A short while ago I wrote an impression column about how way too quite a few autos are too rapid to essentially enjoy. Then I got a rapidly vehicle in my driveway that bucked the rule. Like I explained then, when a auto has pace, I really do not want to be isolated from the expertise. I want to really feel it.
Then I received my first really brief car I’d experienced in a while. The Mercedes-AMG E 53 Coupe, with 429 horsepower and 384 pound-ft of torque, isn’t as superlative of a effectiveness equipment as, say the BMW M8 Level of competition Gran Coupe (review coming soon), but with a -60 time of just 4.3 seconds, it is not a slouch by any suggests. But I wasn’t persuaded I’d take pleasure in it as deeply as I would some thing with a much less-powerful powerplant — these Euro luxury brand names do have a inclination to isolate the driver from the sounds and forces at enjoy. But ahead of I could locate out which way this AMG would split in phrases of the balance between velocity and involvement, I’d have to commit some time studying my way around it. And that time was sad to say interrupted.
I put in most of my to start with few times with this car or truck fiddling with the many flashy items of tech in entrance of me. It’s a small off-placing at initial, but the electronic dial on the steering wheel ignites one’s curiosity and invites you to explore what it has to give. It does, even so, consider a when to get used to all the controls in front of you, and my initial drives felt like I spent more time acclimating myself to them than truly having fun with the automobile.
But as I 1st drove the E 53 about Ann Arbor, using the lengthy way to make temporary stops I could go off as errands, I identified myself clearing my throat. That was just the begin. For the 1st time in a year and a fifty percent, I was unwell and would remain sick for damn days. That meant the AMG would sit grudgingly parked in the driveway till Monday, when I lastly woke up emotion superior. Sadly, that was also the day the E 53 was finding picked up. As soon as I was up and dressed, I headed out the doorway, skipping coffee but grabbing my camera. I fired it up, and headed to streets I understood would be empty.
The espresso wasn’t actually necessary as the audio of this machine’s turbocharged 3.-liter inline-6 was a additional-than-ample wake-up simply call. I could hear — and even truly feel — the lively crackles and flutters of the AMG overall performance exhaust from the driver’s seat, and they labored to get my coronary heart pumping. Driving on some of my favored backroads, the E 53 woke up my soul, and the environment awoke with me. I viewed as black squirrels stood up and took discover, as sleepy cows broke their speedy, and as herons, necks bent in the mist, lifted a solitary foot as I passed their dewy pastures.
This vehicle doesn’t isolate the driver like other high quality automobiles do. At velocity, I could hear the highway scrabbling earlier just below the doorway sill, even on sleek highway. It telegraphed the car’s partnership to the street surface area which, thanks in component to the 4Matic all-wheel travel, is a sturdy 1. With responsive steering — and a responsive accelerator, responsive brakes and responsive paddle shifters — it’s well tuned to driving with gusto confidently.
If Mercedes presented a variation of this car devoid of the contact controls and digital doodads, it would be a purist’s dream arrive accurate. Frankly while, soon after the tech 101 class from earlier in the 7 days, I could disregard the shiny items and drop myself in the generate.
It turns out the time I experienced assumed was squandered in humdrum driving the previous week was just a prep system for this outstanding morning. The earlier befuddling digital dials and buttons on the steering wheel had been no more time a handicap, but an very easily arrived at important to rapidly unlocking the car’s potential. Applying them to change to Sport+ and increase the exhaust volume awakened the vehicle as a lot as it did me.
As well as, the automobile is magnificent, and with $23,000 in possibilities, there are even much more specifics to choose in. The carbon fiber and shiny black elements really feel proper at dwelling, inside and out. The brown and black Nappa leather-based offers a feeling of opulent athleticism. The big electronic shows are flashy, but do add to the too much to handle techy sensation within the car or truck. After soaking it in for a when, all the things would seem like it has its place. It is a nice car to sit in, or like I experienced carried out most of the week, to admire in the driveway.
A short while ago, in a Invest My Money segment of an episode of the Autoblog Podcast, I instructed a listener that their past ICE obtain may as nicely be a V8. I consider that back again. One particular of the last, most effective gasoline-powered powerplants you could clutch to oneself would be this boosted I-6. In this motor vehicle. If you want to experience a section of something — even some thing quite brief — this could effortlessly be it. The E 53 is the best rebuttal to my “slow cars fast” feeling piece. Never enable the fancy tech idiot you, this motor vehicle is more about the driving expertise than nearly anything else.
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