First Drive Mercedes S63 AMG Coupe Review

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Merc’s largest two-door car, previously the CL and now the more straightforwardly named S-class Coupe, has never been easy to pigeonhole. Essentially a chopped down, lowered and rebodied super-luxury limo, it sacrices great tracts of rear cabin room for the opportunity to compete with senior GTs more traditionally steeped in the ways of sensually styled seduction; those from the likes of Aston, Bentley and even Ferrari (with the FF). The Mercedes has certainly never wanted for comfort, renement or performance, especially in AMG form, but what it has lacked is individual charisma. For all its S-class tech and engineering-led excellence, the CL was insufciently glamorous and engaging as a steer to really justify its über-GT billing, despite its obvious abilities and strong material value.

It would be misleading to say the formula has changed dramatically for the new S-class Coupe. In the same way the CL benetted from its S-class engines and underpinnings, so the new car acquires all of the things that make the current S-class saloon most people’s idea of the world’s most accomplished limo, including the curve-surng tech (more on which shortly) and dubiously helpful plethora of driver aids. The question remains, though: has Mercedes managed to dial in enough attitude to make the S-class Coup e its own car and a more persuasive presence in a sector largely dened by pleasures that extend beyond themerely technical?

The exterior design certainly suggests a new direction. Although similarly huge, the S-class Coupe is vastly more stylish than its predecessor, staying mostly faithful to the concept shown at last year’s Frankfurt show, which provided a suitably expansive canvas for Mercedes’ distinctive new form language, with sharp converging swage lines running from the front wings to the rear wheel arches. It looks crouched and purposeful, with a long bonnet and low-slung pillar less passenger compartment –what Mercedes calls a ‘cowering glasshouse’ – emphasising the fact that the cabin sits slightly back from the front wheels and, from a distance at least, helping disguise the sheer size of the car. There’s no mistaking it when you climb inside, though. The optional full-length ‘Magic Sky’ sunroof on our fully specced S63 AMG test car, with its glass self-dimming in strong sunlight, adds a further dimension of airiness to the acres of expensively furnished space granted to the driver and front-seat passenger, and is doubtless even more welcomed by anyone who chooses to travel in the back. Not that they would if the front was free. There the beautifully trimmed leather seats are large, hugely comfortable and adjustable in just about every way imaginable to the command of gently purring electric motors, more of which can massage your back, blow cold air supply our bumand actively squeeze your torso via the side bolsters when cornering, if so specied.

But the analogue-aping TFT instrument display, while clear and well stocked, looks a bit perfunctory, certainly compared to a Jaguar XJ’s. It strikes an incongruous note in a high-quality interior that strives so hard for a conspicuously cut-above feel and look. The tweeter grilles for the fab Burmester sound system, for example, look like the exposed innards of a fancy watch, and even the optional sliver of Swarovski crystal adorning the leather bound ashtray cover on this car – a reminder of the dozens in the headlight units to ‘sharpen’ the beam – isn’t as naff as it sounds. The large, rectangular satnav display next to the dials, on the other hand, is brilliant.

Although a V12-engined AMG is expected to top the S-class Coupe range in due course, for now it’s this S63. Powered by the same 577bhp twin-turbo 5.5-litre V8 direct-injection motor as the S63 limo, it betters the Biturbo 4.7-litre V8 in the S500 Coupe by a worthwhile 128bhp. The AMG motor’s 664lb ft of torque contributes even more to the effortless propulsive thrust, helping the driver forget the car’s 1995k g weight and instead be amazed by the meeting 4.3sec it takes to hit 62mph from rest. Part of the credit goes to an updated version of AMG’s seven-speed Speed shift auto ’box, which has new software to make it more quick -witted and intuitive. Although the S63 will be produced in four-wheel-drive ‘4Matic’ form for some markets, with the potential for even brisker off the- line alacrity, the UK isn’t one of them.

The S-class Coupe’s part-aluminium body shell is significantly stiffer than the old CL’s, so the advances made to the big car’s complex chassis systems should shine through all the brighter. The so-called Magic Body Control suspension uses a combination of air springs at the front, hydraulically operated dampers at the back and a stereo camera located in the windscreen to keep body roll, pitch and dive at barely perceptible levels while retaining the kind of pillowy ride comfort betting, well, an S-class. The camera constantly monitors the road surface and topography and adjusts the spring and damper rates accordingly.

If that isn’t enough, you can option an extension of the technology called ‘curve tilting function’, which, when activated, doesn’t just eliminate body roll but actually leans the car into bends, motorcycle style. Mercedes claims that its purpose isn’t to allow higher cornering speeds but to further improve comfort by pushing occupants down into their seats instead of rolling them towards the edge, lunging for the grab handles.We’ll see about that.

It’s easy to scoff at what looks, on paper, to be the most heinous example yet of tech overkill but, with a few reservations, the S63 Coupe is an astonishing thing. Let’s deal with the foibles rest. At speed on the motorway, it doesn’t have quite the rock-solid, straight-ahead stability you’d expect of a two-ton Autobahn stormer that registers just 2100rpm at 100mph. The feeling is more subliminal than acute, but it’s as if the car can’t quite settle, as if the electronics are constantly making tiny compensating adjustments. It isn’t a big deal but it is a little disconcerting. The seven-speed wet-clutch Speed shift auto isn’t as silky as it might be either. It’s at its best in the Sport setting with large doses of throttle, when it zips up and down the gears with ne speed and nesse. But on light throttle openings around town, especially in Comfort, it can occasionally thud and clunk in an unseemly manner, which has to rank as a disappointment.

Show the car a fast, owing country road, however, and it will show you things that barely seem possible. In the old CL63, the fabulously muscular 5.5-litre Biturbo V8 was a welcome companion but something of a blunt instrument. In the S63, with even more power and a meatier soundtrack, it can truly exploit a chassis that doesn’t just feel a whole lot crisper and more agile but also exhibits body control and mass management that seems closer to witchcraft than hi-tech engineering. The curve tilt function is spooky, seeming to scavenge even more grip and turn-in acuity on any given bend, whatever Mercedes says, while at the same time maintaining a sense of calm in the cabin. With due allowance for its actual size, if ever a huge, heavy car felt like a small, lithe one, this is it.

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