Man Maths: Mercedes-AMG S63 Coupé

These cars also had something of a party trick. Called Dynamic Curve, the suspension function didn’t just minimise body roll in corners but overcompensated for it, meaning the car would lean in when cornering, like a speedboat. It was no good whatsoever for spirited driving because that sense of a car leaning out in a corner is how we feel the grip rise and fall beneath us. But at a more sedate pace on a flowing, winding A-road, the fact your body wasn’t rolling around like it would in any other car made the S63 more comfortable still.

Later in its life the S63 was fitted with the newer, downsized, more efficient 4-litre twin-turbo V8, but earlier cars had the older, filthier and in many ways more characterful 5.5-litre unit. Sadly the wonderful old 6.2-litre naturally aspirated V8 had been retired by the time the S63 showed up. If neither the 5.5 or 4.0 quite cut it for you, I did find a number of S65s offered for sale. These were thumped along by 6-litre V12s, also twin-turbocharged, producing only a bit more power than 5.5-litre V8 but massively more torque – 738lb ft of the stuff.

S63 Coupés were fearsomely expensive machines a decade or so ago – £126,000 before the original buyer had got busy with a pen and the options sheet. Nowadays you can remove the ‘1’ and still put yourself in the world’s most comfortable car, the cheapest and leggiest examples out there now listed for less than 25 grand though S65s cost closer to £60,000. The car will have covered more than 100,000 miles, inevitably, and it will have been passed around between owners like a basketball. Routine maintenance alone must be ruinous, never mind the bills should something in the suspension, powertrain or electronics go awry.

So should you? Of course you should. And please tell us all about it. Just don’t come running to me when the bills start flowing…

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