With a claimed 0-100 km/h sprint time of 3.3 seconds, we expected the new S63 to be quick. However, we didn’t expect it to tear up our test strip as it did. Here’s a closer look at the E Performance model’s astonishing test figures…
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As the new Mercedes-AMG S63’s E Performance moniker suggests, its internal combustion engine (ICE) — the Affalterbach automaker’s 4.0-litre twin-turbocharged V8, producing 450 kW and 900 N.m — is supplemented by an electric motor. Mounted at the rear, the latter unit adds 140 kW to the E Performance-badged S63’s peak power output for a headline figure of 590 kW.
Related: Road Test Figures: Mercedes-AMG GLC 63 S E Performance
However staggering the 590 kW is, it’s the S63 E Performance’s combined torque output that will leave most wide-eyed. In total, the S63 E Performance’s plug-in hybrid (PHEV) powertrain is endowed with a jaw-dropping 1 430 N.m, sent to all four corners via AMG’s nine-speed Speedshift MCT transmission.
According to Mercedes, these figures allow the 2 506 kg (tested) performance saloon to dispatch the obligatory 0-100 km/h dash in a supercar-levelling 3.3 seconds. So when we were handed the keys to the S63 E Performance, we were eager to test whether this AMG PHEV is, indeed, as quick as the marque claims.
We didn’t match AMG’s claim, however — we bested it! On our test strip, the S63 E Performance sprinted to the 100 km/h marker from a standstill in a whip crack 3.13 seconds, nearly two-tenths of a second quicker than the German marque’s figure and not far off the times of some of the supercars we’ve tested. This limousine reached 200 km/h in 11.02 seconds and was low-flying by the time it had travelled one kilometre; 20.53 seconds at 246.85 km/h.
Related: Road Test Figures: Mercedes-AMG C63 S E Performance
In-gear acceleration was impressive, too. Between the 80-100, 80-120 and 100-120 km/h increments, the S63 E Performance recorded times of 0.86, 2.07 and 1.21 seconds, respectively.
In our stringent emergency braking regiment, the AMG astonished with an average 100-0 km/h stopping time was just 2.62 seconds, garnering it an ‘excellent’ rating by our standards, over a distance of 33.09 metres.
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