrome highlights and sitting astride stock, 19-inch alloys fitted with 255/275 40 series rubber.

The huge brake calipers and impressive set of four exhausts mark it as a car not to be tangled with. The V8 is hooked up to AMG’s Speedshift, seven-speed auto with manual change paddles. You get used to the cumbersome, column-mounted shifter after a while, but you definitely don’t get used to the way the rear wheels bite down hard and the car roars off after punching the accelerator too hard. Three are three transmission modes, sports, comfort and manual - each with different shift characteristics and speeds.

The different modes also modify accelerator response and the spring/summer settings. With tested, S63 consumes about 16.3 litres/100kmand it drinks 98 strength premium. The plush interior includes AMG multi-contour sports seats with cross-pipping and massage function.

The eye is drawn to the wrist watch-sized analogue clock which occupies pride of place in the center of the dash and is modelled on the design of the IWC-Ingenieur series.