AMG E63 S vs. F90 BMW M5: Battle of the Luxury V8s
The 2018 M5 and the E63 S are surprisingly well matched on paper, so it’s time for some head-to-head testing.
Both the M5 and the E63 S have twin-turbo V8s. Both come with automatic transmissions. And crucially, they both come with all-wheel-drive. The Mercedes-AMG E63 S embraced all-wheel-drive in 2016 and BMW finally got their M division to put the power to all four wheels with their 2018 M5. That means we get, unusually, two German super-saloons with both their performance stats and features closely matched. And thanks to this video from carwow’s YouTube channel, we get to see who got it right when they move from paper to the road.
Carwow has decided to focus here on the acceleration and stopping performance. When we get granular, the Mercedes weighs 145 pounds heavier than the BMW, but the Mercedes has 612 horsepower over the M5’s 600 horses. The M5 has an eight-speed automatic, whereas the E63 S uses a nine-speed dual clutch. A standing quarter-mile in 11.62 seconds was just about enough to see off BMW’s M5. Even after switching out of the BMW’s rear-biased M Sport mode, the E63 S still made its point.
When it comes to the braking, it’s a close call. It’s pretty clear the driver of the E63 S touched the brakes earlier, and may actually have come to stop slower than the M5. However, for the rolling race, the Mercedes matched the M5’s acceleration after it used its extra torque to get ahead.
All in all, they are very closely matched but with the edge going to AMG’s magic touch. We don’t think it ends there though. The AMG sounds so much more aggressive and we know how AMG loves to let its rawness show through the Mercedes class and luxury. It’s that juxtaposition and character that would have us take the E63 S even if it had actually turned out to be slower.
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