Mercedes’ new E Class breaks cover this month, but we’ll still have to wait at least a year before we get to see anything that looks, sounds or goes like a new Mercedes E63.
It sounds like it’ll be well worth the wait, though; word around the campfire is that it’ll be all-wheel-drive, equipped with electronically controlled torque vectoring diffs front and rear and score a significant jump in power.
How significant, you ask? Merc high-ups suggest that the power output should be in line with the capabilities of the new chassis set-up, so a jump from the current 375kW to a figure more like 440kW isn’t unreasonable to expect.
In the meantime, though, German tuners Posaiden have taken a current E63 4matic and created what it awkwardly calls the RS850+.
We’re not sure why it’s called that – it’s pumping out a vaguely ridiculous 740kW and a mind-bending 1399Nm, so 850 really doesn’t come into it.
Anyway… a pair of larger turbos and more efficient intercoolers, along with a handmade exhaust, uprated fuelling and an ECU retune takes care of the extra mumbo, giving the E63 to a 0-100km/h of 2.8sec and a limited top speed of 350km/h. Apparently it’ll do 370km/h…
The drivetrain has been beefed up to take the extra grunt, while new forged 20-inch rims run 255/30R20 front and 295/25R20 rear tyres. The wheels cover 420mm carbon ceramic rotors and six-piston calipers up front and 360mm units with four-potters out back. It’s all tied down with height-adjustable coilovers.
Posaiden has also gone slightly nutty with the interior, ditching the back seat entirely and bolting in a set of fixed-back seats from the Merc C63 Black. To be honest, it looks like a work in progress. That, or someone likes the unfinished look.
A carbon bonnet, rear spoiler, splitter and mirror caps are offset by a gaping mesh mouth where the E63’s grille used to be.
Bless the Germans.