Even within the strictures of family life, one can argue for elegance and style. Of the remaining few European station wagons marketed in the U.S., the Mercedes E-class is the only one not given to overheated videogame styling flourishes. Instead, the AMG E 53 does not rudely announce its performance with carbon-fiber addenda that scream "I GO FAST!"
Yet AMG's engineering evolution endows the E 53 Daddywagen with significant throw weight, its gas-electric hybrid straight-6 possessing no less than 577 combined horsepower, an exact match for the output of a hand-built AMG 4-liter twin-turbo V8. One imagines the Mercedes-AMG marketing guys pitching the engineers chuckled on a horsepower target matching the V8, and the powertrain engineer stating in some strange Swabian variant of Arnold Schwarzenegger's Terminator dialect, "Ja, no problemo, dude."
Under the sculpted hood lives a classical German straight-6 in that most traditional displacement, 3 liters. AMG massage therapy applied to the upper intake, computer mapping and various metal bits adds 68 horsepower more than in the mainstream Mercedes E 450 version, for a grand total of 443 horsepower between 5800-6100 rpm.
IT'S A HYBRID
That alone would not be enough to qualify as an AMG performance car. AMG sandwiched a robust electric motor between the back end of the engine's crankshaft and the transmission housing, what engineers call a P2 hybrid configuration, the electric motor's torque blending with combustion output before entering the 9-speed gearbox.
The motor adds 354 lb. ft. of torque, about two and a half times the amount generated in a mild-hybrid system. Combined gas-electric torque is 553 lb.-ft. Tick the option for RACE START, and this powertrain will deliver a walloping 604 horsepower, and hit 60 mph from a standing start in under 4 seconds. Without RACE START, this wagen still hits 60 mph in 4 seconds flat.
ALL-WHEEL DRIVE
As per Mercedes established practice, all-wheel drive is fully variable, power flowing seamlessly to whichever wheels can most effectively put it to the ground. Good for performance, good for a drive to a winter ski weekend.
Keep in mind that this is NOT a P3 hybrid as in the most potent AMG vehicles like the GT 63 S E or SL 63 S E, with a gearbox/battery/motor unit on the rear axle. A P3 layout would create a narrowly focused Hellwagen capable of roasting virtually anything short of an electric hypercar, but a P3 layout would also compromise cargo capacity. And in the end, an E 53 will still haul soccer or baseball gear. Or bring home statues and antique garden gnomes from estate sales, assuming My Lovely Attorney has it for the weekend.
Powertrain music is subdued and unobtrusive when shuttling precocious children to school or pedaling cautiously through a parking lot. Kick it up a notch to Sport or Sport+ calibration, put the hammer down and this tidy engine trumpets straight-6 well enough to please Handel groupies without going Videogame Punk. Call it well-bred performance.
Purring along with still-waking children out back, it's hilarious to lean heavy on the throttle and bring those tykes to attention, blood flowing, ready for another day of pre-algebra and autocad in rocketry class. Nothing better than hearing mischievous mutterings followed by a child shouting out, "Give us a fasty, dad."
Two decades in, Mercedes has achieved a workable product development handshake with AMG, protecting in mainstream architecture room enough to package the AMG modifications to powertrain and chassis.
PURE ELECTRIC PROPULSION RANGE 40 MILES
AMG E 53 Daddywagen has roughly 40 miles of real-world pure electric range, allowing folks like My Lovely Attorney to travel to a downtown tower a few times a week solely on electric propulsion, but it's far more useful in European and British "green" city centers where zero-emission is the price of entry to the mile square city. I confess I only used it for a short while, but you have options.
And there is no SUV on the planet that can compare with the beauty of the Mercedes wagen, not even 4-door coupé fastback SUVs. In profile the bodywork resembles a fully drawn recurve bow, just the sort Errol Flynn employed in "Robin Hood," ready to let loose a bolt. Even sitting still, the crisp character lines of the bodywork speak to motion, to surface tension, to its performance intent. This is not Great Aunt Mimzie's 1971 Vistacruiser with faux wood side panels.
Sure, SUVs possess more practical body architecture, are able to haul more gear, bulkier gear, and also have that "command view" higher seating position, allowing clear assessment of dangers at school drop-off. It's easier to lean sideways and plop into an SUV seat rather than turn, bend and drop into a wagen chair, but let me remind of the opener. Family life requires at least one practical vehicle, but that doesn't always mean an SUV. Mercedes-AMG's E 53 Daddywagen forwards a compelling argument for performance allied with classical elegance and style.