Mercedes-AMG S65 Sedan
That Mercedes-AMG charges $230,495 for the twelve-cylinder S65 sedan isn’t beside the point. It is the point. It is the most money you can spend on an S-class sedan (the Mercedes-Maybach Pullman limousine excluded). This AMG model costs $30,800 more than even the Maybach-badged S650 using the same V-12 engine and $82,000 more than the eight-cylinder Mercedes-AMG S63. To a select few, considering either of those bargain S-class sedans represents unacceptably small thinking. It is for them that AMG builds the S65.
Let the Measuring Contest Begin
The S65’s station at the head of the S-class family has been safe for years, and not even a conspicuous lack of major changes for the 2018 model year threatens that. Every other S-class this year is updated with new six- and eight-cylinder engines, a new nine-speed automatic transmission, improved driver-assistance systems, and slightly massaged headlights, taillights, and bumpers. Only the safety tech and cosmetic changes trickle up to the S65.
In AMG guise, the twelve belts out a mighty 621 horsepower and 738 lb-ft of torque, which apparently can be handled only by good old-fashioned rear-wheel drive and an ageing seven-speed automatic transmission.
Thus, the S65’s power paradoxically contributes to it being a little less quick in our acceleration tests relative to the less potent S63 sedan. Doing without the V-8 model’s all-wheel-drive traction and launch-control system, the S65 trails the S63 to 60 mph by 0.7 second and by a similar margin to every 10-mph increment beyond that. Still, sending 5053 pounds of metal, leather, and ego to 60 mph in just 3.9 seconds with only two driven wheels is impressive, like watching an engorged platypus complete an American Ninja Warrior course.
There’s something appealingly hedonistic in the notion that you pay more for an S-class that’s slower than the S63. Or one can focus on the delightfully aristocratic way in which the S65 takes a beat to lean back on its hind tires, turbos spooling up, before it draws you back in your seat against a tide of inexorable, locomotive-like thrust. The high-strung S63 slams forward violently when accelerating with haste, although once underway the two AMGs are equally quick, with each posting identical 30-to-50-mph and 50-to-70-mph passing times (2.5 and 3.1 seconds, respectively).
Rocketing around isn’t even necessary to impress bystanders with an S65. Just park it and let the engine’s authoritative warble hint at your net worth. Instead of the S63’s dual-mode exhaust, the S65 has a single, always-on loud setting that barks each time you pull away from a stop and the V-12 clears its throat. The chat is kept genteel inside the well-insulated cabin, although you’re always keenly aware that the engine is, in fact, running—a feedback loop that reminds you this is an AMG performance variant.
Relax, You’re a Millionaire
A fleeting delay permeates the S65’s other moves, too. While we wouldn’t characterize it as slop, there’s some initial squishy, soft resistance when pressing the brake pedal to actuate our test car’s $8950 carbon-ceramic binders, which helps to suppress any grabbiness or overeager responses. The fade-resistant rotors also hauled the S65 to a stop from 70 mph in 156 feet, three feet shorter than the S63.
