CAS 2012: (Wagon Wednesday!) Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG
Folks, this is the new E63 AMG wagon a.k.a, the mother of all station wagons. Wait a minute, what about the Cadillac CTS-V wagon? You just can’t ignore the American rocket ship now. Don’t get me wrong, I like anything with a Corvette engine under its hood, especially old Jaguars and Miatas, but this….this is a sleeper. First, how can you not love that dull silver paint job and massive five-spoke wheels? That’s just from the side and rear.
Head to the front and you’ll find a menacing looking front bumper, AND that traditional Mercedes hood ornament. The Mercedes three-point star just sits casually on top of the hood, hiding beneath a massive 518-horsepower twin-turbo 5.5-Liter V-8. The hood itself borrows the SLS AMG gullwing’s opening style: all the way back and straight up, allowing mechanics to work everywhere within this cavernous engine bay. What you have here, is a nearly $92,000 station wagon that hauls way more than just the family to school on a brisk fall morning.
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Anything that legitimately carries AMG badging will never be mistaken for a sleeper.
OTOH, that open hood sure looks happy to see you!
hahaha I like that last bit about the hood^
MB needs to put a 4matic on these…
Why?
Would be an awesome car to take to the mountains. Driving it with chains would suck, AWD + some snow shoes, would make this an awesome hauler for the family ski trip.
See, I beg to differ. It would add weight and reduce steer feel, if there is any in this sub-5000lb car. I like my sporty "cars" RWD. That, and after years of driving RWD BMWs with snow tires I never once felt the need for AWD.
Other options for a family ski trip are the R63 (do they still make 'em?), ML63, or G55. If you want an AWD wagon there's always the Audi RS6.
There are a lot of options for a family ski trip
… It would be nice if this were one of them. Let me put it this way, which would you prefer to drive to the mountain? Unfortunately in terms of RWD and snow tires, CHP is very specific at chain control what they let through. RWD cars need chains regardless of the tires, where AWD + snow tires avoid chains except in the hairiest of situations.
Your point is taken though in terms of weight and steer feel,.
Does the E63 AMG Wagon come with the rear facing bench-in-the-trunk option?
I would know what my kids favorite place would be when I'm doing stoplight sprints
Nope. The W212 E63 wagon does not offer the rear jump seats due to exhaust constraints.
Last gen did… I think.
<img src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/181987_625376483380_2912893_34829912_1954333_n.jpg" width="500"> Indeed they did! If I had the money I would get one of these non AMG wagons.
This is a pic of the current gen E wagooon tho.
Whoops, anyway that's me in the Volvo t-shirt in one last year. I think it was the non AMG version, maybe that's what Syrax means? Like only the six cylinder versions offer the rear facing seats? Way more room than the CTS-V wagon, very lust worthy car.
Probably, maybe there's a difference. I know the E63 doesn't offer. Like Kamil said, the last W211 AMG did.
It will have to be W211 AMG then
Maximum performance, maximum practicality.
Unless they stopped making them that way for a few years (I've been out of the industry) all Mercs' (and Audi's) hoods open straight up if you disengage a little stopper.
Ya, they call it service position or something like that. Pic of SLS I drove sometime ago:
<img src="http://www.carguydad.com/wp-content/gallery/amg-sls/mercedes-benz-sls-amg-7.jpg" />
I'm jealous!
http://www.carguydad.com/mercedes-sls-amg/
Volvos were like that for a long time as well. It was also a safety feature. In a very severe accident it was to break past that latch and let the hood fold in even more like a letter A rather than detaching from the hinges and going through the windshield. It amde more sense early on before airbags because back then the windshield was supposed to pop-out if hit hard from the inside as well. It was great for work as long as you were outside
Nice on those cars too that the grille often was attached to the hood.
Yep, my 740 does it. I haven't tried the 850 yet, although it'll be more important thanks to that insufferably stupid grille.
Honda does this as well. For them, there's nothing to diesngage, you just put the hood prop in a different hole.
<img src="http://carphotos.cardomain.com/ride_images/2/3319/2501/20796250005_medium.jpg">
<img src="http://ll.speedhunters.com/u/f/eagames/NFS/speedhunters.com/Images/Casey%202010/April%20011/Alexs%20EG/HoodOpen.jpg" width="500">
Side note: doing an image search for this hurt my eyes, and makes me proud to be rid of my Integra.
So it should be an E55 wagon.
Still, I'm SO glad MB still has a proper hood ornament and the 90° opening hood!
I feared it may be no longer, but it's great to be able to put it all the way up for routine maintenance. Can't bang your head on anything…well, you know. Sometimes you'll bang it against something in the engine compartment, but that's not accidental.
Plus, when you do major engine work, at around a quarter-million miles, if you've been both abusive and a maintenance slacker, you don't have to remove the hood for anything.
Are you guys seriously only just getting these? Keep up, for heavens sake.
I may or may not have overtaken a little old lady on a pushbike while driving one of these at 140mph on an old airfield. Nothing has ever been proven either way.