2024 Mercedes-AMG S63 E Performance Review: Excessive In All The Best Ways

Like with rambunctious puppies, you get the sense that telling Mercedes' AMG division "no, you can't do that" is a waste of breath. How, otherwise, to explain the Mercedes-AMG S63 E Performance, a six-figure sports sedan that will not only have you asking yourself why such a behemoth even exists, but potentially be melting your eyeballs while you do so. This is not — with 791 horsepower and a boggling 1,055 lb-ft of torque — your average hybrid.

Taking power figures that a supercar would be proud of and dropping them into a stately sedan is, by German standards, not entirely outlandish. In keeping with that tradition, the S63 E Performance is fairly surreptitious. Clearly, it's an S-Class, so it's large: long, wide, and — even with Mercedes' more curvaceous design language of late — imposing, as sedans go. For AMG, however, it's definitely on the subtle side.

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The 21-inch AMG forged multi-spoke wheels — a $2,800 addition to the $182,250 plus destination starting price — certainly look the part, their glittering stems barely concealing some seriously vast brake discs. Meanwhile, while you're crouched by the front fenders, the "V8 Biturbo E Performance" badging is legible, which is more than you can say about reading it at a distance.

Inside, this is S-Class luxury as we know and love. There's no Hyperscreen or Superscreen here, and no front passenger display, unlike in an E-Class; frankly, that's all the better, since it leaves plenty of space for Mercedes' open pore walnut with beautifully inlaid aluminum pinstripes to steal the dashboard show. It's a $3,200 option, but it looks incredible (particularly at night, illuminated by the AMG's multicolor ambient lighting).

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The Manufacktur Interior Package ($10,500) unlocks five special leather finishes — including a rather delightful blue and a striking pale yellow — and trims the AMG Performance steering wheel with the matching hide. 

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Heated and ventilated seats with massage are standard, of course, supportive and beautifully detailed, as is a sizable (but not outlandish) 12.8-inch OLED center touchscreen and a 12.3-inch digital cluster with subtle-but-effective 3D effect. It runs the now-familiar MBUX software, with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, plus a surprisingly capable voice control system.

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Though the driver may be AMG's focus, there's still a good reason to be in the back. The standard S-Class is plush and spacious back there; with the Rear Seat Package, Executive Rear Seat Package, Executive Rear Seat Package Plus, and Rear Seat Entertainment Package — collectively adding more than $16k to the sticker — it's limo-level. 

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For that, you get massage seats, a pop-out tablet to control multimedia and climate, a nicer footrest for whoever sits on the right, folding tables, and two dedicated media screens with matching wireless headsets.

So far, so S-Class. Then things get wild. Under the hood is a handcrafted 4.0-liter V8 biturbo gas engine, the 604 horsepower and 664 lb-ft of torque of which would, alone, make for a speedy sedan. To that, Mercedes adds a permanently excited synchronous motor on the rear axle, taking total system power to a frankly excessive 791 horsepower and 1,055 lb-ft of torque.

The result is 0-60 mph in a claimed 3.3 seconds (which feels conservative, frankly), and that's borderline terrifying for a car that weighs 5,720 pounds.

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Beyond those headline numbers, though, is how AMG actually applies that gas and electric power. All-wheel drive is standard, capable of pushing all of the torque to the rear wheels, or conversely directing rear electric power to the front. The electric motor can also direct its power to the rear left or right wheels, for corner-tightening torque vectoring.

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Powering it is a 13.1 kWh 400V battery. It's small, even by plug-in hybrid standards — total electric-only range is just 16 miles — but aggressive to recharge through regenerative braking or from the V8 engine. The result is that, even after pushing hard, I never found I was out of electric power. Parked up and plugged in, the 3.7 kW onboard charger means it'll take about 3.5 hours to go from 20-80%.

Driven sedately, the S63 is a textbook example of why electrification and luxury go so well together. The big sedan swooshes along with refined grace, the EV torque more than sufficient for everyday driving; only if you lean into the accelerator is the gas engine roused, and even then that is restrained and surreptitious in regular hybrid mode.

Notch the dial on the steering wheel around to Sport or Sport+ mode, however, and it's like you're drivibng a whole different car. The V8 burbles more urgently — not that I'd argue with an even more aggressive exhaust note, and a little less electronic warbling — but it's the immediacy which shocks. Fast-spooling turbos along with the instantaneous injection of electric power make for a genuine rocket ship of a sports sedan; plant your right foot and, even if you've warned them, passengers may well find their necks snapping back.

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Big, lavish cars that are speedy in a straight line aren't new, of course; it's the corners where you have to question your confidence in the engineering. AMG gets things off to a good start, with adaptive air suspension, electromechanical anti-roll bars, and rear-axle steering, all worthy hardware additions in the name of hiding some of the S63's multi-ton bulk

Astonishingly, it works. The beefy AMG never feels small — there's no sense of it shrinking around you, like some big, fast vehicles do — which only leaves its poise more surprising. Being able to hurl something this large (and with this large a price tag) into turns without questioning either your sanity or physics takes some getting used to, but the combination of swift-acting suspension and compliant dampers means it's driver confidence not car capability that's the hurdle, here.

In a charming example of serendipity, right before my time with the AMG S63 E Performance, I found myself at the wheel of Bentley's new Continental GT Speed. Though the two cars are obviously serving different markets, there's a lot of overlap in the approach to electrified performance. Like the Mercedes, Bentley combines a 4.0-liter V8 with an electric motor and all-wheel drive; the British car has less power and torque, but is two-tenths of a second faster to 60 mph, and has significantly more EV-only range.

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A more apt comparison would be the upcoming Flying Spur Speed, which will share Bentley's hybrid drivetrain, and probably the enthralling engine and exhaust sound which AMG could do far worse than learn from (there are some charming burps and pops from the S63's tailpipes, but it could definitely lean more into that spirit). Regardless, the Continental GT Speed shares the S63's mesmeric grip in the corners, and its never-lacking well of pace. The Bentley feels sportier and more urgent, but then again, it's a coupe rather than a big, luxury four-door.

If you're asking "who is this AMG actually for?" then the glib answer is "very rich people." That's a cohort which, typically, doesn't need much more justification than outright lust to head down to their nearest dealership. With destination, this particular Mystic Blue metallic 2024 AMG S63 E Performance may have started at $183,400, but factor in the options and that hurtles to $229,400.

Silly money, certainly, but then again, the Bentley starts at over $300k. There are bragging rights for having four-figure torque — just ask Lucid what you get for a cool quarter-million – even if it's tough to imagine any situation when you might actually be able to tap it. Certainly not on U.S. roads, at least.

AMG's handiwork here results in a car that doesn't just bridge the transition between ICE and EV, but wraps the best of both worlds in something epically luxurious and genuinely impressive from a technological standpoint. It's a love letter to engineering, a "What if we tried..." experiment that's reminiscent of the outrageous VISION EQXX for its ambition, only applied to something you can actually buy. Maybe trying to fathom a reason beyond "Because we could" is missing the point.