2014 Mercedes-Benz S63 AMG 4Matic - The Most Powerful Luxury Sedan

AMG makes everything better, even the weather

The heavy rain that poured down on us was now being kicked up in the air by the spinning tires of hundreds of high-speed cars barreling down the speed-limitless autobahn. It made our drive to Munich akin to driving 135 mph in the shower.

When the new S-class came out a few months ago, Mercedes dubbed it “the best car in the world

Sure it was dangerous, but we had so many safety systems surrounding us and so many comfort features coddling us and so much ludicrous horsepower motivating us, we had nothing to fear but fear itself. We were driving an AMG-tuned Mercedes-Benz S63. What could possibly go wrong?

When the new S-class came out a few months ago, Mercedes dubbed it “the best car in the world.” So what would happen if you made a car better than that? Say, an S63 reworked by AMG, Mercedes’ in-house tuning arm? Would that be better than the best?

Turns out it is now that AMG has released the S63 AMG. The car has more power, better handling and all the same luxury features found on the months-old base S-class. Mercedes prefers you call the base car, simply, “The Series S-class.”

The AMG adaptive sports suspension means new bushings all around, as well as a higher camber setting for the wheels, larger antiroll bars and a stiffer rear-subframe carrier

To make the best better, AMG swapped in a 5.5-liter twin-turbo V8 making 577 SE hp and 664 lb-ft of torque, enough to move the 4,398-pound-or-more luxury condo of a car to 60 mph in a claimed 3.9 seconds. To get you all in the snowy Northeast to buy them, U.S.-spec S63 AMGs come with 4Matic permanent full-time all-wheel drive with 33 percent of the torque going to the front wheels via a simple power-takeoff gear at the rear of the seven-speed MCT trans. The continuous damping adjustment on the Airmatic airbag suspension can be set for comfort or sport, depending on your mood or the road conditions. The AMG adaptive sports suspension means new bushings all around, as well as a higher camber setting for the wheels, larger antiroll bars and a stiffer rear-subframe carrier. The electro-mechanical, speed-sensitive, variable-ratio steering hardware is the same, but the soft-ware controlling it has been rewritten to make it more responsive.

Off the autobahn on twisting two-lanes, in serious cornering with the button set to “S,” the Airmatic airbag suspension held the car’s heft tightly and seemed to keep body roll to a minimum. When also set in sport mode, the AMG speed-sensitive sports steering was sometimes a little too abrupt in tightening up its ratio and response in sharp corners, yanking the car around more and more suddenly than you might expect. In the best conditions, which we weren’t in, this wouldn’t be what you’d call a sports sedan.

To make the best better, AMG swapped in a 5.5-liter twin-turbo V8 making 577 SE hp and 664 lb-ft of torque

AMG has simply taught a large bear to dance and sing – and massage your lower sacroiliac while concurrently cooling your raging buttocks. If you want real performance, AMG has almost anything else you’d want from large and small sedans to ridiculously fast SUVs. You could get one of those, but if you want the most comfort-able car in the world made a bit more drivable, try this.

Off the twisting two-lanes, we tried a number of different buttons in different conditions. Over a stretch of pockmarked dirt-road detour in backcountry Austria at about 30 mph or so, we tried switching the AMG adaptive sports suspension between com-fort and sport and couldn’t really feel much difference. It soaked up the potholes with ease in either setting. In most generic driving, the car felt responsive, yet it was still comfortable and luxurious.

AMG has almost anything else you’d want from large and small sedans to ridiculously fast SUVs

On a flat stretch of wet, paved local road, we tried a few 0-60-mph launches. With the AMG Speedshift MCT seven-speed sports transmission in S, we weren’t able to do better than 4.3 seconds. We tried a run in “M,” for manual, and screwed up the shifting. More practice would have yielded faster runs. Maybe dry pavement would have helped get us to AMG’s claimed 3.9 seconds. But how many owners drag-race these things anyway, particularly in the rain?

On regular high-speed autobahnen, the car was as smooth to ride in as its Alcantara seats were soft to touch. For the most part, this is a superbly comfort-able, normal, “Series” S-class, with all such a title implies: luxurious, swaddling, well-connected wonderfulness.

With the AMG Speedshift MCT seven-speed sports transmission in S, we weren’t able to do better than 4.3 seconds

“So, you see, it is an S-class, but it is also an AMG S-class,” said product-management boss Hendrik Hummel.

We couldn’t argue with that.