Crossovers and SUVs make for an appealing choice in terms of cars, but as more and more people opt for them, something has to give. That something, as one would expect, is the slow and bitter death of the family-friendly station wagon body style.
In the red corner, we have the Honda Civic, which is no longer available as a wagon. But in the blue corner, Mercedes-AMG pushes the envelope of sanity with the all-new E63 S 4Matic+ T-Modell. Like the sedan model, the station wagon version of the E63 S packs a hand-crafted 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 under its hood.
The numbers are downright ridiculous for a longroof: 612 PS (603 hp), 850 Nm (627 lb-ft) from 2,500 to 4,500 rpm, and a quick-shifting 9-speed automatic transmission sending the goodies to all four wheels through a performance-oriented AWD system. The non-S model isn’t as powerful as its big brother, but the specs are impressive nonetheless: 571 PS (563 hp) and 750 Nm (553 lb-ft) between 2,250 - 5,000 rpm.
Other than a small difference in terms of acceleration (3.5 vs. 3.6 seconds) and weight (1,985 vs. 1,995 kilograms), there’s another thing you should know about the two. And that is that only the E63 S 4Matic+ T-Modell has a drift mode. In three-pointed star jargon, “drift mode” is just another way of saying the vehicle can go rear-wheel-drive at the touch of a button.
Oh, and another thing: thanks to a cargo capacity ranging between 640 and 1,820 liters (22.6 to 64.2 cuFT), the E63 4Matic+ T-Modell and E63 S 4Matic+ T-Modell boast the largest trunks in the performance estate segment.
“It is not for nothing that the model has been a permanent fixture in the AMG portfolio for 40 years,” said Tobias Moers, the CEO of Mercedes-AMG GmbH. "The powerful engine and the intelligent all-wheel-drive underpin our claim to always be at the forefront of development when it comes to performance," he concluded.
The numbers are downright ridiculous for a longroof: 612 PS (603 hp), 850 Nm (627 lb-ft) from 2,500 to 4,500 rpm, and a quick-shifting 9-speed automatic transmission sending the goodies to all four wheels through a performance-oriented AWD system. The non-S model isn’t as powerful as its big brother, but the specs are impressive nonetheless: 571 PS (563 hp) and 750 Nm (553 lb-ft) between 2,250 - 5,000 rpm.
Other than a small difference in terms of acceleration (3.5 vs. 3.6 seconds) and weight (1,985 vs. 1,995 kilograms), there’s another thing you should know about the two. And that is that only the E63 S 4Matic+ T-Modell has a drift mode. In three-pointed star jargon, “drift mode” is just another way of saying the vehicle can go rear-wheel-drive at the touch of a button.
Oh, and another thing: thanks to a cargo capacity ranging between 640 and 1,820 liters (22.6 to 64.2 cuFT), the E63 4Matic+ T-Modell and E63 S 4Matic+ T-Modell boast the largest trunks in the performance estate segment.
“It is not for nothing that the model has been a permanent fixture in the AMG portfolio for 40 years,” said Tobias Moers, the CEO of Mercedes-AMG GmbH. "The powerful engine and the intelligent all-wheel-drive underpin our claim to always be at the forefront of development when it comes to performance," he concluded.