Six Appeal

WITH ITS NEW TURBO STRAIGHT-SIX, WHAT IS OLD IS NEW AGAIN WITH THE E 53. BUT IS THIS A FAIR DINKUM AMG?

- David Morley

ARE YOU a sufferer of techno-fear? Best skip the next few pages, then. Maybe you’re a Henry Ford fanboy and believe history really is bunk; that a new design is inherently better than an old one. Then the same goes, because the Mercedes-AMG E 53 is not just a smorgasbord of getting your geek on, it’s also a throwback – turning its back on accepted wisdom and re-embracing a better time. And doing a better job as a luxury car in the process.

Let’s start by spinning up those propeller hats. EQ Boost? Mild hybrid? This is seriously edgy tech and it’s another way of extending the relevance of the petrol engine as we know it. I’ve said it before, but engineers work best when somebody (in this case emissions legislators) is shooting at them. Fundamentally, what you have is an electric motor sandwiched between the AMG’s inline-six and the nine-speed auto. As well as acting as the car’s starter motor and alternator, the 48-volt electric motor can also add a 250Nm boot up the bum of the E 53 at low revs to overcome the turbo lag of the 3.0-litre and the inertia of a car that won’t give you much change from two tonnes. The motor also provides off-throttle energy recuperation as well as powering stuff like the water-pump and air-con which traditionally have been belt-driven (and, therefore, parasitic, and have made the inline-six longer).