Not too long ago I wrote an opinion column about how too many vehicles are too quick to truly get pleasure from. Then I received a quick automotive in my driveway that bucked the rule. Like I mentioned then, when a automotive has pace, I don’t need to be remoted from the expertise. I need to really feel it.
Then I received my first actually fast automotive I’d had shortly. The Mercedes-AMG E 53 Coupe, with 429 horsepower and 384 pound-feet of torque, isn’t as superlative of a efficiency machine as, say the BMW M8 Competitors Gran Coupe (assessment coming quickly), however with a 0-60 time of simply 4.3 seconds, it’s not a slouch by any means. However I wasn’t satisfied I’d get pleasure from it as deeply as I’d one thing with a less-potent powerplant — these Euro luxurious manufacturers do tend to isolate the driving force from the sounds and forces at play. However earlier than I might discover out which approach this AMG would break when it comes to the steadiness between pace and involvement, I’d should spend a while studying my approach round it. And that point was sadly interrupted.
I spent most of my first couple days with this automotive twiddling with the numerous flashy items of tech in entrance of me. It’s a bit off-putting at first, however the digital dial on the steering wheel ignites one’s curiosity and invitations you to discover what it has to supply. It does, nonetheless, take some time to get used to all of the controls in entrance of you, and my first drives felt like I spent extra time acclimating myself to them than really having fun with the automotive.
However as I first drove the E 53 round Ann Arbor, taking the lengthy method to make transient stops I might move off as errands, I discovered myself clearing my throat. That was simply the beginning. For the primary time in a yr and a half, I used to be sick and would stay sick for rattling days. That meant the AMG would sit grudgingly parked within the driveway till Monday, after I lastly wakened feeling higher. Sadly, that was additionally the day the E 53 was getting picked up. As quickly as I used to be up and dressed, I headed out the door, skipping espresso however grabbing my digicam. I fired it up, and headed to roads I knew could be empty.
The espresso wasn’t actually wanted because the sound of this machine’s turbocharged 3.0-liter inline-six was a more-than-ample wake-up name. I might hear — and even really feel — the energetic crackles and flutters of the AMG efficiency exhaust from the driving force’s seat, and so they labored to get my coronary heart pumping. Driving on a few of my favourite backroads, the E 53 wakened my soul, and the world awoke with me. I watched as black squirrels stood up and took discover, as sleepy cows broke their quick, and as herons, necks bent within the mist, lifted a single foot as I handed their dewy pastures.
This automotive doesn’t isolate the driving force like different premium vehicles do. At pace, I might hear the street scrabbling previous slightly below the door sill, even on easy freeway. It telegraphed the automotive’s relationship to the street floor which, thanks partly to the 4Matic all-wheel drive, is a robust one. With responsive steering — and a responsive accelerator, responsive brakes and responsive paddle shifters — it’s nicely tuned to driving with gusto confidently.
If Mercedes supplied a model of this automotive with out the contact controls and digital doodads, it might be a purist’s dream come true. Frankly although, after the tech 101 class from earlier within the week, I might ignore the shiny issues and lose myself within the drive.
It seems the time I had thought was wasted in humdrum driving the earlier week was only a prep course for this good morning. The beforehand befuddling digital dials and buttons on the steering wheel have been not a handicap, however an simply reached key to shortly unlocking the automotive’s potential. Utilizing them to change to Sport+ and maximize the exhaust quantity woke up the automotive as a lot because it did me.
Plus, the automotive is attractive, and with $23,000 in choices, there are much more particulars to absorb. The carbon fiber and shiny black parts really feel proper at dwelling, in and out. The brown and black Nappa leather-based gives a way of opulent athleticism. The large digital shows are flashy, however do add to the overwhelming techy feeling contained in the automotive. After soaking it in for some time, every part looks as if it has its place. It’s a pleasant automotive to take a seat in, or like I had finished a lot of the week, to admire within the driveway.
Not too long ago, in a Spend My Cash phase of an episode of the Autoblog Podcast, I advised a listener that their final ICE buy would possibly as nicely be a V8. I take that again. One of many final, greatest gas-powered powerplants you would clutch to your self could be this boosted I-6. On this automotive. If you wish to really feel part of one thing — even one thing fairly fast — this might simply be it. The E 53 is the right rebuttal to my “sluggish vehicles quick” opinion piece. Don’t let the flowery tech idiot you, this automotive is extra in regards to the driving expertise than the rest.
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