Road Strikers

No one talks about personal luxury cars anymore; use of that term peaked some 40 years ago. But the 2015 Mercedes-Benz S63 AMG coupe reminds us that, even if there isn’t a modern term for the concept, there remains a distinction between the average luxury car and one so egotistically over-the-top that it exists solely to serve, appease, and pamper its driver. Indeed, the S63 coupe is one of a few cars that exude power and opulence and status and rich excesses all while delivering a driving experience that makes you enjoy the time behind the wheel. For those who prefer to be driven, there are Bentleys and Rolls-Royces. For those who drive, the two-door S-class offers $172,450 of leather and luxury, a 3.7-second run to 60 mph, and a three-pointed star on the grille. FRESH TAKE ON A FAMILIAR IDEA Although the car is new, its place in the Mercedes lineup is not. The S-class coupe replaces the old CL-class as part of a scheme to reduce the dizzying number of Mercedes nameplates before th

Take a good look at the new S-class coupe. That’s right, slow down and stop clicking your mouse or swiping your screen for a few seconds. The car is gorgeous, no? But photos don’t even capture its enormous size, its presence, its curves. It is not a supermodel, a waif of a sports car designed to appeal equally to gawking adolescents and those more chronologically advanced but equally insecure. This is a modern Mercedes, fully realized. An extra second to remember the CL-class, please, that old lady of a coupe that’s been haunting Benz dealers for years now. Okay, done with that, no eulogy needed. Mercedes sold fewer than 500 of them last year. We won’t be surprised if it finds more buyers for the new B-pillarless S550 in the first month of sales, which likely will be October. Pricing has yet to be announced, but expect it to start near $120,000. So, the S-class coupe is expensive, yes. As it should be, for a car that stands atop the Mercedes product range. Fire up the 4.7-liter twin-

Of all the Mercedes-Benz models that could be accused of being born with a silver spoon in its mouth, the SL arguably tops the list. Unlike many grand-touring cars, the Mercedes SL has never been forced to compromise its blue-blood personal-luxury/sport ideals with feigned attempts at practicality to please executives or attract buyers. It has, more or less, remained an unapologetic take-it-or-leave-it proposition since it debuted nearly six decades ago, and the 2013 SL550 does nothing to alter its course. Cool, Quiet Confidence Every move the 2013 SL550 makes is steeped in a competent, laid-back confidence; pin the throttle, and the car takes a moment to gather itself, as if saying to the driver, “Okay, dude, you ready? This is gonna be pretty awesome.” And with that, the seven-speed automatic downshifts, the twin turbos gorge themselves on air, and the whole shebang takes off, pulling hard to an observed 159-mph top speed (Mercedes claims an electronically limited 155). Life in th

The Mercedes-Benz SL65 AMG is a serial killer. It’s straight-up, put-the-lotion-in-the-basket crazy. There’s but a thin crust of civility over a roiling center of completely freakin’ nuts. It’s the relatively unassuming look of the thing. To the uninitiated, the SL65 looks like a sane SL550. But it is something other than sane. With a base price of $214,445, the 621-hp twin-turbo V-12 SL65 is the most expensive roadster in the Mercedes lineup, because, says Mercedes, some buyers simply want the top-shelf car that others can’t afford. We thought those guys would be inclined toward the more extroverted SLS AMG GT roadster, but unfortunately that one is less expensive at only $208,605. It’s also less powerful, by 38 horsepower. Mercedes discontinued the genteel, V-12–powered SL600, figuring buyers prefer the SL65’s sporty trappings over traditional luxury. Besides, the SLS looks like a mechanical phallus. It’s so . . . overt. The SL65 AMG keeps its bloodlust better disguised. We trun

Care to shift for yourself but resolutely abstain from anything not built by Mercedes-Benz? Your choices, good eccentric sir, are excruciatingly limited. So limited, in fact, that the correct word is “choice,” not “choices.” The 2015 SLK250 is the only U.S.-market vehicle wearing the three-pointed star to offer a stick shift. Since buyers selecting the manual represent only a tiny percentage of SLK customers—themselves a tiny fraction of the buying populace, with just 4757 new SLKs sold in 2013 and 4353 moved in the first eleven months of 2014—this test was, for the most part, born from our sheer curiosity. ONE OF ONE, WITH SIX SPEEDS To put the SLK250’s position in the loneliest of light, it should be mentioned that not only is every other Mercedes-Benz sold in America automatic-only, but so, too, is the entire high-performance AMG lineup. We figure that Mercedes, considering the SLK’s overtly sporty competitors such as the Audi TT, the BMW Z4, and the Porsche Boxster, needs a manua

To some drivers, a special engine can make a car special. An NSX owner will happily tell you his engine has titanium connecting rods. The Corvette ZR1 has a special viewing window built into the hood to help generate conversation. Those driving an SLK55 AMG of the latest vintage might not know it, but the 415-hp V-8 tucked under the roadster’s hood might well be the most special engine in Mercedes-Benz’s lineup. All Alone in the World Mercedes puts the AMG stamp on nearly every vehicle in its portfolio. Currently, the “63” AMG cars get a naturally aspirated 6.2-liter V-8 (five models) or a twin-turbo 5.5-liter V-8 (six models). The three “65” AMGs, however few are sold, get a behemoth 6.0-liter V-12 that’s force-fed an air diet by, again, two turbochargers. But the SLK55 AMG stands as the only AMG model with its own engine, a naturally aspirated 5.5-liter V-8 internally known as M152. This torquey V-8 is closely related to the twin-turbo V-8 in those “63” models, but among other diff

Mercedes-Benz’s technical director in the 1950s, Rudi Uhlenhaut, had what is arguably the coolest company car in history. It was a gullwing version of the W196S 300SLR race car powered by a 306-hp, 3.0-liter version of Mercedes’ Formula 1 straight-eight engine. His daily driver sprang from his own genius, and the car is now widely known as the Uhlenhaut Coupe. We just spent a week with the 21st-century edition Uhlenhaut Coupe. The 2014 SLS AMG Black Series doesn’t have a straight-eight, but it does have the most potent 6.2-liter V-8 ­Mercedes-Benz has ever built. This is likely the last naturally aspirated gasp of the brand’s heavy-breathing M159 engine we’ll ever hear. As a retirement gift, AMG has given the engine new camshafts, specially coated bucket tappets, a more efficient intake tract, more-durable crankshaft bearings, and a titanium exhaust system that shaves 29 pounds. The mighty V-8 goes out barking, spitting, and spinning all the way up to 8000 rpm. All 622 horsepower (up

The E350 is Mercedes-Benz’s sensible sedan. Standing in the shadow of the extroverted E63 AMG and conceding the efficiency crown to the forthcoming E250 BlueTec diesel, it earns respect by effortlessly balancing form and function in a practical and attractive package. In many ways, the E-class is Mercedes; integrity is everything when you have that kind of weight on your shoulders. Honing and Toning Freshly resculpted for the 2014 model year, the W213-generation E-class traces its lineage to 2010. Although the grille covers roughly the same real estate, its corners are now softer, and the previous quad headlamp lenses have been shaped into two longer, leaner units that blend more naturally with the sleek rake of the fascia. The Mercedes shape-up program didn’t neglect the glutes, either, as the formerly flared rear fenders now appear more tight and toned, and the overall package displays a more cohesive and athletic look than did the previous car. Our pair of test cars—one rear driv

The logic is pretty simple. Adding more power is useless unless sufficient traction is available to get it to the ground. That’s AMG’s thinking at least, and for 2014 the North American-bound CLS63 AMG four-door “coupe” gets the same all-wheel-drive system and power enhancements as those added to the previously announced 2014 E63 AMG four-door sedan. Little surprise, as the CLS, after all, is little more than a rebodied E-class; under the surface, the cars are virtually identical. For the 2014 model year, the 5.5-liter twin-turbo V-8 rises in output from 518 horsepower to 550 hp and 531 lb-ft of torque, which was also the 2013 rating with the optional performance package. But on top of that, there now is an "S" version, which increases power output to 575 horsepower and torque to 590 lb-ft by raising boost pressure from 13.0 to 14.5 psi. Maximum torque is available in a broad range from 1750 rpm to 5250 rpm (up to “just” 5000 rpm on the S). As with the E63 AMG, the CLS63 AMG

When Mercedes-Benz sends a model to AMG for high-performance finishing school, it’s hardly news. But until the CLA, nearly every car to make the trip to Affalterbach was packing an engine with a “V” cylinder layout. (The C30 five-cylinder diesel was the lone exception, and it never made it stateside.) So when the power brokers at AMG began dropping not-so-subtle hints that they’d already had their way with the CLA’s inline four-cylinder powerplant, our curiosity was piqued. Would the result be a roguish, hair-triggered toy or a true CLS63 AMG mini-me, blending breathtaking power with Mercedes style and luxury? Sound and Fury If you’re expecting the deep-throated burble of its bigger AMG brethren on startup, you’ll be disappointed. The CLA45’s exhaust note at idle is more akin to an air compressor kicking on in the neighbor’s garage than a menacing V-8. But it would be a mistake to write it off on tone alone. AMG has managed to coax 355 horsepower and 332 lb-ft of torque from the 2.0-

It’s been nearly 500 years since the passage of the Reinheitsgebot, the “German Beer Purity Law” decreeing that beer shall be made from only three ingredients: water, barley, and hops. (And yeast, of course, though its contribution to the fermentation process wouldn’t be understood until a few centuries later.) The letter of the land until 1988, it holds considerable sway over brewers even today, a testament to the country’s mania for integrity and tradition. It’s this same sort of obsessive attention to detail that we so often admire in German luxury sedans, at least the ones we find as satisfying as a stein of authentic lager. This newest four-door from the fatherland, the Mercedes-Benz CLA, comes off more like Bud Light in comparison. Indeed, the CLA is a potion pitched at mainstream America, a less intoxicating—and less costly—take on the com­pany’s “four-door coupe” trope. Its MSRP starts at just $29,900 before the $925 destination charge. While this is important for landing it o

Many cars have challenged the perpetually great BMW M3 over the years, with the Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG sedan—introduced in 2008—among those that have come closest to knocking off the M3’s crown. With the C-class coupe debuting this year, AMG’s newest product was a bit of a no-brainer. Still, we don’t see the C63 AMG coupe so much as a two-door version of a sedan but rather as the M3’s most formidable and natural competitor yet. Both M3 and C63 are based on a famous German luxury brand’s cheaper U.S. offering. Both demand an ante about 50 percent higher than that of their entry-level siblings. Both are available as sedans and (now) coupes. (In Germany, the lucky Hunde can even buy a C63 station wagon.) Both offer seven-speed automated transmissions (the C63’s is standard). Both have more than 400 hp—but only one has way more. Hello, My Name Is Torque The C63 AMG’s 451 hp surpasses the M3’s output by 37 ponies. If, however, that isn’t enough, AMG offers the Development package, which s

In the vast space that exists in the Mercedes-Benz C-class lineup between the entry C300 and the balls-to-the-wall 2015 Mercedes-AMG C63, Mercedes-Benz currently offers the C400. Nice as that car is, though, one jack-of-all-trades model isn’t really suitable for spanning the divide, so Mercedes is bringing in reinforcements. Luxury-leaning, green-minded customers, for example, soon will have the option of the C350e plug-in hybrid. And folks who might otherwise be attracted to the Audi S4 and the BMW 335i xDrive will be mightily tempted by the car here, the 2016 C450 AMG 4MATIC. (Once the C450 arrives, in fact, it will replace the C400 in the lineup.) As the new kid on the sports-sedan block, the C450 AMG 4MATIC has a lot to prove, and while it may not be a full-on Mercedes-AMG product like the steroidal C63, it contains enough of its big brother’s goodies to earn the AMG badge. It starts with a power boost for Benz’s twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter V-6, from 329 horsepower and 354 lb-ft o

The Maserati MC12 is a limited production two-seater supercar produced by Italian car maker Maserati to allow a racing variant to compete in the FIA GT Championship. The car was nicknamed by Ferrari and Maserati as the Ferrari Enzo Second Generation. The car entered production in 2004 with 25 cars produced. A further 25 were produced in 2005 making a total of 50 cars available for customers, each of which was pre-sold for €600,000.[5][8] Maserati designed and built the car on the chassis of the Ferrari Enzo, due to this Ferrari and Maserati nicknamed the car as the Ferrari Enzo Second Generation. The final car is much larger and has a lower drag coefficient.[8] The MC12 is longer, wider and taller and has a sharper nose and smoother curves than the Enzo Ferrari, which has faster acceleration, better braking performance (shorter braking distance) and a higher top speed. The top speed of the Maserati MC12 is 330 kilometres per hour (205 mph) whereas the top speed of the Enzo Ferrari is

Note to luxury automobile manufacturers interested in entering the performance market: The world’s strategic reserve of performance-signifying alpha characters is dwindling fast. BMW has M locked up, Audi claimed RS, Cadillac took V, and greedy old Mercedes-Benz, acting with characteristic disregard for its comrades, took A, M, and G. Thank heaven the letter F was still available, or the Lexus LS460 F Sport might never have seen the light of day. Building a Better-Behaved Beast Whereas most manufacturers choose to first work their performance magic on the engine, Lexus virtually ignored it, placing the bulk of its engineering might into chassis mods. Building on the previous LS460’s Sport package, which offered some mild suspension and brake mods with a set of paddle shifters, Lexus has taken the exercise a step further, replacing bushings, adding bracing, and tweaking the shocks for even livelier performance. The latest LS460 F Sport sits 0.4 inch lower than a regular rear-wheel-dri

If Lexus was late to the luxury party in 1989, then it could be considered damn near asleep at the wheel and stuck in its driveway on the way to the super-sporty-sedan soiree. It took the company until 2007 to introduce a high-performance model, the IS F, but that model fizzled, left to fend for itself without any siblings. But no more—Lexus’s second go at its performance sub-brand includes a roadmap for more models, including the new RC F coupe—and, we suspect, an IS F very soon—and this, the 2016 Lexus GS F. NOT HOT, BUT CERTAINLY WARM—VERY WARM Standing atop this new F hierarchy, the GS F is Lexus’s first ever volley at the hotter versions of the Audi A6, BMW 5-series, Cadillac CTS, and Mercedes-Benz E-class. However, the GS-based GS F is more closely aligned to the mid-level performance offerings from Lexus’s competition. That means, instead of the BMW M5 and Cadillac CTS-V, the GS F will instead face off against the Audi S6, the BMW 550i M Sport, and the Cadillac CTS Vsport. Wh

Sure, it sports bulging fender flares, Porsche 959–esque slatted vents in its rear quarters, and a menacing spindle-shaped maw that looks like it inhales pavement by the slab, but don’t let the plumage fool you. The F Sport iteration of the new Lexus RC350 is really a smooth operator and more of a spiritual successor to Lexus’s first luxury coupe, the SC300, albeit imbued with the visual excitement of 2012’s hot LF-LC concept. SEPARATED AT BIRTH You’ll be excused, then, if you confuse the new RC350 F Sport with the equally new Lexus RC F. Both get Gran Turismo video-game looks on the outside and gorgeous trimmings inside; our test car’s cabin, for example, was lined with sumptuous Playa upholstery that could have been ripped from a Maserati, a fitting complement to the head-turning Ultrasonic Blue Mica exterior paint. It’s a two-plus-two, but you’ll want to be in one of the RC350’s enveloping and form-fitting front buckets, all the better to take in the LFA supercar–inspired instrume

Typically, when full-line car companies set out to develop a coupe, they start with a sedan from the current lineup, trim two doors, and rewrap the package in a sleeker body. A shorter wheelbase is optional. Lexus rolled up that memo and burned it before going to work on the RC. Instead, to form its new coupe’s structure, Lexus combined the front clip of the GS sedan, the center section of the old IS C convertible, and the rear end of the IS sedan, using adhesives and welding and a fancy technique called laser screw welding, which allows for more frequent tacks and thus greater rigidity. The three-piece approach makes more sense once it’s explained. The GS front gives engineers the extra track width they wanted for handling. They deemed the IS rear sufficient to keep the car’s dimensions tidy, and the IS C center section necessary for its inherent stiffness and shorter wheelbase. Compared with the current IS sedan, the RC coupe is roughly 1.5 inches longer, wider, and lower, but with

Welcome to the core of the Lexus brand. Accounting for almost four of every 10 Lexus sales, the RX crossover is the epitome of Lexus-ness, leaving the 11 other Lexus models to fight over the remaining 60 percent. Toyota’s luxury division practically invented the car-based crossover with the introduction of the original RX300 in 1998. Lexus figured out that what most SUV buyers wanted was a wagon/hatchbacklike conveyance (that wasn’t called a station wagon or hatchback) with a slightly elevated seating position and enough metal to impart a feeling of invincibility. But really, these same buyers were yearning for the comfort and convenience of a car. In the interim, just about every other car brand (Pontiac and its disturbing Aztek excepted) successfully followed suit, offering soft-roaders of their own. Double Dose of Snobbishness With the Lexus RX450h, buyers get to merge their desire for generously proportioned crossovers with their avidity for the social acceptance that hybrids of

The night I was scheduled to leave for Maranello, Italy, to drive the LaFerrari, Car and Driver hosted a party in New York for the annual auto show. The guests included three racing heroes you’d recognize from the Kodachromes: David Hobbs, Sam Posey, and Brian Redman. These gents hail from the golden age of motorsport, when every race weekend seemed to darken into an orgy of gore and fire. I apologized in advance to Redman for having to leave the party early. I told him that duty called, and that I was off to drive this car, the latest in a line of rolling laboratory experiments stretching back through the Enzo, F50, F40, and 288 GTO. I also confessed that I was slightly terrified to tangle with the thing. He sized me up and said, “You should be.” I’ve driven cars that have tried to kill me before, but none with such a vast résumé of homicidal know-how. Some have threatened to slide off the road without warning, some have tried to collapse my organs with g-forces, and some have ached

As I’m driving through hairpin corners in the Dolomite Mountains of the South Tyrol region of Italy, the Ferrari FF’s two-door wagon body style is the last thing on my mind, which is interesting because it’s probably the first thing anyone else would notice about the latest four-seater from Maranello. Instead, my most pressing thought, besides not dropping a $300,000 GT car off a cliff, is the FF’s four-wheel-drive system, which has so tamed the 651-hp V-12 engine that a tail-out hero photo of a drifting FF requires serious commitment with the stability control fully switched off. When the back end finally does come around, though, it does so in a predictable, gentle manner. In sport mode, the sportiest of the five chassis settings accessible via the steering-wheel-mounted manettino knob, the back of the car hardly wiggles on dry pavement. But the first roadgoing Ferrari to put power to all four wheels doesn’t understeer like so many other four-wheel-drive sports cars. It’s actually m

The front straight at VIR doesn’t usually tell you much. But in the case of the F12, that track section is highly revealing, about both you and the car. Holding a 730-hp 6.3-liter V-12 wide open for 12 seconds of straightaway will either focus your vision or reduce you to a quivering space chimp. Keep the throttle open if you dare, and watch the little red dots at the top of the steering-wheel rim illuminate one by one as the machine vibrates harder toward the V-12’s 8250-rpm power peak. Tug the right paddle as the last red LED glows. The shift spasms through the car, and the F12 bawls toward its 157.4-mph peak speed. Now then, BRAKE! There’s a slight kink in the straight, roughly at the start/finish line. It doesn’t amount to much in slower cars, where you won’t notice that the paving crew left a ripple in the asphalt as the car leans hard through the wide right bend. But burn through the kink at 149 mph in an F12 and that ripple becomes a railroad crossing. Compressing the suspensi