AMG performance *Controversial post warning*

[StringfellowHawke]

Had the E63 for coming up to a month now. I can honestly say it’s the best car I’ve ever had and love it. However....and this is were it gets controversial I’ve caught myself on more than one occasion wondering what the point of it all is. Hear me out.

Obviously with circa 500bhp the amount of time you can use full power on the road is less than the amount of seconds you can count on one hand. Therefore it stands to reason for 99% of the time (bar trips to the autobahn) you are driving a machine which you can only ever use a third of its available performance. Another way of looking at it is like Concorde being limited to 0.85 Mach coupled with the same fuel economy as being in supersonic flight. Or that of nuclear weapons. They are good to have but you’d be mad ever to use them in anger.

So apart from the acceleration and sound which i will be first to admit is addictive. What is the rational to having the amg say over the warm version of the same car.

I have my own thoughts (I’ve bought one don’t get me wrong ) and think it extends to greater than to just the on papers numbers. What are your thoughts ....

 

[WOODYTHEWISE]

Good points all. I have a 20 year old vitara. I would be willing to exchange for your AMG.

 

[Mr. B]

So apart from the acceleration and sound which i will be first to admit is addictive. What is the rational to having the amg say over the warm version of the same car.

Men being men (excuse me ladies) the rational is mine is bigger than yours.

 

[st13phil]

I had E63 Biturbos as my daily driver for 5 years and almost 70k miles in total, so I completely understand the difficulty in using the car's full performance on the road.

My daily commute was around 23 miles each way, on a mixture of fast A- and B-roads and slower sections through villages. Some days I’d never use full throttle at all. On days that I did, in aggregate I doubt I had the pedal to the metal for more than around 10 to 15 seconds in each 35 minute journey. Every time I did, it made me smile. And that made it all worthwhile.

 

[Alps]

same as all the comments above, i have the bi turbo e63 with weistec goodies, a few secs on the pedal and it was doing unmentionable speeds, no-where really you could drive it sensibly..... so i sold up whilst ans went back to an e55 which is slightly more manageable. contradicting myself... i do miss the power and the plan in a few years is to go to a newer 4wd model.

 

[markjay]

Good points all. I have a 20 year old vitara. I would be willing to exchange for your AMG.

OP, don't listen to WOODYTHEWISE. My 3 year's old Vitara has satnav. And I'll throw-in new set of mats. Deal?

 

[AMGeed]

It's probably the fact that you know the performance is there anytime you choose to use it. It's why we buy these ridiculously quick cars.
By the OP's logic, there is no point in hardly any car that does over 100mph and gets there fairly quickly.
But most of all, Post#3 is probably closest to the mark.

 

[Mr. B]

My 1977 British Leyland Mini 1000 Mark 4 will touch 100 mph when it’s slipstreams an AMG.
But I would much prefer to be in the vehicle infront.

 

[MrRight]

I like to think of an AMG engine like a savings account. just because I've got the funds , doesn't mean I need to spend them all !

 

[540YMX]

For me not just the potential performance but because it looks like this...

 

[StringfellowHawke]

All good points. Yes there is the physical appearance of the amg cars which I didn’t take into account. I guess Mercedes realised this a while ago with all the amg line upgrades they offer.

 

[KillerHERTZ]

The noise is just as addictive as the performance.

 

[MrRight]

these days they have the handling to match too.

 

[E55BOF]

I sold the E63 and am now in an ML500 because I can resist anything but temptation. The SLK is always there when I feel the need for a little temptation anyway...

 

[StringfellowHawke]

I do feel a large part of the ownership experience of an amg, rs or m car for that matter is the feeling of knowing your driving one of the most powerful cars on the road short of a super exotic. I also think pub bragging rights play a part to.

 

[Scooby_Doo]

I think it goes a bit further down the line than that , I bought a C250 4matic because that's all my budget would allow , I can't even use the 207 bhp most of the time , should I have bought a C180 and saved myself some money and not have to fork out £450 a year in road tax - I don't think so. Does someone driving around in a ten year old hatchback not covet my C250 more than I covet your E63 ? I love cars as much as anybody - the limiting factor is how much money I have to spend on a car.

 

[Athey]

We don’t get older, we just buy bigger toys to play with!
Good point though, why do we pay astronomical amounts to buy, service and keep these on the road?
Maybe the fact that we just feel better about ourselves when we do get a chance to floor it albeit if only for a few seconds, and to a small or large degree vanity.

 

[E53AMG]

Hmm, £325 road tax, V8 430bhp, 30mpg on a run, 0-60 in 4 secs, think I can manage without the badge [emoji848]

Sent from my SM-G955F using Tapatalk

 

[SmartAmg]

Sometimes I toy with the idea
of a E63, over my C207 (265 bhp) but then I think my car can do 0-60 in 6 secs ish, compared to 4 secs ish both are limited to 155 mph, and a re-map on my C207 would take it pretty close to a AMG in the so called real world driving, so I then think why bother, it would cost me probably
£15-20 grand and my car to get the AMG model I would want plus a lot more running costs, tax, ins, fuel etc, so it can only be the prestige and of course the noise of a AMG
so is it really worth it?

 

[Steve84N]

Anyone who doesn't have an AMG will always think it's not worth it and convince themselves that what they have is good enough.

Anyone who has an AMG knows it's worth it.

The sound, the acceleration, the overall feel, never getting trumped by some tool who decides to accelerate when you overtake, going to the continent and letting it off the leash a bit. All worth it.