Mercedes-AMG’s autobahn autocrat, the E63, is receiving a refresh inside and out like the rest of the E-Class family.
It’ll touch down here in the fourth quarter of this year but it’ll only be available in E63 S guise, with a carryover twin-turbocharged 4.0-litre V8 engine producing 450kW of power and 850Nm of torque.
Sadly, the wagon remains off-limit to Australians.
As before, the E63 uses a nine-speed automatic transmission through which power is sent to all four wheels, though the E63 S’s standard Drift Mode allows power to be delivered exclusively to the rear wheels.
The decision to drop the E63 locally and only offer the more powerful E63 S mirrors that of BMW with the M5, the E63’s arch-nemesis, which is offered here only in hi-po Competition guise.
The E63 S sits above the previously revealed, refreshed E53 AMG. Like it, it receives AMG’s new grille with 12 vertical louvers, as well as restyled LED headlights and a reshaped front apron with three large air intakes and a splitter.
Flatter tail lights now more closely resemble Mercedes-Benz’s coupe models and give the E63 S’s rear a wider, more athletic appearance. As with the front, there’s a reshaped apron, while the E63 S has a unique titanium matte finish to its trapezoidal quad exhaust.
Unlike the E63, which wears 19-inch wheels, the E63 S features 20-inch alloy wheels. These feature a new design and are available in either matte black or high-gloss tantalum grey.
New to the exterior colour palette is the stunning Brilliant Blue Magno, previously exclusive to the Mercedes-AMG GT. It won’t be offered on any other Mercedes-AMG models at this stage.
Like the regular E-Class, the E63 S receives the latest MBUX infotainment system and Hey Mercedes voice control. The E63 S features the larger 12.25-inch dual screens standard.
There’s also a new steering wheel with controls within the spokes that deliver haptic feedback. It also features a sensor mat in its rim that detects if the driver has removed their hands from the wheel for an unusually long amount of time and subsequently triggers warnings.
The E63 S continues to offer a high degree of customisation when it comes to driving, in large part due to its adaptive air suspension.
There are six drive modes to choose from: Slippery, Comfort, Sport, Sport+, Individual and RACE. The use of all-caps for the last one is warranted as the E63 S has blistering acceleration: the 0-100km/h sprint is accomplished in just 3.4 seconds.
That’s only 0.1 seconds quicker than the regular E63, but the E63 S includes various mechanical enhancements like dynamic engine mounts and larger compound front brake discs measuring 390 x 36mm.
When it touches down later this year, the refreshed E63 S will face fierce competition from a similarly refreshed M5 Competition. The bruising Bimmer arrives in October.
Mercedes-AMG will release local pricing and model range information closer to launch. Currently, the E63 S retails for $248,600 before on-road costs, which is $30,400 more than the regular E63.
