I wish I could have all of them haha
the w212 E63 S which i think was the most accomplished car overall (better comfort than the 213 and lighter too and compared to the PFL 212 and 211also had a great interior , LSD , 360 cam etc. Also real world fuel economy is the best . It also pulls in almost any gear ( the 213 with so many gears tends to be in too high a gear in manual mode lot of the time) . Hooning it around is a challenge as it's so powerful. The transmission can't match the engine and that's it's biggest weakness though it's not bad, just not great. Gear shifts are butter smooth though so you get that daily driver trade off. It is refined and accomplished as a luxury car with silly power. Mine on 40k miles was over 535whp so it's got bags of grunt. With a modded exhaust , the turbo whistle is a winner and the exhaust note was top notch. The handling was also as good as you can get in a big heavy car. Very impressive car. I kept it for over 3 years and if it had a bit more practicality (estate) i would have never parted with it.
The 211 is the one to go for if you want the most comfortable daily driver. Its like floating on a cloud. Its that good. When you give it the full beans, the engine really comes alive. I think overall the transmission doesn't rev match on downshifts and it's not as much of a hooligan. But for commuting or cruising, this is the best (you can retrofit android auto, reversing cameras so you can bring the tech up to date ). I didnt mod the exhaust and it didnt have a performance pack but had dynamic seats and lovely leather. The engine whirr of this and the 212 is the best engine sound on a car I've owned. At low speed with windows open, you can hear the mechanical perfection from the engine. It is loud and clean.
The 212 6.2l I had with performance pack and LSD was the perfect car for doing anything. It has the hooligan rawness. Had more than enough power and torque. The tyres I had were not fit for purpose though (MPS4 instead of 4S ) and the front and rear grip was defeated all the time. Driving it was a joy as that engine was the star of the show. But with the LSD and performance pack, the handling was just so good. Mine had distronic too and while not as clever as the 213 implementation which is so good, it was sufficient. Fuel economy is inline with the 213 ! The transmission on mine was a bit rough. Rougher than any of the other e63s' I owned. But at the same time it was very snappy and quick to change gears in manual mode i found it faster than my e93 m3 and i actually liked driving it more than the M3. It was an absolute brute and I do regret selling it to be honest. I should have kept it. Sadly it wasn't an estate and that was the only reason I parted with it. I may swap my m3 over for an E or even CLS 6.2 shooting brake (as long as they come with an MCT rather than older torque converter) .
Now over to the 213. For many years I missed my c63s estate which i probably slightly preferred vs my E63s 5.5 because of how loud it was and how good the transmission and tech was ( the 212 was just too quiet in the cabin, too refined). The 213 seemed to be a larger version of the s205 on paper therefore giving me more practicality being a bigger car. The tech is even better in the 213. I'm not enamoured by the AWD ( power going to the front wheels is just not my preference and takes getting used to, though i hardly notice it now). The weight of the 213 is not ideal though i can't feel the weight when I get to push the car. I was a bit unimpressed with the ride quality but increasing the
tyre pressure has more or less resolved that and it rides just fine now. The tyres are super wide and fuel economy is atrocious. The tech is great even in the PFL 2018 I bought (as it had no OPF) , and the exhaust is the best out of all the cars because of the multiple butterfly valves. Comfort mode with exhaust valves open is the mutts nuts, but put it in sport plus and boom, it's beyond antisocial and I like that this option is there when I want it. You can stick it in manual mode in any engine mode too. I can get it to sound like a beast accelerating from a stop at low speeds but then it's trickier to get good sound out because of the silly power. It is so fast. Its the only car that I feel the G force on when I'm pushing it. It is definitely a special car and handling even given it's a heavy porker is physics defying for sure. It isn't very fast at all if you're in the wrong gear and the 9 gears can be tricky to deal with in manual mode if you want to accelerate with brute force and you'd need gear 3 or 4 at that speed so that adds a dimension of involvement. I don't think I felt that in the 5.5 which I though pulled so impressively in almost any gear. In the right gear the 213 is a rocket ship. It shifts gears instantly and the engine has been tuned so brilliantly that it is mega responsive. The 5.5 i felt was lazy to begin with but once it got going, it was dynamite. The 4.0l seems much faster still which i thought was impossible haha
They're all great in their own way. Sorry for the word salad ! I'd happily own any of them long term! Each one is very special (especially if it has a performance pack and LSD)
