Mercedes-Benz E55 AMG: A Fast Car and a Stronger Brewage
By admin on Dec 28, 2011 in Uncategorized
The Mercedes-Benz E55 AMG is not a sports sedan, although it is a sedan. The E55 is not a sports car, although it tears from a standstill to 60 mph in 4.5 seconds.
The E55 is a speed sled – a conveyance of staggering power capable of great pace. Attaining great speed is not just the E55′s forte; speed is its reason for being.
Some perspective is in order here. The E55 takes just 0.3 second longer to reach 60 mph that the 508-hp V-12 Ferrari 575M Maranello F1. The Merc comes with heated and ventilated seats and costs about $175,000 less than the Ferrari. In 23.1 seconds, the E55 reaches 150 mph – a speed only 5 mph below its governor-limited top speed. At that pace, the 469-hp E55 is still accumulating velocity more quickly than China accumulates new citizens. Hell, at 154 mph the E55 is still accelerating. Thanks to an almost incomprehensible 516 pound-feet of torque (Audi’s supersedan, the RS 6 makes a comparatively paltry 415) and a quick-acting five-speed automatic transmission, the E55 is a half-second quicker than the Ferrari from 50 to 70 mph.
But what does 155 mph feel like in the E55? Well, Huxley might be dissapointed because the E55 at that velocity feels a lot like the average new car doing 90 mph. So effortlessly and with such extraordinary stability does the E55 maintain pace that speed is a cerebral, rather than emotional, experience.
You’re aware of the speed because your brain tells you objects couldn’t possibly be thrown into your field of vision so quickly. Never have we experienced speed so divorced from the sensation thereof. There’s no wind noise, no lightness in the steering wheel, no unnerving shiver through the body. The E55 slips quietly through what seems an unusually thin atmosphere. It is simply exquisite.
German drivers, who can more frequently (and legally) exploit the potential of such a car, can have the top-speed limiter disabled at a dealership. No chance of that here in the United States of Litigiousness. Based on our experience with the car, would you really want to do that anyway? We were headed into the mountains north of Phoenix, lounging at 85 mph, when we saw a V-8 powered BMW X5. Its driver was in a racy mood. We squeezed the throttle to perhaps half its travel – normal for an expressway pass. The engine thrumming gently increased its volume and pitch. There’s a hint of supercharger whine in the high register. Even on a grade, the automatic doesn’t bother downshifting. By the time we glanced at the rearview mirror, the X5 was simply gone, vanished. “Damn,” we muttered aloud to no one, “how fast were we going? The Euro-spec speedometer said 230 km/h. Let’s see, if 100 km/h is 62 mph, then – whoa!
This is the kind of thing that 469 horsepower will do for you. AMG, Mercedes’ performance division, takes a standard issue 5.0-liter V-8 and increases its displacement to 5.4 liters, adds stronger internals, modifies the three-valve heads, and adds a new intake and exhaust. In the previous E55, this treatment was good for 349 horsepower. But with the 450-hp Audi RS 6 about to show up on American roads and the 394-hp BMW M5 already tearing them up, less than 350 would just not do. So the E55′s engine gets a Lysholm.
