09 Oct 06
There's a famous quote - often attributed to Elvis Costello - which says that writing about music is like dancing about architecture. Trying to describe the sound AMG's 6.3-litre engine makes is a lot like that.
It roars and growls as you accelerate and then, when you ease off the throttle, there's this burbly popping sound, replicating the overrun burble in engines of yore, which has been specially built in by AMG to replicate the sound of excess fuel being burned off. When you consider that Mercedes's performance division goes to trouble to engineer a 'misfire' into its powerplants, you begin to appreciate the level of care and attention that goes into them.
But as the song goes, let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start. Because, appropriately, we were in Austria, the land of the Sound of Music testing the latest additions to the AMG family, the CL 63 AMG and S 63 AMG.
We all know about the S-Class : Merc's executive limousine has been built to waft captains of industry and world leaders around in complete luxury. But it's also a damned good car to drive - it's 4Car's Best in Class . True, it's a very big car, but despite its size, it's still agile and fun to drive.
So imagine what it's like after it gets the AMG treatment.
