That the highway is so dark is almost a blessing: less chance of seeing the steep edges and tumbling drops to a clashing, smashing shoreline. Redwoods loom overhead, the peaceful green light they filtered down before sunset now a smothering black ceiling.
California’s coastal Highway 1 is a gorgeous, scenic day trip, worthy of all its fame. At night, though, it’s just very dark.
When I finally find the hotel down a side road that was somehow even narrower and darker than the main route, the hotel clerk shakes her head sadly as she looks up my reservation. “Did you make this online?” she asks. “It’s for next week.”
I’d love to say that’s an unusual experience for me, but it’s pretty on-brand. Leaving late, ending up on the road for hours longer than I intended because I got distracted by a side road, or some elephant seals on the beach, and then ended up at the wrong hotel, or a hotel I didn’t manage to book a room at: it’s all part of my regular travel routine.
In any other car, a roadblock like this after hours of driving would be the point where I had a meltdown and a quick cry in the bathroom before dragging my aching tailbone back to the driver’s seat in search of somewhere, anywhere to stay. But in the Mercedes-AMG S63 E Performance, with its automatic high-beams, turn-tracking headlights, and massaging seats, it’s not nearly so horrible to get back behind the wheel. Luckily, I was able to find an open cabin a mile up the road, and the other reservation was refundable. Still, all of it was made much less stressful by the S-class’s quiet competence.
Now I’m not saying the S63 can solve every life problem. It’s got some quirks that might even add irritants to a driver’s day. The Mercedes touch-sensitive steering wheel controls with their itty-bitty haptic pads are annoyingly easy to activate by accident, which sends the screen displays on the 3-D instrument cluster into a scrolling flash like a slot machine in the Vegas airport. Those 3-D gauges are themselves more gimmick than glam, with multiple layout options and pulsating graphics that seem more appropriate to a Star Wars–themed ride than a stately hybrid sedan.
In general, Mercedes design currently seems to be pitting high tech against high end, with occasional friction at their overlap. The screen-heavy interior of the S-class highlights that you can, in fact, have too much information, and that parsing that information is not made easier by fingerprint smears and gaudy accent lighting. In defining luxury materials, an argument could be made that upper-class objects should be improved by human handling, the way wood, leather, and gold gain patina from fingertips, rather than smudges.
Greasy glass is not the AMG’s only weakness. The S63 also has an uncouth drinking problem. Its 188-hp electric motor plays a part in an (admittedly impressive) total torque output of 1055 pound-feet, in combination with its 603-hp twin-turbo V-8, but it doesn’t do much for fuel economy. I was down to low double digits on the range when I came into the dark forest, and in previous testing, the S63 returned a boozer’s 16 MPGe.
Other minor quibbles can be made about the big Benz’s pop-out door handles, which sometimes don’t, and its shallow pool of a trunk, which gives up considerable cargo room to house the hybrid battery.
And now that we’ve established that pobody’s nerfect, allow me to rave about how even with its flaws, the AMG S63 is absolutely perfect for smoothing out the bumps in a road trip, both in the pavement and the planning. The interior, despite earlier screen complaints, is both physically and emotionally soothing. The cathedral-stitched leather seats, the choice of trims ranging from classic burl wood to a more modern gloss-black shot with steel threads, the convenience of charging pads and places to keep beverages, sunglasses, and all the detritus that accumulates while on the road, combine in a cabin that never feels messy or confining.
The seats are plush and comfortable, with side bolsters that inflate in response to the cornering forces of the car, offering a little hug with each sharp turn. Many of my co-workers prefer this feature turned off, but I adore it. No more sliding across the seat or fighting the bolsters with my elbows in a tight racing setup. The Mercedes leans in to hold you, at least one supportive presence in your life.
Meanwhile, the 603-hp twin-turbo 4.0-liter V-8 engine and its little buddy, the 188-hp motor on the rear axle, put 791 horsepower at the tip of your toes. Leave passing-zone stress to the motorhome traffic; you’re slingshotting by like Voyager 1 past Jupiter. When the roads are clear, the biggest challenge is not eating up that emptiness too quickly, because not only is it quick, it sticks and stops like you’d never expect from a four-door. We’ve previously measured a 0-to-60-mph time of 2.6 seconds and a 10.8-second quarter-mile run. The S63 also pulled 0.96 g on the skidpad. That’s pretty impressive for a four-seater that weighs in at 5877 pounds.
With passing and cornering stresses eliminated, the miles fly by, even when they have a lot of zigs and zags. Curb your heavy foot with adaptive cruise control and an interesting podcast (I recommend Normal Gossip, hosted by Rachelle Hampton).
When the sun goes down, driving can quickly get exhausting, especially on mountain or coastal roads where there’s minimal lighting and lots of turns. Not only does the Mercedes active headlight system work well to follow the curves of the road, the automatic high-beams were a blessing on a two-lane with lots of oncoming traffic. It would have been a full-time job to flick between lighting settings, but the automatic system not only did it for me, it was quicker to see the oncoming lights than I would have been, making me a more polite and safer night driver. One less thing to worry about.
It’s fast, it’s comfortable, and it offers all kinds of nice temperature and tension-kneading features for your lower back while you drive, but the S63 also manages to be impressive without being off-putting. The valet at the Four Seasons noted it when I checked in for a fancy work trip, but so did the gas station attendant in Big Sur, who, when I apologized for confusion at the persnickety gas pump by saying I was always making a mess of things, answered, “You wouldn’t have that car if that were true.”
He also responded to my declaring his pump-then-pay system old-fashioned by saying, “Well, I’m old. And fashionable.” I made other friends with the AMG too. A tabby cat at the hotel chose my hood for a warm nap. A fellow traveler down Highway 1 suggested we lunch together after an impromptu game of leapfrog through Carmel, and a fellow Mercedes owner who was carefully cleaning bugs from his car at the truck stop made eye contact across the parking lot as I was eating chicken strips while leaning against mine. Actually, he might not have approved, but hey, he was too intimidated to say anything.
A $189,800 sedan might not be in everyone’s budget. It’s certainly not in mine, but of all the cars I’ve driven in this price range, the S63 is one of the few that felt close to worth the money. If, like me, you don’t always make the best decisions while traveling, at least you’ll know your choice of ride is solid.
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Like a sleeper agent activated late in the game, Elana Scherr didn’t know her calling at a young age. Like many girls, she planned to be a vet-astronaut-artist, and came closest to that last one by attending UCLA art school. She painted images of cars, but did not own one. Elana reluctantly got a driver’s license at age 21 and discovered that she not only loved cars and wanted to drive them, but that other people loved cars and wanted to read about them, which meant somebody had to write about them. Since receiving activation codes, Elana has written for numerous car magazines and websites, covering classics, car culture, technology, motorsports, and new-car reviews. In 2020, she received a Best Feature award from the Motor Press Guild for the C/D story “A Drive through Classic Americana in a Polestar 2.” In 2023, her Car and Driver feature story “In Washington, D.C.’s Secret Carpool Cabal, It’s a Daily Slug Fest” was awarded 1st place in the 16th Annual National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards by the Los Angeles Press Club.