E-Class Coupe

Segment
Coupe

The present has turned out to be slightly disappointing for fans of large executive super sedans. The genre has been gravitating more towards comfort, with an attempt to offset the increased weight gain through the addition of more power. Mercedes has made matters worse by ditching rear-wheel drive in some of its bigger AMG models. The addition of AWD was designed to help launches, lap times, and control, a move BMW will soon follow. But it's not all bad news. Autocar has revealed that Mercedes is planning to through those who love to hoon a bone.

At the Paris reveal of the AMG GT Roadster and GT C, AMG boss Tobias Moers divulged that AMG hasn't forgotten about its drifting enthusiasts, with a reminder coming courtesy of the Ford Focus RS. When touching on the subject of next year's reveal of the AMG E63 powerhouse, he said, "It is four-wheel drive and we're going to have a Drift Mode." Engaging this new special mode will enable the AWD system to push up to 100% of the engine's power to the rear wheels. This should help tire smoke addicts avoid withdraw despite the fact that the system will without a doubt regulate the experience. It's this controlling nature of the new technology that has us a bit wary.

While we cherish any opportunity to hoon the crap out of a high-horsepower machine, an old school experience where a fallible driver is the commander in chief of the armada under the hood is one we favor. It's riskier, but it also forces the driver to develop skills and be the judge, jury and executioner rather than the theme park attendee. To appease like-minded customers, Mercedes threw in a fun fact about the upcoming AMG E63. That would be that, like the AMG C63, the AMG E63 will come in two flavors. One will be shy of 600 horsepower while the AMG E63 S will send more than 600 horses to its four rubber shoes, making the four-door capable of a sub-7:50 minute Nurburgring lap time. Now that's a new feature we can get behind.