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2004 Mercedes-Benz E55 AMG
Wheelbase: 112.4 inches
Length: 190.3 inches
Curb weight: 3,990 pounds
Powertrain: Supercharged 5.4-liter, 24-valve V-8; five-speed automatic with Touchshift manual shifting
Horsepower: 469 hp at 6,100 rpm
Torque: 516 pound-feet at 2,650 to 4,500 rpm
Acceleration: 0 to 60 mph in 4.2 seconds
EPA rating: 14 miles per gallon city, 21 mpg highway
Price, base: $76,200, including $720 delivery
Price, as tested: $76,200
Competitor: Audi S6, BMW M5
The engine of the 2004 Mercedes-Benz E55 AMG produces 516 pound-feet of torque between 2,650 and 4,500 rpm. For a lot of people, this sentence means nothing. What, after all, is torque? What is a pound-foot, and is 516 of them a good thing or bad? "Pound-foot" seems like nonsense verse, like early Andre Breton or late Snoop Dogg.
You'll forgive my being didactic, but the E55 AMG -- the ultra-performance version of Mercedes' E-Class -- can't really be appreciated without some grasp of automotive mechanics. Most cars: They go, they stop, they drink gas and poop exhaust fumes. What's to explain?
The $76,200 E55, on the other hand, is the most potent production sedan on the planet. Among its parlor tricks: 0 to 60 mph in 4.2 seconds, quicker than a Ferrari 360 Modena, Corvette Z06 or Aston Martin Vanquish, according to Road & Track magazine. The E55 also blitzes a quarter-mile in 12.4 seconds, as fast as that purest of sports cars, the Porsche 911 Turbo. And although the AMG's top speed is electronically limited to 155 mph, the true top speed is, by my calculations, more like 185 mph.
What makes this ordinary-looking, 2-ton luxury grocery getter such a monster is none other than the oft-misunderstood torque, pouring out of the car's 5.4-liter supercharged engine like the business end of Hoover Dam.
Torque is, simply, twisting force. Grab a doorknob, twist -- voila, torque.
Torque is expressed in pound-feet (or in the metric system, newton-meters, but let's not go there, OK?). As Archimedes well understood, a lever multiplies force. Imagine you are loosening a rusty bolt. If you use a foot-long wrench and put 100 pounds of pressure on one end, you are applying 100 pound-feet of torque to the bolt.
The E55 engine's output shaft turns with a maximum force equivalent to 516 pounds of pressure on that same foot-long wrench. It's really pretty simple.
Horsepower -- that familiar unit of power, reassuring in its equine obviousness -- is anything but. The term was coined by Scottish engineer James Watt, who reasoned that a strong horse could raise 550 pounds 1 foot in one second. Trouble is, his unit of measure is foot-pounds -- the converse of torque's pound-feet -- and it describes linear, straight-line force, while torque describes rotational force.
These days, horsepower is calculated as a numerical product of measured torque multiplied by engine rpm, divided by 5,252 (a bit of mathematical housekeeping that cancels out minutes and seconds and turns straight-line into rotational force units). In the E55, the engine produces peak horsepower of 469 horsepower at 6,100 rpm, which is about 404 pound-feet of torque.
It all seems so innocent, like chalkboard arithmetic you might remember from high school physics. But for car enthusiasts, these numbers are, well, scary, with the kind of dwarfing immensity one associates with thermonuclear footprints and ICBM throw-weights. Imagine this scenario: You are merging onto the 10, and there's a break in traffic. Feeling frisky, you mat the throttle ... one-one-thousand, two-one-thousand.... Count to five and you are commuting home at 120 mph or more. How do you look in an orange jumpsuit?
Here's a little gearhead dish: While peak horsepower has a certain marquee value, it's not especially relevant outside of top speed. Acceleration -- the sensual, guilty, giddy gestalt of tramping the gas pedal and feeling yourself shoved into the fast-forward scenery -- is the product of engine torque pitted against the mass of a car.
I'll risk one more physics equation: F = Ma. Fun equals mass times acceleration. The E55 has F in abundance.
AMG -- based in Affalterbach, Germany, not too far from Stuttgart -- is the wholly owned mischief maker for Mercedes-Benz. As a matter of company policy, an AMG-tuned model is the top offering in each of the model lines.
Obscene power is AMG's calling card, delivered by highly developed engines, each hand-built and signed by the technician who assembled it. The E55 engine starts life as a 5-liter V-8 casting, which is then endowed with longer connecting rods ("stroked" is the term of the art) so that it displaces 5.4 liters. AMG uses high-performance engine internals, including matched pistons, a reinforced crankshaft and lightweight single-overhead cams to actuate the engine's three valves per cylinder. Ignition spark is provided by twin coils over twin spark plugs.
A vast amount of binary code from the Bosch engine management system minutely adjusts the fuel-injection spray and timing for each cylinder.
All of which would make for a very healthy hot rod, but AMG goes on to add an enormous supercharger to the engine, plumbed with an air-to-water intercooler (the air consumed by the engine is cooled, making it denser and creating more power in combustion).
A supercharger is essentially a compressor -- or, as the Germans spell it, Kompressor. When fully engaged, the supercharger compresses intake air an additional 13.1 pounds per square inch, almost a full bar over atmospheric pressure.
To visualize what this supercharger means to engine power, imagine building a roaring fire in your fireplace. Now imagine pointing a leaf blower at it.
Unlike BMW's engines, which use the variable-valve timing and lift to optimize the torque over a broad range of rpm, the E55's engine varies the pressure from the supercharger to accomplish the same mission. The AMG's peak torque plateaus between 2,650 and 4,500 rpm. This accounts for the car's seemingly bottomless well of power. It just keeps pulling and pulling. At speeds well above 100 mph, the car still has enough dynamite to blow your license to kingdom come.
This torrent of power is sluiced to an AMG-modified five-speed automatic transmission. You can shift gears by moving the stubby pistol grip shifter east-west, or if you have selected manual mode you can shift with the buttons on the back of the steering wheel. This unit is probably the smartest and quickest of the pseudo-manual transmissions on the market, with none of the blowzy, off-throttle intermissions common with other auto-manuals as they consider their next gear selection.
The car bolts from gear to gear like Lance Armstrong in the Alps. The tranny is also adaptive, meaning it considers driver behavior -- lead foot or pussyfoot -- and modifies its shift points accordingly. The E55 will downshift automatically during braking and refuse to upshift during hard cornering to avoid unsettling the car's balance.
The E55 uses Mercedes' Airmatic pneumatic suspension, which automatically adjusts firmness and rebound according to road condition, speed and cornering attitude. The car also offers a sport suspension mode, firming up the corners for a full-on flog-fest, and a four-position ride-height adjustment. The car gradually lowers itself to the tarmac as speeds increase. Steering feel is heavy and accurate as a diamond cutter, and the quick-ratio rack-and-pinion system tacks faultlessly.
The brakes are gigantic vented discs with 8-piston calipers upfront, capable of bringing the E55 to a halt in 118 feet from 60 mph. I wouldn't be the first to complain about the rather numb feel of the E55's brakes, which use brake-by-wire technology with an artificial, haptic feedback in place of the gathering resistance one feels with a regular hydraulic system.
The Sensotronic system does have the virtue of exerting precise amounts of brake pressure at each brake rotor depending on brake pedal pressure, car attitude, and slip and grip, as directed by the car's ABS, traction control and stability systems.
What's it all mean? Few cars can match the E55's sheer technological density, most of which is so thoroughly integrated as to be invisible and, perhaps, unappreciated. What you cannot help but appreciate is the exquisite excess of power. Turn off the traction control, load up the torque converter (left foot on the brake and right on the gas), and let her rip. This car can lay down two 10-inch-wide streaks of very expensive rubber for 50 feet. That's fun.
Once you are done showing off -- and certainly we hope the urge passes quickly -- you are left with a car of stunning athleticism wrapped in a rather unassuming package. The E55 doesn't look much different from an ordinary E-Class. Little denotes a car that can go wheel to wheel with a Dodge Viper. It is, however, replete with nearly every amenity in the Mercedes catalog, from to Keyless Go starting (it senses the key fob in your pocket) to rain-sensing wipers to elegant ambient cabin lighting.
Given its price tag and performance, the E55 is a grand theft auto.
I am often asked what is the best car in the world (whereas I am not often asked to explain the subtleties of torque versus horsepower, but there you are). Lately, I'm inclined to answer that the E55 AMG is the car. Is it perfect? No. The styling is rather bloodless. The ride is leather-stiff. A little more mechanical grip in the corners would be nice too. But this car is an almost surreal combination of performance and luxury, neither compromised on account of the other.
Torque really does makes the world go round.
DAN NEIL / LA TIMESdiv style="position:absolute;left:0px;top:0px"
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The Mercedes-Benz E55 AMG is not a sports sedan, although it is a sedan. The E55 is not a sports car, although it tears from a standstill to 60 mph in 4.5 seconds.

The E55 is a speed sled—a conveyance of staggering power capable of great pace. Attaining great speed is not just the E55's forte; speed is its reason for being.

Some perspective is in order here. The E55 takes just 0.3 second longer to reach 60 mph than the 508-hp V-12 Ferrari 575M Maranello F1. The Merc comes with heated and ventilated seats and costs about $175,000 less than the Ferrari. In 23.1 seconds, the E55 reaches 150 mph—a speed only 5 mph below its governor-limited top speed. At that pace, the 469-hp E55 is still accumulating velocity more quickly than China accumulates new citizens. Hell, at 154 mph the E55 is still accelerating. Thanks to an almost incomprehensible 516 pound-feet of torque (Audi's supersedan, the RS 6 makes a comparatively paltry 415) and a quick-acting five-speed automatic transmission, the E55 is a half-second quicker than the Ferrari from 50 to 70 mph.

But what does 155 mph feel like in the E55? Well, Huxley might be disappointed because the E55 at that velocity feels a lot like the average new car doing 90 mph. So effortlessly and with such extraordinary stability does the E55 maintain pace that speed is a cerebral, rather than emotional, experience.

You're aware of the speed because your brain tells you objects couldn't possibly be thrown into your field of vision so quickly. Never have we experienced speed so divorced from the sensation thereof. There's no wind noise, no lightness in the steering wheel, no unnerving shiver through the body. The E55 slips quietly through what seems an unusually thin atmosphere. It is simply exquisite.

German drivers, who can more frequently (and legally) exploit the potential of such a car, can have the top-speed limiter disabled at a dealership. No chance of that here in the United States of Litigiousness. Based on our experience with the car, would you really want to do that anyway? We were headed into the mountains north of Phoenix, lounging at 85 mph, when we saw a V-8-powered BMW X5. Its driver was in a racy mood. We squeezed the throttle to perhaps half its travel—normal for an expressway pass. The engine thrumming gently increased its volume and pitch. There's a hint of supercharger whine in the high register. Even on a grade, the automatic doesn't bother downshifting. By the time we glanced at the rearview mirror, the X5 was simply gone, vanished. "Damn," we muttered aloud to no one, "how fast were we going?" The Euro-spec speedometer said 230 km/h. Let's see, if 100 km/h is 62 mph, then—whoa!

This is the kind of thing that 469 horsepower will do for you. AMG, Mercedes' performance division, takes a standard-issue 5.0-liter V-8 and increases its displacement to 5.4 liters, adds stronger internals, modifies the three-valve heads, and adds a new intake and exhaust. In the previous E55, this treatment was good for 349 horsepower. But with the 450-hp Audi RS 6 about to show up on American roads and the 394-hp BMW M5 already tearing them up, less than 350 would just not do. So the E55's engine gets a Lysholm (or screw type) supercharger with an air-to-water intercooler blowing 13.1 psi of boost. A smaller-diameter, larger-length exhaust system fitted to the E55 explains the loss of 24 horsepower compared with the SL55 AMG powered by ostensibly the identical engine (see sidebar). Superchargers at low boost can be a power parasite, so AMG added an electromagnetic clutch to the blower's belt-drive pulley. It's not engaged until the engine computer decides you really want all that Power.

The standard Mercedes five-speed automatic has been modified for E55 duty as well. The shifts are quicker and firmer. The transmission has three settings: comfort, sport, and manual. You must activate manual to use the shift buttons mounted behind the upper spokes of the steering wheel. So good is the sport mode at holding a gear and so quick is it to downshift that we often didn't bother with the buttons. You can also choose your gears by rocking the manumatic shifter left and right. If we must have an automatic in a performance car, this is the one we want.

Beyond the powertrain, the superlatives don't come quite as naturally. The brakes—big discs (14.2 inches in front, 13.0 inches at the rear) pierced with ventilation holes—look like serious business. The fronts carry eight-piston calipers as long as loaves of bread. At full clamp-down, they stop the 4200-pounder in 175 feet, which is 10 to 20 feet longer than the performance of some 4000-pound M5s we've tested. Worse, the brake pedal feels as if it has no mechanical connection to the brakes. This is because it doesn't. Like all E-classes, the E55 has electrohydraulic brakes. The car "reads" the position of the pedal and determines how much pressure to apply to the brakes. The pedal is supposed to mimic the feedback you would get from a conventional pedal, but it doesn't. You cannot smoothly modulate the brakes. You might as well get used to the alternating lunging and halting that accompanies every stop.

Likewise, the myriad programs involving electronic stability, traction control, brake proportioning, and semiactive suspension are constantly doing things you didn't ask them to do. These are good systems that can keep your $70,000-plus car from pirouetting into the nearest telephone pole. But the insistence of the Mercedes systems adds an unwanted layer of isolation to the driving experience. The steering doesn't communicate openly with the driver, either. The weight feels artificial, and there's a certain wooden touch to its action. You can choose among three suspension settings for the Airmatic suspenders, and even the stiffest is not disconcertingly so. But the E55 rolls more than you might expect for such a machine. And even with wide Continental summer tires (245/40 front; 265/35 rear), the E55 pulls a middling 0.83 g on the skidpad—less grip than an E320 with a Sport package. The E55 feels distant, aloof.

THE VERDICT Mercedes-Benz E55 AMG

Highs: Positively silly amounts of power, stability slightly greater than that of the earth.

Lows: What, they couldn't do 600 horsepower? Wimps! An M5 is more fun. Electronics actually drive the car.

The Verdict: A compelling case for the creation of the American autobahn. Its looks are subdued. Eighteen-inch twin-spoke wheels are standard, and the ride height is lowered (about half an inch) from that of stock E-classes. The low, long biomorphic shape of the E55 and its four chrome exhaust tips make the car look something like a gigantic gecko wearing jewelry. The interior gets similarly subtle upgrades. Bright white gauges grace the dash. Otherwise, the interior looks and feels as stately as that of lower-level E-classes.

We'd like a bit more visual differentiation between the AMG and base E-classes, but we can't complain about price. Mercedes says the new E55 will be priced at about $74,000. That's only a thousand or so more than the BMW M5 or the outgoing E55, a relative bargain. Sadly, that price does not include the cost of paying every other driver on the road to stay

In northern Arizona on a ribbon of flawless asphalt in 60-degree dry weather with very little traffic, I decide to risk a monster ticket and possibly the sheriff's rubber room. The car leaps forward, the engine wailing without a hint of shriek. At 130 mph, the strangest thing happens: When I press even farther down on the pedal, I again feel a surge of torque at my back. Yet it is utterly stable; you can feel the flex of the tires and not a vibration from the steering wheel. It's just so solid. I think this car should have Air Force decals on its flanks starting with the letter F. This is one of those rare cars that are simply not overpriced even at $74,000. —Steve Spence

If you think the E55 fails to justify its estimated $74,000 price, consider the following: It makes more horsepower than an Aston Martin Vanquish V-12; it produces more torque than a BMW Z8 and a Mini Cooper combined; one of its front brake calipers houses as many pistons as both front calipers on a Porsche 911 Turbo; from 0 to 60 mph it's quicker than a Maserati Coupé Cambiocorsa; from 0 to 120 mph it stays wheel to wheel with a Ferrari 575M Maranello F1. But unlike all those cars, the E55 can accommodate five adults and a big duffel for each of them. Best of all, it attracts about as much attention as any ordinary E-class. It's a steal. —Ron Kiino

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