Although a V12-engined AMG is expected to
top the S-class Coupe range in due course, for now it’s this S63. Powered by
the same 577bhp twin-turbo 5.5-litre V8 direct-injection motor as the S63 limo,
it betters the biturbo 4.7-litre V8 in the S500 Coupe by a worthwhile 128bhp.
The AMG motor’s 664lb ft of torque contributes even more to the effortless
propulsive thrust, helping the driver forget the car’s 1,995kg weight and
instead be amazed by the fleeting 4.3sec it takes to hit 62mph from rest. Part
of the credit goes to an updated version of AMG’s seven-speed Speedshift auto
’box, which has new software to make it more quick -witted and intuitive.
Although the S63 will be produced in four-wheel-drive ‘4Matic’ form for some
markets, with the potential for even brisker off-the-line alacrity, the UK
isn’t one of them.
Interior
reeks of luxury; dash wraps around into the doors
The S-class Coupe’s part-aluminium
bodyshell is significantly stiffer than the old CL’s, so the advances made to
the big car’s complex chassis systems should shine through all the brighter.
The so-called Magic Body Control suspension uses a combination of air springs
at the front, hydraulically operated dampers at the back and a stereo camera
located in the windscreen to keep body roll, pitch and dive at barely
perceptible levels while retaining the kind of pillowy ride comfort befitting,
well, an S-class. The camera constantly monitors the road surface and
topography and adjusts the spring and damper rates accordingly.
If that isn’t enough, you can option an
extension of the technology called ‘curve tilting function’, which, when
activated, doesn’t just eliminate body roll but actually leans the car into
bends, motorcycle style. Mercedes claims that its purpose isn’t to allow higher
cornering speeds but to further improve comfort by pushing occupants down into
their seats instead of rolling them towards the edge, lunging for the grab
handles. We’ll see about that.
The
touchpad acts a bit like a smartphone: you can operate functions with finger
gestures
It’s easy to scoff at what looks, on paper,
to be the most heinous example yet of tech overkill but, with a few
reservations, the S63 Coupe is an astonishing thing. Let’s deal with the
foibles first. At speed on the motorway, it doesn’t have quite the rock-solid,
straight-ahead stability you’d expect of a two-ton Autobahn stormer that
registers just 2,100rpm at 100mph. The feeling is more subliminal than acute,
but it’s as if the car can’t quite settle, as if the electronics are constantly
making tiny compensating adjustments. It isn’t a big deal but it is a little
disconcerting. The seven-speed wet-clutch Speedshift auto isn’t as silky as it
might be either. It’s at its best in the Sport setting with large doses of
throttle, when it zips up and down the gears with ne speed and finesse. But on
light throttle openings around town, especially in Comfort, it can occasionally
thud and clunk in an unseemly manner, which has to rank as a disappointment.
Nav
includes terrain modeling and photorealistic buildings, all on an enormous TFT
screen
Show the car a fast, owing country road,
however, and it will show you things that barely seem possible. In the old
CL63, the fabulously muscular 5.5-litre biturbo V8 was a welcome companion but
something of a blunt instrument. In the S63, with even more power and a meatier
soundtrack, it can truly exploit a chassis that doesn’t just feel a whole lot
crisper and more agile but also exhibits body control and mass management that
seems closer to witchcraft than hi-tech engineering. The curve-tilt function is
spooky, seeming to scavenge even more grip and turn-in acuity on any given
bend, whatever Mercedes says, while at the same time maintaining a sense of
calm in the cabin. With due allowance for its actual size, if ever a huge,
heavy car felt like a small, lithe one, this is it.
That the S63 can also cruise serenely in
superb comfort with vanishingly low levels of wind noise is, perhaps, less of a
surprise, but it gives the big Merc coupe a broad-spectrum repertoire few
rivals can match. In the light of which, the $211,990 it’s expected to cost
when it goes on sale in September doesn’t seem so unreasonable.
