Anyone whose family owned a station wagon back in the 1970s or '80s likely has bad memories of riding in the rear-facing jump seats. Despite these seats providing more legroom than what's offered in a modern SUV's third row, adults will tell horror stories about how they hated to sit back there on family road trips. You may have thought rear-facing jump seats died off years ago, but Mercedes-Benz still offers them in 2021.

The 2021 Mercedes-Benz E-Class All-Terrain boasts third-row seats that are considerably more comfortable than those in the aforementioned old-school wagons. Considering that Mercedes has modern air conditioning and a clever foot cutout, this is not surprising. However, the faster 2021 Mercedes E63 Wagon does not have these jump seats available. And there's an interesting reason why.

We figured that Mercedes didn't offer the E63 with the rear seats because they would be too dangerous. With 603 horsepower generated by a 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8, the E63 S Wagon can hit 60 mph in a supercar-rivaling 3.3 seconds. If there were a child back there when the driver activated launch control, their head would likely jolt towards the rear glass. Though this seems like a genuine concern, it's not the reason why Mercedes omitted this option from the E63.

"The E 63 S Wagon is not offered with the rear-facing jump seats due to mechanical packaging differences, as a result of the AMG drivetrain components," a Mercedes spokesperson told CarBuzz. We assume some of those mechanical differences include the E63's quad-tipped exhaust, which likely takes up more space than the pipes under the All-Terrain.

Anyone who looked through the press photos for the facelifted 2021 E63 S Sedan and Wagon may have spotted another omission for the North American market. Though the pictures show aggressively bolstered sport seats, these aren't an option for US-spec cars. These seats were previously available on the E63 (CarBuzz tested them on a 2019 model), but they are no longer an option for 2021.

"We do not presently offer the AMG Performance Seat in the US," the spokesperson told us. "But if there is significant interest from customers, this is something we could reconsider for a future model year."

While the Performance Seats look great, we prefer the base seats in such a large vehicle. The regular chairs are more comfortable on long distances and can optionally feature a massage function. Perhaps some eager owner will find a way to swap the Performance Seats or rear-facing jump seats into a 2021 E63 S Wagon. But we'd say the E63 feels pretty special even without these features.