Jan.17 (GMM) The new Mercedes CLS 63 AMG is a case in peak. It gets a modified engine and transmission, a new front axle, significantly modified suspension and steering structure as well a exclusive damping system.

Wide-ranging styling modifications interior and out is exactly the icing on a seriously re-engineered cake. And AMG engineers have put over one million test kilometers into both the engine and the finished car.

It gets the company’s new M157 5.5-litre bi-turbo V8 engine which swap AMG’s old 6.3-litre naturally-aspirated V8. The M157 is more dominant, torquier and an amazing 32 per cent more inexpensive than the outgoing engine. AMG has also developed its own ‘Speedshift MCT’ 7-speed transmission, which ditches a conventional - and laggy - torque converter for a much more direct-feeling ‘wet start-up clutch’ which runs in a oil bath.

And other most significant feature of the CLS 63 AMG’s development lies in the huge efforts that the company has put into the new electromechanical steering system. The 14:1 ratio is 22 percent quicker than the standard CLS, its said to be very rigidly mounted and its control unit takes information from a wide range of sensors (including lateral acceleration and under and oversteer characteristics) to calculate the forces it feeds back to the wheel rim. CLS 63’s steering response that strikes the driver as the car creeps away from standstill. At low speeds there’s a sense of uncanny, sharp-edged, precision humming through the wheel’s rim.
That surprising impression continues as you drive along. While not uncomfortable, the AMG’s chassis telegraphs an amazing amount of information about the road surface to the seat and wheel. There’s a strong feeling of an almost unbushed connection with the road, but this mix doesn’t seem to be especially nervous or wearing over distances.
But it was on the winding mountain roads on the US/Mexican border that the CLS 63 really revealed its talents as a scalpel-sharp tool. Firstly, it is quite ridiculously easy place the front inside wheel on the very ragged edge of the road, allowing more confidence in swift progress. The driver gets a super-accurate sense of the position of the front wheels and the amazingly rigid front end means the AMG is exceptionally keen on turn-in. It pulls itself into and around corners with a surprising degree of aggression, creating very high lateral forces very quickly, which can be hard on your passenger.