2021 Mercedes Benz E63 S Review
2021 Mercedes Benz E63 S
Price as tested: $136,000
Specs: 4.0 Liter Twin Turbo V8 : 603 HP / 627 TQ
MPG as observed: 17.2 (!)
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Guy who did stuff: Yousef Alvi
Forgive me as I wax poetic here for a tad bit…but there is a segment of vehicle out there that has always been ‘The Dream’. A class of vehicle that shrugs aside basic principles of the universe like weight, gravity and Newtonian Laws of Motion. A class of vehicle that is all things to all people. A class of vehicle that has no rivals…that class is the supersedan.
“Supersedan: Noun: A sports sedan that has supercar levels of performance”
Supersedans like this E63S, BMW M5 and Audi RS6 are vehicles that defy all conventions of reality. They fit four people in supreme comfort, have huge trunks and are trimmed out with enough leather, metal and technology to make a Bond villain jealous.
Oh they are mind bendingly, face distortingly and delirium inducingly fast. How fast? Honestly, nothing…there is nothing that comes to mind that will give any of the aforementioned vehicles anything more than a shrug from a dig. They are the pinnacle of automotive engineering, they are the pinnacle of speed…they are the pinnacle of my dream garage.
This new 2021 E63 S is one of those pinnacles. Fully redesigned for this year, the new E63 is brimming with power, technology and uhhh power. Let’s break it down
The Great
The 4.0 liter twin turbo V8 is not an engine. It’s mechanical piece of art. It’s doesn’t just produce power….it feels like it is churning up energy from the bowels of the earth. From the moment you start the engine…you feel it.
But beauty lies in the details, minutiae and the mundane. This M177 is just damn lovely puttering around town. It will dutifully chug along at 1500 RPM all day long without a care in the world. It will also chug along on the highway all day along without a care in the world. It will also chug all along stuck in traffic all day long without a care in the world.
Then when the opportunity presents itself, flip the drive mode to Sport +, click down the quick 9 Speed DCT and hold the eff on. The M177 will come alive like Mount Vesuvius…just erupting with power, torque and noise! Oh and it will do all of that puttering and power shedding at 18 mpg!
The Good
Mercedes Benz has laid down the proverbial gaunlet to Audi in the realm of interiors. It’s swimming in carbon fiber trim pieces, metal and leather. The E-Class at night looks like the bridge from the USS Enterprise with it’s ambient lighting cues beautifully strewn about the cabin. The E-Class turns a normal night drive into a driving experience!
The new E Class is also a rolling ode to technology. From it’s mammoth displays, to that ambient lighting to the Kinetic Seats. There is technology everywhere! The E63S isn’t just a tech forward car…it is the tech forward car.
The Bad
That leads us to the bad. There is so much technology in the E63S that it’s eye wateringly overwhelming. This is coming from a guy that loves technology! All of it boils down to the fact that the technology in the E-Class is not intuitive to use…at all.
Let’s start off with the infotainment system. Controlled by touchscreen (which is too far away to actually touch) or a newly introduced touchpad which is just horrible to use while driving. The old system had perfectly great scroll wheel but not anymore. Then there menus upon submenus upon more submenus. Finding what you need quickly is an exercise in frustration.
Oh and our $136k tester lacks wireless Apple CarPlay and if it does in fact have it…I couldn’t figure out how to enable it.
After a full week, several hundred miles and countless hours in the E63S I’m still lost in it’s menu systems.
It’s frustrating to the point that it lowers your self esteem.
The Ugly
Whoever designed this steering wheel…has either never used a steering wheel before or has hands the size of a Ken Doll.
The last generation AMG wheel was bordering on perfect. Perfectly sized with beautifully tactile buttons that were easy to find and use. It was a pure pleasure to operate.
This new AMG wheel is the complete opposite. Everything that made the old wheel a pleasure to use is the complete opposite here. The beautifully tactile buttons are replaced with capacitive ‘buttons’ and in a two tier arrangement that is just horrendous to use.
What’s wrong with capacitive buttons you say?
Well, there are not really ‘buttons’…what you are pressing are just icons on a sheet of plastic. So there is no differentiating between let’s say the volume control or the cruise control by touch.
So in actual use on the road, it requires the driver to glance down for a painfully long time to figure what and where they actually pressing! So, after hundreds of miles of testing instead of building muscle memory for the steering controls…I built up PTSD because everytime I hit the wrong button.
Speaking of hitting the wrong button…the capacitive controls are spaced too close to the steering spokes. So everytime I grip the steering wheel with gusto (9 and 3 position) a button gets accidentally pressed. So instead of concentrating on the next bend…I have concentrate on my steering grip…just to accidentally hit another button!
…so needless to say while you are driving a 603 HP vehicle…this is not a good thing.
The Overall
Okay this Mercedes Benz E63 S isn’t just a vehicle to me. It’s an aspiration symbol. It’s a goal to work towards because to me…this is one of the greatest sedans ever built.
A vehicle that combines performance, comfort, technology and practicality. Even with it’s wonky tech and steering wheel. It’s a vehicle that is all things to me. What else could you ask for?
