The Powerhouse of Luxury: Exploring the Mercedes-AMG S63

Mercedes S63 in Diamond White Magno

If you really made it, you can buy a Mercedes S-Class. Others dream of an AMG model. Well, or you could just buy both in one vehicle. This is the new Mercedes S63 AMG. We'll tell you all about it.

Let's go here. 

This one here in Nautical Blue, chrome frames, and so on, more the classic style. And behind it, we have a little bit more sinister styling, the darker styling in Diamond White Magno matte white paint with black accentuations, a Night package plus a Carbon package. We'll tell you all about it in detail and we'll drive it today here, of course, in the Los Angeles area.

Exhaust sound and Race Start

Remarkable here at the front, for the very first time, an S-Class gets a true AMG grille. You can here see it with the vertical fins and no standing Mercedes down top, but the AMG badge. This vehicle here is equipped with the Night package and on top of that, the carbon fiber package. That means we have the carbon fiber insert here in the lower part and a rather darker frame around the grille. Turning indicators in the front, they replace the daytime running light in an elegant way.

Length, wheels, and technology

5.34m or 210 inches is the length of this vehicle and power train-wise, we have the V8, which is powering both axles actually, rear-wheel bias, it's an all-wheel drive system, plus an electric motor that is just powering the rear axle. Soon more to that concept. Wheels, either 20-inch in Europe and optional 21-inch in the US. These 21-inch wheels are standard, of course, with different stylings, really massive, and then you can also get, optionally, these carbon ceramic brakes here with the bronze calipers, also a very impressive element.

The carbon fiber pack also adds more carbon fiber here to the side mirrors and also to the lower spoiler part, and you have this classic S-Class design style. Technology-wise, it also gets the rear axle steering as standard, together with the anti-roll control. The rear axle steering here, however, is a little bit limited. The standard S-Class, even the plug-in hybrid, would come to a maximum of 10 degrees steering in the opposite direction.

Here, it's just 3 degrees, and that is one disadvantage that you have the rear electric motor here because it reduces the amount of space you can use, for example, also then for turning in the wheels at the rear axle. Towards the rear, you can see the C-pillar is always a defining design element of an S-Class, and also that this part here is directly always up in the middle part of the rear wheel. Very interesting, isn't it?

More a round design at the rear, and the air suspension, by the way, is standard, and over a speed of 120 kilometers an hour or over 75 miles an hour, it lowers the vehicle automatically by about 10 millimeters. And the overall top speed is, with a special unlock, 290 kilometers an hour, that's 180 miles per hour. Turning indicators in the rear, this top part here with an element-segmented view, that looks very modern.

S63 AMG in Nautic Blue with Chrome

Here with the blue vehicle, we can see how it looks like with the chrome frame around the front grille. I think this more elegant styling fits an S-Class. That's at least my take.

What's yours? And I especially appreciate here these really polished wheels. Looks so cool, especially in contrast to the blue vehicle color. The same counts here for the chrome frames. It just adds this extra piece of elegance to the vehicle. In the rear, the biggest difference is, once again, exhaust here on the brighter side without the special black accentuations and also more chrome here.

V8 engine and battery system

Under the hood, we have, ta-da, the 4.0-liter V8 biturbo. Together with the electric drive, we have 800 horsepower of system output, the strongest S-Class ever. 3.3 seconds is the acceleration figure to 100 kilometers or 62 miles an hour, and how do they achieve that?

Well, the normal plug-in hybrid of the Mercedes S-Class has a battery capacity of around 29 kilowatt-hours. This battery is a performance battery inspired by Formula One tech from their racing team, 13 kilowatt-hours, so less than half the capacity size and also less pure electric range. With the normal S-Class P, if I could score some 80, 90 kilometers an hour, sorry, 80 or 90 kilometers pure electric range, some 50 miles, here it would rather be some 20, 30 kilometers max, so some 10- 15 miles or something.

Then again, you have better recuperation and stronger horsepower output. Yeah, these are the pros and cons of this system. On the passenger side here, you have the fuel fill, and on the driver's side, you have the AC plug, 3.7 kilowatts.

Interior: key and doors

Key fob with AMG badge, flush door handles, you swipe them or open/close with the key fob, they come towards you, but the haptic feedback they give you is kind of weird, I would say,

so I'm not a big fan of that, and the aerodynamic advantage is also limited. The door closing sound, it's really cool, actually, but for the S-Class, of course, there's then the option of the soft close like this.

Inside the doors, you have some nice carbon fiber deco element there, but then a lot of high-gloss black piano lacquer is used, and this here is without any feedback for the seat controls, so a step backward in comparison to the previous S63, I think.

Seats and comfort

Seats so far, animal skin only. They say they are developing alternatives, but, of course, that's too late. It should already be available. Seating position, of course, luxury sedans alike. However, I think seat ergonomics-wise, Mercedes is at this moment not on top of its game. I like the grip here, the microfiber grip of the steering wheel, and here, this AMG steering wheel is always sporty, not only visually, but also, you know, how we can grab it and so on, just has the better size. This vehicle is equipped with a panoramic roof, front, and rear, it's split, and in the front, you can actually also open it, and with 189 or 6'2", you still have some headroom here in the front. You can see it's not the tallest opening, but still, a pretty cool option to have.

Cockpit and user interface

Interior cockpit overview here with the vertical screen, and I think it's good that we don't have this EQ Hyperscreen here. I think this is a better solution because then you have more of this deco element, like here with carbon fiber, but also other ones are available, and you can already see the ambient lighting going around. Of course, you can change the colors of the ambient lighting.

So many are available, of course, even cooler in nighttime driving. On this AMG-specific steering wheel, you have these controls here, for example, for the driving modes. EL would be the pure electric one, and then here when I switch to Sport, you hear it when the engine goes on SportPlus, then the exhaust note is more prominent. On the left side, you control, for example, the suspension stiffness, or you can also tune the sound up and so on.

So, really flexible, and you can easily do that all while driving. And here in the instruments, you can switch from the Classic view to the Sport view, or also Supersport. Yeah, it goes faster and faster up to Track Pace, and you can also get this head-up display. The infotainment system has this inbuilt GPS. It's also decently responsive and quick. This is the main overview.

The climate unit here, it's not too hard to control it. Yes, I do prefer real buttons and knobs and so on, but for a digital solution, you can live with it. Hey, and have you seen that?

Here's the climate-changing ambient lighting function. That looks amazing, doesn't it, when you go warmer or colder. And that even runs through the rear doors. Wow, and that optional Burmester sound system here gives a really, really crisp sound, indeed. Just remember, the Burmester sound system always tries to make the sound most authentic as possible as the original source. They don't deliver this bass-intensive club sound.

As you can see here, this is the Apple CarPlay integration, wireless or wired, and the same counts for Android Auto. Middle consoles here in the front, and cup holders, but they don't hold higher bottles tight enough. USB-C charger, inductive charger, and here the split armrest with more charging.

Rear executive seating

Look at that. Now, it's time to check out the rear seating area.

First of all, when I take a seat in the left part here, this is the seat as I would be driving, and you see here, this is, of course, the long wheelbase version, and then I have a lot of legroom left, although I'm driving in the front. Headroom, when I lean backward here, is also fine, and then you can get different setups here. This one is a five-seater, and you can fold up this middle part here. Well, sitting in the middle part is, yeah, not the focus, not too comfortable, but for short ways, it would work, and then I switch over here. Yeah, I took my shoes off before. Here, we can fold down this, then, as a middle console.

You have more space in here, an inductive charging pad. You also have this separate screen you can take out, and then you can control here, for example, you know, like seating and massage functions, and so on, but you can also control it here at the rear seat entertainment system. And I really like these buttons that control the rear shade, the upper shade, and also the shades for the side windows. So, here, you can lower or higher the window, and just pull it one more time, and then the shade goes up, so easy solution.

The second button I showed you underneath that is then for this top shade there, and this is just a shade. It's no opening whatsoever, but also very easy to control, and the last button, then, there for this rear shade. And you can use these Mercedes headphones. They have actually very good passive noise canceling, so I can't hear anything going outside around me anymore now. And if you press this magic button here, then you get this executive position here, the chauffeur mode or being chauffeured mode. I cannot stretch my legs entirely.

That's, however, complaining on a very high level here with 189 or 6'2", but in the Audi A8L or in the BMW 7 Series, I can stretch my legs a little bit further. You can see the lower calf rest went up.

That's really comfortable. Also, the footrest and so on, and, yeah, that's a very great and relaxing position. Then, you can also activate the massage seats alongside. Yeah, that's pretty amazing, isn't it?

By the way, if you wonder, can the driver still see the side mirror?

Yeah, that's indeed a problem here. I recently talked to the chauffeur driver in the 7 Series, and he actually told me that there it was no problem because there the seat is a little bit smaller. The front seat is kind of small, folds together a little bit better, and then you can basically still watch the side mirror, but here it's really a problem. Yeah, but in this case, probably you say like, I don't care as an executive person in the rear, especially with these microfiber cushions here. Beautiful. Ooh, and here we go, automatic seat belt reachers, and you can also get these inflatable seat belts.

It's pretty cool. It looks and feels a little bit weird, but they are actually, in the case of a crash, they kind of blow up like a seat belt airbag, and then they make the area bigger where the seat belt hits the body, and, therefore, all the pressure is evenly distributed. That's actually a pretty cool safety idea. And you can get this small fridge here to store your precious bottles. In this case, only water because, hey, it's an S63, so at any time I want to be able to jump from the being chauffeured position to the driver's position back again to floor it out myself.

Trunk/boot

For such a large vehicle, 305 liters of trunk capacity is relatively small. However, it's longer than a meter or 40 inches, and you can use it, and there is no separate step here. It's the same as the normal plug-in hybrid S-Class. Of course, it's not too wide.

You can see here, this is in the back part more like, yeah, a little bit over 80 centimeters or 32 inches. This big piece there, by the way, you don't have to have it. This is actually the small fridge, and you can just take it out.

2nd interior trim

And here, a second interior styling for you in brown. I think better than red, definitely, isn't it? And listen to this. Matte wood deco element. I think that's pretty beautiful, isn't it?

Acceleration test and drive modes

Sport Plus, let's go.  Well, that was like 0 to 50 miles an hour. And I mean, yeah, it was a situation where it's like, for safety reasons, I need to accelerate really hard to get on the road really quickly before the next traffic is coming up. And you see, that was an acceleration basically in the corner, but it was very safely delivered also due to that all-wheel-drive system and so on. Pretty cool, right? So, easily, you can reach the speed limit. In the Sport Plus mode, you hear more of that engine.

Everything is pronounced from that engine sound as well. And you can also go back to the Comfort mode. A little bit more silence. Also, the air suspension rules are a little bit softer. But I have to say, even in that Sport Plus mode, yes, when the air suspension goes a little bit stiffer, you feel you have more control of the whole vehicle. That anti-roll control also acts in a way that the car doesn't lean to the sides. But it still gives you the S-Class feeling, even though it is in the Sport Plus mode.

Not that floaty ride. No, for that, you have to go then to the Comfort mode. And that, to me, is also a crucial thing, that when you are in Comfort mode, it still feels more or less like a normal S-Class.

I think that's a good decision here because when you think about a C63 AMG, there the C63 feels way different than the normal C-Class.

But here, I think S-Class always has to feel like S-Class. But due to that wide span, you can make it a race machine by hitting that knob.

Of course, the big question is, as for the power train, how is the power delivered from that electric motor? Well, there is also this EL mode, where you drive purely electrically. And you can also just accelerate by that and use the electric motor. That's possible. But as I said, driving it purely electric is not the main focus of this vehicle. Oh, the cops are already waiting for me. They're probably Autogefühl fans watching us going by. Yeah, that's why you should keep the speed limit.

It's not very easy with this vehicle here. It always tempts you to go even faster. But when you hit the accelerator pedal here with the electric motor, you feel you're getting pushed from the rear. It's actually a good feeling. And when you are in the normal driving modes, or Comfort mode, Sport mode here, when both are combined, you hardly feel what is going on.

The only thing you do slightly notice, and I felt the same with the AMG GT 4-door, where a similar system is being applied,

especially also on the racetrack at that time, because the electric motor reacts so quickly, like here, you feel that in the first moment, you have this push, pure electric, and then the combustion engine sets in. And is that a good feeling, or is that artificial? I think this leaves a lot of interpretation open because you can say, hey, it's a special thing. It gives you this kind of technology feel to the vehicle.

But if you want more of this purist experience, then it is something that speaks against it. By the way, beautiful Highway Number One is here, close to Malibu. And maybe when you know the area, you know that there are also some nice winding corners here.

Agile driving

There we go. There they are. It's lovely when you hear that V8, and going uphill. And this is also one of the cases where they designed the performance battery for, that you have the performance, the maximum performance at any time, even if you're going uphill, for example, for a longer period of time. But, to be honest, I personally think the normal plug-in hybrid battery, where you have a higher electric range, would have been fine as well.

I mean, you have the 4-liter V8 Biturbo here under the hood. That gives you more than enough power, and a racetrack use, or a Formula 1-like use, is not so realistic for this vehicle. This is what the vehicle is actually also for. Not only nice acceleration when you're cruising, or maybe some nighttime drive. Let me show you off a little bit, and you know, but here that you can have this luxury sedan, at the same time, have great agility. And the cool thing is, to me, the steering is a really nice combination also with the rear axle steering. It feels very light and sporty, although it is a super heavy vehicle.

And one of the disadvantages of the battery, or this plug-in hybrid system in general, is that the car is heavier. But due to that anti-roll stabilization, the rear axle steering, the direct crisp steering input, and the great chassis and suspension work, they kind of even out this negative effect. At some point, of course, especially when going downhill, or when you're really way fast in the corners, and you can't deny this effect. But, as far as it is possible, it still feels great in driving. It's so much fun, actually.

How is it for the passenger? Really nice. Really nice, yeah. Because I really like to ask the passengers, because sometimes they feel like, you know, feel a little bit stressed on the body or something. But when the passengers are still relaxed, when it's sporty driving, and they enjoy it as well, then you know that it's a great vehicle. And, wow, I mean, you don't even feel the length of the long wheelbase of the vehicle. That is the cool thing.

And this is really a big difference here when you are in that Sport Plus mode, S63, and normal S-Class. This is where the AMG version really shines. I told you earlier, when you're going straight, and when the cruise again, go to the comfort mode, make it a normal S-Class, then put in the Sports Plus mode, and it becomes something completely different. Do I really need the hybrid system for that? In my opinion, not. It feels great. It has great power, no doubt about that. And, yes, you have even more instant acceleration, somewhat, but I would have been totally fine if they would have just left out this battery system, to be honest, you know.

So, it has great performance, but it's not necessary, really, to achieve the great fun driving experience that you have just by the steering and the chassis and so on and so on. And, in a way, it kills me a little bit of this purist feeling because I want to hear that V8 growling a little bit more, and I want basically to wait a little bit on it to react. Do you know what I mean?

So, I, in a way, would prefer it to be a little bit less performant, maybe on paper, but better performing, you know, from the gut feeling. Do you know what I mean by that?

But, this aspect, on the one hand, on the other hand, on paper, of course, even more performance, that is what this E-Performance a version of the S63 here now delivers.

Evening ambient drive,

And, we have a nighttime driving experience for you on special request because I know you love to see a special luxury car, especially also with ambient lighting. Here, by the way, the IWC watch or clock in a digital way, you can also start that as a stopwatch. That's very interesting, isn't it? Because there's no analog one left, they came up with the idea then to make it digital. You can set the ambient lighting, by the way, also on this adaptive mode that it switches, you know, slightly, slowly from time to time.

You can also deactivate it if it's just too much playing around for you. And, you also have some more effects of the ambient lighting, showed that to you earlier, like here, the climate control, that's always a funny thing. And, for example, also, there's an exit warning over the ambient lighting, for example, when you want to get out of the vehicle and there's someone next to you, the car's actually seeing that. Then, it also has this red flashing, for example. So, let's go here, a little bit more of the city traffic, and I can be in the electric mode, for example, to, you know, emissions locally.

When you press this button, by the way, you can also set three different recuperation stages. And, in this case then here, for example, strongest recuperation, when I go off the throttle, really reduces, yeah, almost to a one-pedal driving feeling. Or, you can just set it to level one, and then it's not too much, or level zero, even. Of course, you can always recuperate by pressing the brake pedal, that is also possible. Yeah, I mean, that is something that Mercedes has figured out very well, this nighttime driving with the ambient lighting and so on.

It was pretty cool to do that. See, make a left turn here. Yeah, so, this makes it always an experience when you drive at night. Here, you can see how it switches then a little bit around on this purple star, and it can also wander from left to right. It is not as extreme as in the all-electric vehicles, where you also have this special energy mode, where it reacts to the throttle and the brake. That's, I think, a little bit too much.

Here, by that, I think, still a nice compromise, I would say. Oh, here, the stopwatch just ran further. You can also reset it or pick different modes, like seeing the energy flow of the battery. Maybe a cool thing for the passenger to see... for the driver... Yeah, I think you should just concentrate on the road. And now, tune in to more S-Class content or our recent big comparison review, Mercedes. S-Class versus BMW 7 Series.