Mercedes-AMG S 63 S E sport-limo performs with the talents of a long-wheelbase GT car. Thanks to impeccable man-machine relationship, exceptional body structure and dimensions, driving like a bank robber is a great pleasure. Steering is remarkably good, allowing the car to be placed with utmost precision. Sure, GTs and 2-seat sports cars can outrun it on a demanding road, but not by much.
Mark Ewing
Mercedes-Benz is in a perpetual state of becoming, a requisite for any civilization or company to thrive long-term. Seen here is not just a big boy S-class sport-limo in a custom-order shade of blue, but the AMG S 63 S E, with a combined gas-electric 791 horsepower, the most powerful S-class ever built, yet another testament to AMG’s act of becoming.
MANUFAKTUR Studio craft specialists can produce individualized versions of the S-class, the AMG GT and SL, Maybach SL 680 and several other range-topping vehicles, the cars a family might choose to keep for a generation or three.Along the flanks the image captures the richness of the color.
Mark Ewing
Becoming can also mean reinvention building upon achievement, and Mercedes has for more than 120 years offered tailor-made car-building, the most famous being the very first “Mercédès” of 1901.
Amaretto Brown leather and carbon-fiber trim. As expected of Mercedes, there is a melding of craft performed by highly trained individuals, but also the embrace of rapidly advancing technology.
Mark Ewing
MANUFAKTUR Studio is the branded name for Mercedes’ reconstituted in-house custom-build facility in Sindelfingen, where Mercedes has constructed big-bore cars for 110 years. MANUFAKTUR Studio offers Mercedes, AMG and Maybach buyers a 21st Century process for special-order car-building, extending the act of becoming. Call it MBA Kraftwerk.
Test car had the rear-seat executive package plus, and rear-seat entertainment, offering sleeper cabin seats, flatscreens, and digital capability to run a mobile war room for the executive or eager student on the move. This includes side and rear glass screens. Available refrigerator in rear console.
Mark Ewing
MANUFAKTUR now offers more than 50 colors and numerous interior hides and trim. For the exuberant, several colors are on the wild side: oranges that remind of a desert sunset, a lush shade of yellow, and a neon jungle green that should pop on an AMG GT 63. Most are jewel and earth tones, like the Quartz Blue on this test car.
Color wall at MANUFAKTUR Studio, where clients can spend a day or two speccing a car. Most colors are jewel or earth tone, but there are also a few wild ones available on some models, as seen here.
Mercedes-Benz AG
Digital scans are performed on leather hides to identify any blemish, and the specialists will know to work around imperfections issue when cutting the leather, delivering a perfect interior and minimizing unused hide.
Mercedes-Benz AG
Because the car here was specially built to showcase the talents of the Sindelfingen paint shop and stitchery, it’s the only such S-class currently on the road. Rarely does one see a blue jewel of these dimensions. When I offered folks a peek at the Amaretto leather inside, jaws slackened ever so slightly. Inevitably, hands reached for the buttery soft headrest pillows.
MANUFAKTUR Studio is open to customers commissioning a special car. Choose leather, threads, paints, and a range of other components. One can order from the dealer, but for such a special car, a trip to Greater Stuttgart is worth the time and effort. No different than commissioning new suits, or pinging Hamilton for a fresh closet of dress shirts.
Mercedes-Benz AG
AMG’s S 63 S E has not been available for too long in the U.S. No matter if you’re whispering along while driving Miss Daisy, shepherding a precocious Eloise to school, or hammering away like the wheelman in that bank heist movie “Heat,” S 63 S E is a supreme performer. Here again, we find becoming, as AMG has been evolved into a full-fledged carmaker, able to develop complex and highly advanced powertrains.
Controls are all proven Mercedes pieces that work flawlessly. It’s the beauty of being a product planner and engineer at AMG or Maybach: you can pick all the best subsystems and pieces from Mercedes, and tailor suspensions, powertrains and the like to suit the intended audience.
Mark Ewing
Producing 603 horsepower and 664 lb.-ft. of torque, the 4-liter twin-turbo V8 is hand-assembled on the AMG one-man/one-engine niche line. Yes, the builder scribes his name on the engine. And yes, the V8 alone has more than enough power to bring this chassis to life. The one-man/one-engine niche line was an early act of becoming for AMG.
Headrest pillows with embossed AMG logo, hand-stitched. Seats are broad and well padded, yet supportive. Amaretto leather is a rich color. Leather has a soft hand. Driver/Bodyman at the wheel will be a very happy fellow.
Mark Ewing
But AMG carries the S-class to brave frontiers, mounting its well-proven 235 lb.-ft. electric motor/battery pack between the rear wheels. Combined gas-electric power is almost beyond comprehension for a sport-limo: 791 horsepower and 1055 lb.-ft. of torque.
For steering wheels, MANUFAKTUR hand stitches leather that encases a layer of dense padding around the rim. End result is a wheel that is a joy to work. Steering, especially with lane keeping engaged, is utterly flawless, like a direct connection to the brain. On big corners on the mountain test route, the wheel is caressed with heel and edge of hand, placing perfectly.
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This is by far the most powerful S-class ever offered, and that mountain of torque is available over a very wide engine rev range. All that power flows through AMG’s 9-speed transmission and fully variable all-wheel drive.
This photo captures the richness of Quartz Blue. Also note the length of the wheelbase, and the great length of the rear doors. Climbing in and out of the rear seat is a glamour moment.
Mark Ewing
Around town, S 63 S E is whisper-quiet, easily navigating traffic in spite of its considerable length and heft, a serviceable everyday vehicle that “drives” much smaller than it is. The gauge pod offers a display providing instant readouts of just how much (or little) horsepower and torque is being used. Morning traffic requires little more than a burble.
Trim in the test car was carbon-fiber. Vents move enormous amounts of air and can cool the interior very quickly on a hot day. Each set of vents has the rectangular button with three indicators, allowing adjustment of airflow volume. One can also adjust fan speed. HVAC pushes massive volumes of chilled air, cooling the cabin rapidly even on days with temps in the 80s and low 90s, as I experienced.
Mark Ewing
Most of the several hundred miles I logged were in Los Angeles suburban traffic. Children in school uniforms jokingly referred to fictional characters of childhood like Eloise at the Plaza Hotel, which led to jokes about being Kevin McCallister of Home Alone fame staying at the Plaza and using limos to reach toy stores. And no, we didn’t risk a cheese pizza in the back seats.
Brakes are enormous and have massive bite, needed for a vehicle that weighs 5831 lbs. Up front discs measure 16.5 in. with 6-piston calipers. At the back, 15 in. discs. Top speed is 180 mph, for those days you’re late to a meeting.
Mark Ewing
Children were bemused by Executive Plus optional features, fiddling with the sleeper position, whooshing privacy screens up and down, or fiddling with flatscreens. Passenger entry and exit is graceful and glamorous thanks to those huge rear doors, even when hoisting rucksacks and violin cases.
Broad stitching tables with industrial sewing machines. The first “Mercedes,” a1901 35 HP model designed by Wilhelm Maybach and Paul Daimler for businessman Emil Jellinek and named for his daughter Mercédès, was a special build that brought numerous engineering advances.
Mercedes-Benz AG
Suspension set to Comfort, the ride is creamy without any hint of numb sloppiness—that reassuring gentleness only a muscular parent can ever truly deliver. Tar strips on concrete roads or undulations in asphalt reach the cabin as mere timpani strikes, not breaking the sense of serenity, the suspension architecture easily managing the weight and size of those 21-inch wheels.
Like most of the upper reaches of the Mercedes and AMG product lines, S 63 S E has a Burmester audio system with 4D Surround Sound.
Mark Ewing
But with so much athletic ability so easily applied, driving like a bank robber is irresistible, that call of the wild once the school carline is left behind. AMG S 63 S E doesn’t feel like a mid-size car that’s been stretched beyond its abilities, with brittle, jouncy suspension. Nor is it a wallowing heavyweight that leaves the driver feeling lost in a zero-gravity anechoic chamber. S 63 S E puts the sport in sport-limo. Thanks to impeccable man-machine relationship, driving S 63 S E like a bank robber is an earthly pleasure.
Find a freeway onramp, mash the throttle pedal and the car squats down, electric torque nearly overwhelming traction at the rear. But before your brain can comprehend, the fully variable all-wheel drive shoots “excess” torque and power forward to the front wheels, and one absolutely senses the front tires clawing into the pavement. The long wheelbase is advantageous, ensuring a stable trajectory. AMG’s claim of 0-60 mph in 3.3 was validated, many times.
The S 63 S E swims comfortably through traffic, a joy to drive when set to Comfort for lollygagging, or in the more aggressive settings, hammer down. Best of all was backseat chatter about Eloise and Kevin McCallister at the Plaza Hotel. Children always recognize the fun, the amusing aspects of a car, and S 63 S E entertains, an unprecedented evolution of the ultra-luxury sport-limo species.
S 63 S E has a front-end lift that is easy to access. But on the hunt the suspension settles down, as seen here, with maybe a two-finger gap between tire and wheel well. Note long wheelbase. With 791 horsepower and 1055 lb.-ft. of torque on tap, this is without question a sport limo.
Mark Ewing