Best Luxury Sedans: 2018 Mercedes-AMG S63
MSRP $185,000
The S Class Mercedes-Benz has always been considered the leader of the “not handcrafted” luxury sedans. This is the car that heads of state and really rich guys tool around in. The current generation of S Class was launched in 2013 so Mercedes-Benz decided to jazz it up a bit for 2018.
Jazz it up they did. They added 6500 new parts that enabled significant improvements in its Intelligent Drive semi-autonomous driving feature, a snazzy new grill, and a feature called Energizing Comfort Control that turns the car into a rolling spa.
And then they called on AMG, Mercedes-Benz’s in-house tuner shop, to juice up the luxury ride a bit. And they did.
The AMG S63 is not quite autonomous but it’s getting very close. Improvements made the whole process smoother and less jerky than before. It keeps the vehicle nicely centered in the lane and even “sees” and slows down for curves. This system is a boon for well-heeled commuters and will give them the opportunity to fully appreciate the benefits of the Energizer Comfort Control.
Want your car to match your mood? Who doesn’t? The ECC features six different programs – Freshness, Warmth, Vitality, Joy, Comfort, and Training – each tailoring the climate settings, music, seat massage and ventilation, interior lighting, and air fragrances together in a unique way. Unbelievable.
Switch the drive mode to “sport” and you are ready to exercise AMG’s contributions. New for 2018 is a 4.0L, biturbo, V8 that is tuned to 603 horsepower, harnessed to a snappier seven-speed automatic. Need to merge on the interstate or just make an emergency run for Gray Poupon? The AMG package gets this bad boy from zero to 60 in 3.4 seconds. And the AMG S63 does a lot more than just go very fast in a straight line. The amazing air suspension system turns this luxury ride into a sports car ready to eat up twisty roads and carve up curves.
Not very sedate behavior for a rich guy’s ride.