NEW YORK MOTOR SHOW: AMG gets in on S-Class Coupe act
Where do you turn when big, fast and opulent isn't enough? Bigger, faster and more opulent, obviouslyThe paint isn’t even dry on the all-new S-Class Coupe and Mercedes-Benz’s hot-shop has already pulled the trigger on its even-faster model.
The S 63 AMG Coupe will be publicly shown for the first time at next month’s New York motor show, but we can confirm the nitty-gritty of what it is and how fast it will go.
Based around the all-new S-Class limousine architecture, the S63 AMG Coupe will crunch 430kW out of its 5.5-litre twin-turbo V8 powerplant. But that’s not the key.
The real number here is the 900Nm of torque it will manage from 2250rpm to 3750rpm and the other significant number is 3.9, which is how many seconds it will take the big two-door rig to hit 100km/h.
Another number you might want to pay attention to is 4, because that’s how many wheels the S63 AMG Coupe needs to drive to deliver straight-line acceleration like that.
Australia’s right-hand drive laws and Mercedes-Benz’s inability to engineer a right-hook all-wheel drive car mean our big AMG coupes will be 0.4 seconds slower to 100km/h than that, with the rear tyres and traction control fighting to keep all that torque in line.
All-wheel drive is optional in left-hook countries, at an additional cost in price and a slight uptick in fuel consumption, lifting from the rear-driver’s 10.1L/100km to 10.3L/100km.
That all adds up to a car that’s 30kW more powerful, 100Nm more torquey and 0.4L/100km thriftier than the old CL 63 AMG it replaces.
Matching the engine in the S 63 AMG sedan, it’s also 95kW and 200Nm stronger than the S 500 Coupe, which made its debut at the Geneva motor show last week.
The 1995kg S 63 AMG Coupe is 65kg lighter than the old CL 63 AMG, too, largely thanks to aluminium in the chassis, a lithium-ion battery, forged alloy wheels and composite brake discs.
It uses a seven-speed automatic transmission in both rear- and all-wheel drive applications and while there are 19-inch wheels as standard fit, AMG believes most buyers will choose the 20-inch wheels, complete with 255/40 R20 front tyres and 285/35 R20 rears.
Limited to 250km/h, the big coupe adopts the same optional air suspension as used on the S 500 Coupe, meaning it picks up all of its cornering and ride tricks.
The quirkiest of those tricks is the Curve Tilting Function, which lets the pillarless coupe lean into corners by up to 2.5 degrees to help flatten its cornering profile.
Benz proclaims the system a logical extension of the Active Body Control and Road Surface Scan functions, but while they were designed to add comfort into the big limousine S-Class, they’ve been adapted here for added performance.
Between 30km/h and 180km/h, the system uses a stereo camera in the windscreen to calculate road surfaces up to 15 metres ahead of the car.
The S 63 won’t be Merc’s top-shelf S-Class Coupe, however, with that honour reserved for the yet-to-appear S 65 Coupe, powered by AMG’s beefy twin-turbo V12, which will be exclusively available – in Australia at least – in the two-door S-Class and SL-Class models.
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