![]() Apart from everything else, confidence is a key factor, and I was simply more confident behind the wheel of the Mercedes than I was when driving the BMW. Trouble is, I'm tasked with explaining why such a fine machine is finishing behind the E63 AMG S Model in this here comparison test. (The latter finished 10 out of 12 at BDC 2013.) Had the Competition Package been available to us this past June, I'm betting the M5 would have finished quite a bit higher than tenth. I should point out that as critical as I'm being of the BMW, this new M5 Competition Package is a much better-driving car than the regular strength M5 or the M6. Keeping traction and stability control on keeps the rear end from stepping out, but also slows things down considerably. Again, the M5 CP can do what the E63 AMG can - it just requires more skill. Sloppy throttle application has the Competition Pack's rear end stepping out whenever and wherever. The BMW, on the other hand, is like standing barefoot on a knife's edge. The result is no fuss and no muss when it comes to limit handling. So while you always have AWD bite, the car still feels like it's RWD. AMG's AWD solution permanently routes 33 percent of the torque to the front wheels and 67 percent to the rears. The E63 is calm and collected, an athlete in a business suit. (For instance, the 3133-pound Porsche Boxster also takes 24.3 seconds to go around our figure eight.) How the two accomplish the same task couldn't be more different. Both cars pull a max g of 0.96 and both complete our figure eight in 24.3 seconds, a damn impressive time. It should be noted that this M5 came with $9200 carbon-ceramic discs, while the E63 makes do with drilled steel rotors. Both cars stop from 60 mph in a respectable 106 feet. Finally, you simultaneously jam the throttle to the floor (making sure to really jam it, as the BMW has a stupid detent about 90 percent of the way down that you have to kick through) and release the stick." At a traffic light, the AMG is getting the M5's lunch money.Įlsewhere, however, the two are evenly matched. Then you touch the brake pedal lightly with your left foot and with your right hand push the stick forward. Next, you hold the traction control button down for about 10 seconds to turn all the nannies off. Then, you hit the little button below the shifter joystick twice to put the transmission into the fastest shift mode. For those who think I'm exaggerating, I'll go ahead and quote from the last M5 story I wrote: "First, you need to place the seven-speed dual-clutch transmission in manual mode. ![]() Until you consider that the M5's launch numbers were achieved using the complicated up, down, up, down, left, right, left, right, select, start launch control. While the AMG wins the drag race, it's not by much. That's enough to propel the 4511-pound sedan to 60 mph in a crazy quick 3.4 seconds and through the quarter mile in 11.6 seconds at 121.8 mph. As the S Model E63 is AWD, and since you typically factor in a drivetrain loss for AWD cars of 20 percent (the transmission and drive shafts tend to suck a lot of power), the actual crank numbers on this car are much closer to 676 hp and 636 lb-ft of torque. Meaning that we stuck this particular gray example on K&N Engineering's dynamometer and discovered that the M157 in this car churns out 541 wheel-horsepower and 508 lb-ft of torque. Of course those power numbers are GMFN, or German Minimum Fantasy Numbers. ![]() Such a motor, especially in the new S Model tune, creates 577 hp and 590 lb-ft of torque. It's 5.5 liters in displacement, has two turbochargers fitted directly to the exhaust headers, and fills the combustion chamber with direct-injected gasoline at 2000 psi. Under the bulging hood sits a nicely juiced-up version of the now-familiar M157 AMG engine. ![]() The pertinent facts of the case are thus: The 2014 Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG S Model is a monster. ![]()
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