The New Mercedes-AMG E63 Is Not That New, But Don't Let That Put You Off

It’s been a pretty sweet week for super saloons. Just a day on from the reveal of the refreshed BMW M5 Competition, Mercedes-AMG is showing off its updated E63.

Once again available as either a saloon or estate, it comes with tweaked looks, although these shouldn’t come as a surprise - the refreshed E63 was spotted with minimal camouflage a few months ago.

It has the larger, 12-vane ‘Panamericana’ grille first seen on the E53, but with a more aggressive lower bumper design, ensuring the E63 is mistaken for its less powerful six-pot brother. At the back, there’s a reprofiled bumper, a redesigned diffuser, and the same new light clusters found on the rest of the updated E-Class range.

The bulk of the major changes are inside. In here, you’ll find the newer MBUX infotainment screen, working from a 10.25-inch touchscreen which is flanked by a digital instrument display of the same size. In the S, both increase to 12.25 inches diagonally. Don’t want to get smudgy fingerprints on the central display? There’s a touchpad on the centre console, along with a variety of buttons on the new steering wheel.

The drivetrain is carried over from the old one without any changes, and that’s just fine by us. In the E63 S, the 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 develops 602bhp, making for a 0-62mph time of 3.4 in the saloon, and 3.5 in the estate. The top speed is electronically-limited to 155mph, although you can bump that up to 186 if you spec the AMG Driver’s package.

Power is sent to all four wheels via a nine-speed automatic gearbox, although in the S, it’s possible to take drive away from the front axle in ‘Drift Mode’. For the first time, buyers of the entry-level E63 can enjoy such shenanigans, provided they option the AMG Dynamic Plus Package, which also comes with the beefier brakes and ‘Race’ mode the S includes as standard.

In the UK, only the S will be available. This should sound familiar, as Mercedes-AMG made the same decision for its ‘45 range of cars, while over at BMW, it looks as though we’ll only be getting the ‘Competition’ versions of M cars from now on. Seems us Brits like being upsold so much, it’s not worth bringing the ‘lesser’ versions of things here.

Pricing hasn’t been revealed just yet, but we’d expect the S saloon to start from around £98,000, right in the ballpark of the newly revealed M5 Competition. The estate should come in at a smidge over £100,000.