Photo: Mercedes-AMG
The Exekutive Klasse can trace its roots back to 1953 when Mercedes-Benz launched the W120. Lovingly nicknamed Ponton for its pontoon styling, the original was replaced by the W110 in 1961. The Stuttgart-based automaker waited until the W124 of 1993 to premiere the E-Class nomenclature we associate with the German brand’s E-segment sedan.
W213 is the codename of the fifth generation, which launched at the 2016 North American International Auto Show in Detroit for the 2017 model year. Available in sedan, wagon (S213), coupe (C238), and cabriolet (A238) specifications, this fellow also served as the basis for the coupe-styled CLS and the Mercedes-AMG GT 4-Door Coupe five-door liftback.
Based on the MRA (Modular Rear-wheel-drive Architecture) that Mercedes-Benz will use for the W214 with minor improvements over the original, the W213 is offered with a varied selection of powertrains.
From turbocharged four-cylinder mills to straight-six, vee-six, vee-eight, and plug-in powertrains, there is an option there for everyone in the market for such a vehicle. As for the most exciting of the bunch, there’s no doubt everyone agrees the AMG-ified E 63 S 4Matic+ is king of the hill.
Presented with much pomp and circumstance in late 2016, the E 63 S 4Matic+ doesn’t feature a naturally-aspirated V8 as it used to be the case in the good ol’ days of the M100 in the 300 SEL 6.3 from the W109 series.
Under the hood, you’ll find a twin-turbocharged V8 with a displacement of 4.0 liters, a displacement dictated by markets where cars are taxed based on the size of their engines, among other taxes. China springs to mind, where the purchasing tax burden of automobiles equipped with engines larger than 4.0 liters is 2.4 times that of 1.5-liter powertrains.
Rather than the dry-sump M178 of the Mercedes-AMG GT, the M177 in the E 63 and the S-branded sibling features wet-sump lubrication. Assembled by hand in Affalterbach, the AMG-specific engine is shared with Aston Martin for applications that include the Vantage and the DBX.
In the E 63 S, it makes a whopping 604 horsepower (612 ps) and 627 pound-feet (850 Nm) of torque, but that’s not enough to fend off the next-generation M5. There’s no denying AMG will follow in M’s footsteps by upgrading to a plug-in setup. The four-cylinder turbocharged PHEV setup of the C 63 S E Performance also happens to be more powerful than the current-gen E 63 S 4Matic+, so yeah, plug-in assistance is the way to go.
Mercedes-AMG is bidding farewell to the ultimate performance-oriented W213 with the Final Edition, which is limited to 999 units worldwide. 50 examples of the breed are coming to Japan in both left- and right-hand drive, with all of them already spoken for despite an eye-watering MSRP.
The attached .pdf lists a suggested retail price of 24,470,000 yen including the consumption tax. Converted to U.S. dollars, that means $184,310 at current exchange rates. 25 LHD and 25 RHD units are heading to the Land of the Rising Sun, which seems a bit odd at first glance.
Given that the Final Edition has the makings of a blue-chip investment, those 25 left-hand-drive units are certainly going to be garaged by their first owners with the purpose of being sold for serious money a few years down the line to customers from countries that drive on the right side of the road.
Based on the MRA (Modular Rear-wheel-drive Architecture) that Mercedes-Benz will use for the W214 with minor improvements over the original, the W213 is offered with a varied selection of powertrains.
From turbocharged four-cylinder mills to straight-six, vee-six, vee-eight, and plug-in powertrains, there is an option there for everyone in the market for such a vehicle. As for the most exciting of the bunch, there’s no doubt everyone agrees the AMG-ified E 63 S 4Matic+ is king of the hill.
Presented with much pomp and circumstance in late 2016, the E 63 S 4Matic+ doesn’t feature a naturally-aspirated V8 as it used to be the case in the good ol’ days of the M100 in the 300 SEL 6.3 from the W109 series.
Under the hood, you’ll find a twin-turbocharged V8 with a displacement of 4.0 liters, a displacement dictated by markets where cars are taxed based on the size of their engines, among other taxes. China springs to mind, where the purchasing tax burden of automobiles equipped with engines larger than 4.0 liters is 2.4 times that of 1.5-liter powertrains.
Rather than the dry-sump M178 of the Mercedes-AMG GT, the M177 in the E 63 and the S-branded sibling features wet-sump lubrication. Assembled by hand in Affalterbach, the AMG-specific engine is shared with Aston Martin for applications that include the Vantage and the DBX.
In the E 63 S, it makes a whopping 604 horsepower (612 ps) and 627 pound-feet (850 Nm) of torque, but that’s not enough to fend off the next-generation M5. There’s no denying AMG will follow in M’s footsteps by upgrading to a plug-in setup. The four-cylinder turbocharged PHEV setup of the C 63 S E Performance also happens to be more powerful than the current-gen E 63 S 4Matic+, so yeah, plug-in assistance is the way to go.
Mercedes-AMG is bidding farewell to the ultimate performance-oriented W213 with the Final Edition, which is limited to 999 units worldwide. 50 examples of the breed are coming to Japan in both left- and right-hand drive, with all of them already spoken for despite an eye-watering MSRP.
The attached .pdf lists a suggested retail price of 24,470,000 yen including the consumption tax. Converted to U.S. dollars, that means $184,310 at current exchange rates. 25 LHD and 25 RHD units are heading to the Land of the Rising Sun, which seems a bit odd at first glance.
Given that the Final Edition has the makings of a blue-chip investment, those 25 left-hand-drive units are certainly going to be garaged by their first owners with the purpose of being sold for serious money a few years down the line to customers from countries that drive on the right side of the road.
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