Instrumented Test
When we tested the S63 version of the 2015 Mercedes-Benz S-class coupe, we called it “over the top in every way imaginable.” So let us now imagine that one wearing a price tag swollen by 44 percent with 50 percent more cylinders under the hood must be beyond over the top, somewhere the usual rules just don’t apply.
We ranked Mercedes-Benz’s range-topping two-door among the 10 most beautiful cars when it debuted, and the S63 delivers a driving experience to match its singular appearance. This S65 variant exists, though, because there are some customers for whom only a V-12 will do. Next year marks the centennial of the first production automobile with a V-12, the Packard Twin Six of 1916, but the configuration really rose to prominence in the Classic Era of the 1920s and 1930s, a time when cars driven by the upper crust bore little resemblance to the mass-market machines average consumers could afford. Smooth-running, quiet, and strong, a twelve remains a mark of distinction beyond the reach of even the moderately wealthy, found only in exotic sports and luxury cars. A V-8 can make as much or more power (see Dodge’s Hellcat), but surely the cachet of a dozen cylinders rests in part due to the fact that there’s never been any such thing as an “everyman” V-12.
All Mercedes-Benz V-12s are built at AMG nowadays, the latest being this car’s 6.0-liter twin-turbo, designated M279 and making 621 horsepower. Mercedes claims to offer a V-12 in more models than any other manufacturer, each AMG-badged model with a plate atop its engine cover signed by the individual who built it (Michael Kübler in the case of our test car). You can have one in the S-class sedan, too, or in the SL two-seater, and, in a lower state of tune, in the G-class SUV and the Mercedes-Maybach mega-lux limo. The S-class coupe designation replaced the former CL nomenclature with this model, which competes in the stratosphere of 12-cylinder coupes against the Bentley Continental GT Speed with its Volkswagen-derived W-12 as well as the Rolls-Royce Wraith with its V-12 lifted from BMW. If you’re not too picky about the door count, another coupe-ish alternative is the Aston Martin Rapide S.
Sinister in Obsidian Black, this example was dressed up with carbon-fiber trim both outside (the mirror housings, the front splitter, and inserts in the rocker panels and rear diffuser, for $5300) and in the cabin (another $3700, where the material replaces wood in combination with piano-black elements). Everywhere we went it turned heads like a UFO parked among Budget rent-a-cars. The most frequent bystander questions were “how much?”—“a quarter-million” sounds more impressive than $247,875, and it’s true with taxes and registration—and “how’s it drive?” No one asked about fuel economy, although one guy guessed 8 mpg. He was way off. We got 15.
Lifestyle baubles like this aren’t valued by normal automotive standards. Whether it’s the hot-stone massage function in the front seats (standard!), the Magic Sky Control roof ($2500) that converts from transparent to opaque or anywhere in between via electronic switch, the rear-seat console refrigerator with two champagne-bottle-shaped recesses ($1100), or the active parking assist, this is a machine that caters to desires most people didn’t even know they had.
Befitting the S-class’s role as technological flagship, the car bristles with advanced features. Mercedes calls out more than 50, some—such as auto stop-start and surround-view cameras—you’d find on more-mundane cars, but most are dazzlers pioneering the path toward autonomous operation, such as the ability to take your hands off the wheel for up to 16 seconds at a time and one of the most capable active-cruise-control systems out there. There’s night vision and voice recognition and telematics upon infotainment. These layers of tech make for a dizzying array of stuff for a driver to command and manage, but the layout and function of the controls do a decent job of making things intuitive, if not simple.
One technology the S65 lives without that comes standard on the S63 is 4MATIC all-wheel drive, presumably because the V-12’s 738 lb-ft of torque exceeds the system’s capacity. It turns out that 4MATIC matters at the track. The stability control cannot be fully deactivated, and our tester noted that it intervenes to prevent hard launches (Mercedes has launch control on its more overtly sporting products, but not here). More power and less available traction mean low-speed sprints can’t match the S63’s: zero to 60 mph took 4.1 seconds and the quarter-mile 12.2 in this car versus 3.7 and 12.0 flat with the V-8 4MATIC. Once rolling, the V-12’s power advantage shows up in a higher speed through the quarter-mile at 122 mph rather than 120, and the S65 gets to 150 mph in only 19.7 seconds, three-tenths earlier than did the S63, and will keep pulling away from there. This matters on Germany’s autobahns and almost nowhere else.
Braking 4851 pounds to a stop from 70 mph in 155 feet matters everywhere, though, and it beats the lighter V-8 car by a couple of feet. Stability control again intervenes on the skidpad, and the V-12 edition cornered at “only” 0.90 g where the S63 managed 0.96 g.
But smooth? Lordy! Gliding along effortlessly and quietly, it all seems as frictionless as the vacuum of space. The S65 driver really must mind the speedometer reading; what feels like 65 mph might be well into the triple-digit take-away-your-license zone. Bend into a freeway interchange ramp and Magic Body Control’s curve-tilting function counters roll by leaning the car ever so slightly toward the inside of the turn, like a motorcycle. Mercedes says it’s tuned more for comfort than performance and it does that—passengers who customarily grab for the handles at the least sign of body roll sat at ease, all but unaware until we were starting to feel real g forces.
Somewhat less magical was the Magic Body Control's function for the self-adjusting air suspension that senses upcoming road imperfections via a forward-looking camera and sets itself appropriately to minimize bumps. Large, sharp-edged potholes are its bête noire and our region is liberally endowed with those, making us wish the 20-inch forged wheels wore tires with more sidewall than the 255/40s in front and 285/35s at the back. Road isolation is so good in other circumstances that the bump/thump over cratered surfaces really stood out.
Easy on the eye, easy on the ear, and easy to drive but not so easy to acquire, the S65 AMG seems redundant in light of its slightly quicker, less expensive, and equally pretty stablemate. That logic doesn’t reckon with the legendary luxury of a V-12, though, especially when your pals have 12-cylinder cars. When the gang’s going all Gatsby over cocktails at the yacht club, nothing less than all-in has the power to impress.
