I'm currently sitting at the dealership's lounge waiting for them to fix my door lock and balance my wheels. The SA is new to me but she's really nice and pointed out the brand-spankin' new E63 that they just put on the showroom floor yesterday. Of course I have to go check it out. The car is black / black with the usual options (Premium 2 and some other stuff).

First thing I noticed is that the headlights look a little different from my beast's. There're couple frosted white lines across the lens where the turn signal bulb is. I guess they wanted to get rid of the fried egg look but don't want to use the chrome plated bulbs?

The second thing I noticed is the updated front bumper. While it looks pretty aggressive with the extra brake vents, it doesn't go very well together with the car. After all, this is a luxury sedan, not a racer. I'd prefer an understated appearance rather than the outright aggressiveness, which reminds me of the M cars. Just my opinions though, coz I prefer to lay low. owever, the pointy front end as well as the grille don't bother me as much as I though it would. The grille is not even half as big as the photos showed and I like the tradtional design of the grille with the MB Laurel in it. It shows heritage.

Also, they've updated the shapes of the bumper strips as well as the side marker lens (they have a pre-facelift car sitting right next to the 63).

Interior-wise, it's pretty CLS-esque because of the updated steering wheel and seats. The seats are nice, but not quite as nice as the M5 seats, which in my opinion is totally driver friendly. However, it shouldn't make you feel tired after a long road trip. Center console is still the same '05-'06 roll top style with two huge bottle holders in there. Not much other updates though.

They also moved the Teleaid antenna from the rear glass to the roof top and shaped it like a shark's fin, which IMHO ruins the line of the car..... Where does this trend come from after all?

Rear-end looks virtually identical except for those Toyota Camry looking headlights. I think they now have a diffuser piece in between the exhaust pipes instead of a regular piece of plastic.

I'll go snap some pics and post them when I get home. They'll be from my cell so don't expect extremely high quality.

 

So, snapped some pics, talked to a sales guy and basically found out the car is ordered by someone that is coming in for a test drive today. They also have other buyers lined up for it if that fell through.

To be honest, I don't think this car is worth it if you already own a 55. This car borrowed so many cues from the CLS, which is not even funny . Somehow the elegance of the E-Class has been diluted by the added wanna-be sportiness. I think the Yin-and-Yang is off for the 63. If you want to make a statement, go get a P-Car or an M-car, and leave the E alone as a sleeper.

Couple more impressions after staring at it for another 20 minutes:

1. compared the two front grilles using my cell phone as a reference from equidistance. The new front grille is the same size as the old one everywhere, except in the bottom middle where it sticks out a little more.

2. the front discs are 2 piece composite rotors

3. the rear diffuser is nothing but a piece of painted plastic tagged onto the original black plastic piece

4. the chrome strip on the trunk lid has been extended, which IMHO looks fugly.

5. the E63 rear trunk lid spoiler looks pretty much like my SCHATZ spoiler, speculating that they came from the same OEM.

6. tires as others have states are still Conti 2, and the paint on wheels looks like crap, should have painted the wheel that color and empty out the space in between the two faux-spokes.......

7. The rearview mirror is FUGLY. I mean really FUGLY, looks like it belongs to a JETTA.

8. The tail lights look awful in every angle imaginable.

So this basically confirms most others have seen......

By the way, did DCX hire Bengal's protege to design the facelift?

 

Thanks for a great "first visual impressions" review. I agree with everything you've written,except for the reference to a Bengal tiger... .
Isn't it sad, that after years of picking on all those Bangle-Bungles, Mercedes has thrown in the towel and started copying others like some desperate Teutonic Lexus?
First, the New S-Class with its stupid 7-series BMW trunk/rear and I-Drive type controls and dash-board, and now E-Class with a pointy-grille / front end like an Opel Astra or a generic Honda or BMW.
I love my E55 more and more!

 

I agree, the E55 looks much better. The E55's trim and lines are much more subtle to my liking.

 

Really, what the heck are they doing? They think they can draw more customers to buy MBs because they make the car look "sportier" just like every other car in the market!!!???

 

I saw the E63 at its unveiling at the New York autoshow... I thought it was nice... but like Kev says the yin and yang is off on this car... IMHO The E55 still looks better

 

Here're some crappy pics from my camera phone:

 

Couple More: