2021 Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG S

Mercedes has been making fast E-Classes for long enough now that it’s easy to forget just how outrageous the idea once was.

The W124 500E, that quietly ferocious collaboration with Porsche, proved that a sober-looking saloon could be every bit as thrilling as a two-seat sports car. No wings, no decals, no need. Just a big V8, a subtle badge, and a knowing smirk.

Three decades on, the E63 S still plays that same wonderful trick. It’s the modern equivalent of slipping brass knuckles under a tuxedo - civilised on the surface, but gloriously unhinged when provoked. Beneath the bonnet lives AMG’s 4.0-litre bi-turbo V8, all 603 horsepower of it, coursing through a 9-speed gearbox that shifts with intent and immediacy. There’s torque everywhere, and the sort of elastic acceleration that leaves your brain scrambling to keep up with your eyes.

What makes it properly clever, though, is 4MATIC+. It’s not just traction, it’s intuition - a drivetrain that can predict your mood and react before you’ve even thought about it. Calm and composed one minute; utterly deranged the next. Drift mode, if you must ask, is still there - a little nod to the part of Affalterbach that refuses to grow up.

This particular car wears MANUFAKTUR Brilliant Blue Magno, a finish that feels almost sculptural. There’s a richness to it - deep and matte, like ink drying on fine paper - that gives the E63 S a presence far beyond its spec sheet. 

Inside, the theme continues. Black Nappa leather, carbon-fibre trim, and AMG Performance seats make the cabin feel purposeful but never brash. Everything you touch has weight and substance - the steering wheel rim, the paddle shifters, even the click of the drive-mode selector. It’s a rare thing now: a genuinely physical driving experience in a world increasingly made of screens.

Delivered new to Victoria and showing just 29,472 kilometres, this E63 S has lived a careful life, serviced solely by Mercedes-Benz and kept exactly as Affalterbach intended.

The world will move on soon enough - to hybrids, silence, and algorithms - but for now, the E63 S stands defiantly in the gap between eras: a car that still breathes, growls and tingles with combustion.

It’s the last great handshake between man and machine, a final symphony of thunder played in a major key.