The 2024 Mercedes-AMG S 63 E-Performance Is Impressive, but Temporary
Dense-packed with tech, overlaid with luxury, and engorged with arrogance and an electric motor, the 791-hp, twin-turbo, all-wheel drive, four-wheel-steered 2024 Mercedes-AMG S 63 E-Performance is the ultimate plug-in hybrid sedan for right now. As in, right damned now. Not yesterday, not tomorrow, but this precise moment. And that is the problem.
What was once Mercedes-Benz has effectively become five sub-brands in the United States. There’s Mercedes-Benz for low-key near-luxury and luxury cars and SUVs, Mercedes Vans for Mercedes vans, Mercedes-AMG for performance luxury vehicles, Mercedes-Maybach that specializes in machinery for high-profile oligarchs who wear lots of jewelry, and Mercedes-EQ for all-electric things. The Mercedes product range used to be easy to comprehend—C-Class, E-Class, and S-Class coupes and sedans plus a few SL roadsters—but is now mind-boggling. Thus ends the old guy bitching.
Depending on how one does the counting, there are now at least 20 Mercedes body styles sold in North America before considering all the powertrain, decorative and performance variations. But, as always, there is the big S-Class four-door; stolid, conservative, dignified, and even stately. The rock upon which senior partners, executive officers, and high-end livery services depend.
The S-Class sedan has long been the only vehicle left in the line that came only with a three-pointed star hood ornament. Until now.
Most of the “regular” S-Class appearance and structure ports over to this hybridized S 63 E-Performance variant intact. Except that the hood ornament is gone and in its place is the AMG crest on the hood. And in place of the grille shell that suggested Mercedes models harkening back to the late 19th century, there’s the striated grille that announces membership in the AMG clan.
Of course, that also means there’s a big star in the grille center that ties into a performance heritage that stretches to the 300SL that won the 1952 Carrera Panamerica. It also has a big star in its grille like the bargain priced A220 sedan and the Sprinter the Amazon delivery guy drives.
By sheer mass and that big star, the S 63 E-Performance has presence. Show up at the night club, and it has a Mariah Carey vibe. At the country club, it’s kind of a Phil Mickelson thing. At Sam’s Club, that the trunk size has been compromised to accommodate the rear-mounted equipment can be frustrating. So, don’t shop at Sam’s Club.
Like a proper S-Class, the doors have the heft of gold bullion bricks and the wood, leather, and VistaVision digital interior is decorated like a North German hunting lodge. Assuming, that is, that the hunters are using advanced satellite tracking to locate Alpine Ibex. The dash screens inside the S-Class are epic, and control so many things on so many menus that it will take the length of a three-year lease to learn all the nuances.
What isn’t nuanced is the AMG-spec 4.0-liter, twin-turbo V-8 mounted under the long hood and atop active engine mounts to smother vibrations. Rated at 603 hp in this application, it feeds the familiar Mercedes nine-speed automatic transmission. The track part comes at the tail where the 188-hp electric motor resides. Since it is behind the transmission it adds torque directly to the rear wheels and that results in a rushing river of thrust.
Keep in mind that this assessment is based on a short, one-afternoon preview drive across the hills above Malibu, California and that the E-Performance monster has seven different drive modes—Electric, Comfort, Battery Hold, Sport, Sport+, Slippery, and Individual. There’s a learning curve here that couldn’t be surmounted during such a brief exposure. Dear Spirt of Gottlieb Daimler, however, this thing is ridiculously swift and shockingly nimble.
The S 63 E-performance lacks the violent suddenness that’s present in the Tesla Model S Plaid. Instead of knocking the driver’s head off with acceleration, it feels as if it’s compressing the heart like a paramedic reviving a heart attack victim. There’s something almost loving about all 1055 lb-ft of peak torque as its applied. It only takes 3.2-seconds for this thing to rip to 60 mph, per Mercedes' own estimate, but it does that without chirping a tire or upsetting the peace negotiations going on in the back seat.
As impressive as that acceleration is, the handling is better. With all sorts of technology—air suspension, adaptive adjustable damping, and active roll stabilization to name three—it never feels as if all that science stuff is getting in the way. Only making things better.
The complexity of what’s involved here is apparent in how Mercedes-AMG itself describes the active roll stabilization system. “Instead of using conventional, rigid anti-roll bars, the system compensates body movements electromechanically,” the company explains in a press release. “For this purpose, the anti-roll bars on the front and rear axles are divided into two parts. In the center is an electromechanical actuator in which a three- stage planetary gear is integrated. When the road surface is uneven or the driving style is moderate, the actuator actively separates the stabilizer halves, which increases driving comfort. During dynamic driving the halves join together and are twisted against each other.” That’s bonkers tech. Intricate, but kind of insane.
Making the whole thing feel nimble —it is a 17½-foot long sedan that with a wheelbase that’s more than 10½-feet long and a curb weight that must approach three tons—is great steering front and back. The front steering varies ratio depending on what driving mode is selected, while the passive rear steering system adds as much as 2.5-degrees of angle opposite of front steering at speeds up to 62 mph. It effectively (and noticeably) reduces that long wheelbase down to that of, say, an E-Class sedan.
The S 63 E-Performance is an astonishing technical achievement. But tech marches on, and every cutting edge dulls over time. Besides the dizzying prospect of fixing all this tech as it ages, it will seem very much of this moment in not many moments from now.
What previous S-Class sedans have had is a timeless quality that reflected their build quality. This S-Class is about quantity of technology, not the quality of it. Surely there’s a lot of quality here, but its buried under the electronic dazzle.
This may all be explainable because the new customers aging into the S-Class demographic was born in the 1980s and even the 1990s. They expect tech, not a car that will necessarily impress with its reputation as the best built in the world. The S 63 E-Performance does perform, but it seems to have lost that timelessness that previous S-Class sedans embodied.
Pricing hasn’t been announced yet. Expect prices to start at well over $200,000. We'll find out exact numbers later this year, but we don't expect the average S 63 buyer to care. Anything to be on the cutting edge.
You Might Also Like
