2013 Mercedes E 63 AMG review, test drive

I've got the Buddh International Circuit all to myself for an entire day. I'm glad, because under my right foot are the 557 horses from Affalterbach and a sledgehammer 73kgm of torque playing supporting role. These not so inconsequential numbers are wrapped in the rather subtle looks of the new Mercedes-Benz E-class and that, forgive the cliché, makes for a brilliant wolf in sheep's clothing kind of car. Now, I'm glad I have the BIC at my disposal because its huge run-off areas will allow me to get to know what those horses can do in a way no public road can. Time to twist the key.

Blat! And then it settles down to an unobtrusive idle. It's the one thing I don't like about the E 63 AMG. The sound coming from those quad pipes at the back is a bit unspecial. Sure it's loud under full throttle (not sportscar loud though) and there's a bassy growl to it, but I think those two turbochargers aren't letting the V8 sing freely. There are however, no complaints at all about how this car moves. It takes off like a scalded cat -- peak torque kicks in at 1750rpm and stays there all the way to 5250rpm. So, there's plenty of shove from the word go and its shove that gets stronger as the rev needle arcs past 4000rpm and onto its 6400rpm limiter. AMG claims a 4.2sec 0-100kph time, our VBOX recorded a 4.5sec time, which, is impressive considering the outside temperature is a not too cool 36 deg Celsius. Continued..