Benz Faqs

Normally we’d be sad by the passing of an engine like AMG’s supercharged 5.5-liter V8, the über-huffer that’s powered many of our favorite Mercedes-Benzes. However, now that we’ve seen its formidable successor, AMG’s new naturally aspirated 6.2-liter V8, we’ve cancelled the wake and are planning a party instead. The new 2007 E63 sedan is the most powerful E-Class yet to blast out of Stuttgart, and it’s a delight to drive, especially when the 507 horses are fully unleashed.

Some of us had wondered if AMG’s new engine, up in horsepower but down in torque, could deliver the heavy boot to the butt of the supercharged sedan. Would it be able to run with the 10-cylinder BMW M5 and Audi S6 sport sedans? This driver discovered the answer, yes, in a 2007 Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG sedan, appropriately on a stretch of unlimited German autobahn.

Underscored by the musical bellow of its big-displacement, race-tech-rich V8, the car rearranged time and distance in exhilarating, entertaining and sometimes frightening ways, shrunk the gaps between here and there to just a few degrees of throttle travel, and obliterated any doubts that the E63 would be as aggressively powerful as the much loved and admired E55.

In only a single respect did it disappoint: Because the sedan achieved the governed top speed of 155 mph so quickly and with such ease, we felt cheated knowing there was so much more top-end power in reserve. Europeans will have the option of ordering their E63s without a limiter; Americans will not. By the way, for those who still hanker for force-fed power, the combination of supercharged 5.5-liter engine and five-speed transmission continues in the SL55 AMG and G55 AMG for the remainder of this model year.

Available as a sedan or wagon, the E63 is expected to retail for about the same price as current E55s, around $83,000, despite the fair amount of new and revised components being introduced across the E-Class line, which in the U.S. consists of the E320 Bluetec sedan, E350 sedan and seven-passenger wagon, E550 sedan and the E63 sedan and wagon.

In fact, perhaps the only shortcoming in the entire vehicle is the seven-speed’s lack of a throttle blip when it downshifts. It’s possible to accomplish the matching of revs manually by the age-old method of whacking the gas pedal as the tranny makes the move between gears, but we expect that such an advanced gearbox should be able to do it for you.