Mercedes may be on the verge of singling itself out as the brand that builds enthusiast's dream cars. We thought for sure that new E63 S Wagon would not make it to the US, but Mercedes actually decided to bring it stateside. This is miraculous given that Americans don't buy wagons anymore. Especially not 603-horsepower wagons that cost over $100,000. Jonny Lieberman from MotorTrend got to head over to Germany to experience what he says may be the greatest wagon of all time, and drive something even greater.
The review starts with Lieberman talking about how amazing the new E63 is. Mercedes has pumped out 603 hp from a 4.0-liter V8 thanks to twin-scroll turbochargers, new intercoolers, a new intake and new engine software. The praise for this new E63 is so high, that Lieberman puts it on par with his favorite wagon, the CTS-V with a manual.
The E63 S wasn't the only wagon that Lieberman got to drive in Germany. While the E63 S is great, it really can't go off-roading, which is why Mercedes built the E400 All-Terrain 4x4 Squared. Mercedes seems to have a knack for building cars that no other company has the guts to build, then selling way more of them than anticipated. This happened with the AMG 6X6, as well as the G500 4x4 Squared. Like those cars, the E400 4x4 Squared was built when a Mercedes engineer asked the question, "why not put portal axles on a station wagon?" Even though the idea seems silly on paper, Mercedes went through with the idea and decided to build a working prototype.
We don't know if Mercedes will actually put this crazy creation into production, but with the company's recent track record of selling odd cars like this, it wouldn't surprise us if did. This wagon is extremely capable off-road and even has more ground clearance than a Hummer H1. This one-off wagon also previews the new M256 inline-six engine from Mercedes, which produces 435 hp in this application. Mercedes already builds a regular E-Class All-Terrain, which competes against Audi Allroad models. This model would continue to show that Mercedes love enthusiasts. We hope that Mercedes does build this awesome wagon, but replaces the inline-six with the 603 hp V8 from the E63 S.