2012 Mercedes-Benz M-Class specsPrice Range: $48,990
Base Engine: 302 hp /3.5L V6
MPG Range: 17 city / 22 hwy
More power. It's just what every two-and-a-half-ton SUV needs. Not. For that
reason, if you had asked us a few weeks ago to pick a sensible vehicle for
touring the winding mountain roads around Santa Barbara, California, chances are
excellent we'd probably have neglected to mention Mercedes-Benz's ML series,
much less its top-of-the-line ML63 AMG. Fettled by the company's in-house tuning
department, the extra-picante version of the weighty SUV has only just reemerged
in a third edition with more power than ever: 518 hp and 516 lb-ft of torque,
from the now-ubiquitous AMG 5.5-liter, twin-turbo V-8.
High-riding vehicles with mad amounts of horsepower have never struck us as a
good idea, even if there's clearly money to be made by offering them to those
whose bank accounts trump their understanding of vehicle dynamics. And more
muscle, in a vehicle that upon our last visitation was already content to write
checks its chassis couldn't cash, hardly recommended the 2012 ML63.
All that, of course, was before we'd driven it, and before Mercedes brought
its best technology to bear on the question of how to make something this tall
(70.7 inches) and heavy (5093 pounds in its stocking feet) not only go fast --
really big engines have long been known to take care of that chore -- but
actually go around corners. And in this sense, the new ML63 is a revelation.
Thanks to Mercedes-Benz's Active Curve System, which curbs roll like nobody's
business, and the ML63's air suspension with its adaptive dampers, the ML
changes direction while remaining so flat and level that you begin to realize
that you're having fun on a winding road -- in an SUV. While the ML63 probably
won't fully convince you, a knowledgeable enthusiast, that you're in a sports
car, wicked exhaust burble notwithstanding, it won't cause you or your
passengers to evacuate lunch when you're carving back roads. And in this class
of vehicle, that, friends, marks significant progress.
If you want a Mercedes SUV that scares you, you'll want to wait for the new
G63 AMG, whose antique chassis is never going to be a match for its new,
speedier motor. Opt for the ML63 AMG, though, and while you may not make the
same psychographic statement, you will benefit from electromechanical,
speed-sensitive power steering and giant brakes. If the standard AMG body kit
and interior accoutrements are not ostentatious enough for you, you may choose
an optional Performance Package, which not only injects an additional 32 hp and
44 pound-feet of torque, but also buys the carbon fiber engine cover, special
steering wheel, and red-painted calipers our test vehicle sported.
Twenty-one-inch wheels may replace the standard twenties, which to our eyes are
plenty big enough.
So what we have in the ML63 is an SUV that defies the laws of physics and in
so doing becomes the new class of its class. While we might still question the
need for this breed of animal, we do think it worthy of mention. Finally, it
seems, you can make pigs fly.
