Mercedes E63S AMG vs. BMW M5 Sedan Comparison | Full Review + Drag Race

BMW and Mercedes. It sounds like a rivalry almost as old as time. Sort of like Lamborghini vs Ferrari, Chevy vs Ford, Coke vs Pepsi or the Big Mac vs a Whopper. Whatever your cup of tea is, you can't deny that these German car makers have just been killing it in terms of producing really freaking fast luxury sports sedans. And to me, the midsize sedan market is probably one of my favorites because you get a car where you can fit five adults comfortably, have a large boot and still maintain the potential to take a corner at a decent speed. So today I wanted to compare two of the most popular offerings from BMW M and Mercedes AMG. Hit it. First up is the BMW F90 M5 in its standard trim. Why not the Comp or LCI model? Well, it's because we're a mom and pop kind of shop and all these cars that we get on the channel are from friends and fans who volunteer on their own time. Anyway, it's based on the 5 Series chassis and therefore it's been around for a minute. But it still holds its own quite well. Powered by a 4.4 liter twin turbo V8, it cranks out a very impressive 600 brake horsepower and 553 pounds of torque. As with anything BMW, well, anything German. I suspect these numbers to be conservative to help put that power down. It's got all wheel drive that you can switch on the fly, a fast shifting high performance 8 speed ZF transmission, and an easy to deal with launch control system. I find this color to be quite exotic though. Singapore gray metallic. Basically a very dark blue gray. And I'd be curious to see what it looks like wrapped in expel stealth. But as with anything we do in life, we should give it a listen before we drive off. Not bad at all. The M5 in most people's books is probably the quintessential mid size performance sedan. I mean there's really not much else in this luxury super sports segment that is really nearly as well rounded. That's probably why we see so many of these roaming the streets up here, at least in the Northeast. It could be because BMWs are really aggressive with their leasing programs. But that's a conversation for another time. I can't say that I love the aesthetics of the M5. It sure looks sleek, but nothing about it screams high performance. I guess that's a good thing in a way if you're trying to fly under the radar with the whole sleeper look. But the point of this car isn't to flex, it's to go really fast without sacrificing comfort or space. And for the most part, I think it does that quite well. But over here we have its polar opposite. Well, perhaps not polar, but they are pretty much direct rivals. The Mercedes E63S AMG is a 603 horsepower four door torpedo that combines class and power into a relatively understated package. But even though it's got a very similar horsepower rating, when you compare it to the M5, it produces a staggering 74 more foot pounds of torque. And that could really make a difference when you get things going. Interestingly, the M177 engine is actually smaller than BMW's S63. It's still a twin turbo V8, but it's 4 liters instead of 4.4. However, I gotta say, Mercedes really knows how to dress up their engine bays anyway. It's also got four wheel drive and a drift mode, but its gearbox has nine speeds instead of eight. On top of that, this interior just feels a lot more interesting to look at than the BMW. However, I'm worried that this car may not be able to pull enough lateral GS to warrant those sexy ass race seats. I guess we'll see. But of course, with the amg, you've got this. Yeah, that's, that's really hard to beat. I mean, you've got Lambo V12, Ferrari V8, Hellcat, Supercharger, wine maybe, but for a luxury German sedan that's clad in leather and it's got 20 plus inches of digital displays, it's. Nah, I think they got this. But a sports car's got to be more than the sum of its exhaust notes, right? The E63 seems marginally spicier than its Munich counterpart, but that depends on how you look at it. I actually prefer this hybrid pan America grille over the refreshed one. And if it were up to me, I'd get the wagon. After all, the cool dad sleeper look is what these cars are all about. Something we haven't talked about yet is price. Now, both of these super stands will set you back a solid buck 10 or buck 20 if you bought them brand new. Luckily, we have the used market where anything can happen. And if we're comparing apples to apples, both these cars start at about 105 grand MSRP, give or take a few hundred bucks. But that's where they kind of separate. Because the Mercedes can stretch well into the $140,000 range, whereas the M5 sort of caps out at 130, 135. Even with the competition Trim. While the Mercedes does feel more special and more premium, is it worth the extra money in terms of performance? I think it's time we find out. We're going to start the performance segment off by throwing these two cars down our airport Runway for a half mile drag race. It's going to be our usual two rolls and a dig. And then I'll drive these guys through our handling course to see how it feels around some corners. Let's get this party. It. It's, it's. So I want to take a moment to explain what happened here since it might not be clear in the video. Basically, the AMG looked like it was pulling timing from being overheated after the first few roll races. If you look closely, you might be able to tell once it hits about 100 miles per hour. But in the driver's seat it's way more obvious. We actually ran it a bunch of times from a dig just to be sure. Anyway, we'll give the Mercedes a break for now. Let's move on to the handling course. But we'll start with the M5. And we're off. You want to take it easy into turn one because no one wants to hurt that gorgeous looking airstream there. It's a little bumpy here on the short straight. You can really feel that 4400 pounds of curb weight in these next few corners. Pretty decent speed through turn five. But I gotta slow down because I can't carry as much speed as some of the lighter cars that come through here. Here we go, my favorite corner. And now onto the back straight where this little guy can stretch out that 600 horsepower. Yeah, actually we're gonna need more brakes in this thing. Maybe if it had the CCB's. Even with the all wheel drive it can get a little hairy. And here's some lovely oversteer to terminate and pass the finish. I might have a resting bitch face, but trust me, I'm giggling inside. Alright, let's do the same thing with the Mercedes. Now the first thing you'll notice is how well these seats are holding me in. Well, at least I notice good display of exhaust. Note back here through the hangers. Strangely, this car feels a lot more balanced and poised through these tighter corners. But I do feel the weight a lot more. Despite being sharper, there's noticeably more body roll. I had to brake a little earlier here, but still feels like I'm carrying more speed than the M5. Definitely more confident through turn 6. Doesn't feel like I'm gonna end up in the Grass like the BMW. Time to let loose on that straightaway. Wow. The brakes and cornering are solid. A little hairy, but no traction loss at the M5 as we go past the finish. In these head to head races, it's quite difficult to achieve the full half mile time safely. And even though I actually did it in the Mercedes, the heat soaking and overheating from the last few days pretty much ruined any metric above 100 miles per hour. We gave it a realistic five minute cooldown, but it was still the same story. Pulled well up to about 100, but after that it was just a no go anyway. Let's take a look at the numbers. We'll start with our in house 2100, where the M5 put down a respectable 5.53 seconds and the E63 came in with 5.60. It's important to note that for some reason the M5 put down significantly faster rolling times when going from a dig, which is interesting because that's kind of a Porsche thing to do. I'm guessing the Mercedes would have had faster rolling metrics if it didn't overheat with the standstill run, so just keep that in mind. In terms of 6 130, the BMW did 8.98, which is about a tenth of a second slower than the M8 Comp convertible that we tested a little while ago. The AMG, on the other hand, did a 9.2 on the day because of the overheating, but the owner actually ran a verified 8.8 separately the night before. Rumor has it that BMWs have a tendency to be marginally faster each year, despite being rated exactly the same. So your 2020 M5 might be a hair faster than this 2018 model. But let's take a look at the Zero 100 where the E63 ran a faster 7.43 right before it started to pull timing and the M5 did 7.54, both respectable times. And remember, we don't do the one foot rollout here with our Zero 60 or Zero 100, so it's potentially a couple tenths faster if you want to compare it to a magazine. Magazine Time for my metric friends. The 100 to 200 kilometers per hour happened in 7.88 in the BMW and 7.97 in the E63, but that was with the less than ideal run data in the Mercedes. So I suspect that it's probably close to a mid 7 second car like its big brother the Times. And remember, we don't do the one foot roll out here with our 060 or 0 100, so it's potentially a couple tenths faster if you want to compare it to a magazine time for my metric friends, the 100 to 200 kilometers per hour happened in 7.88 in the BMW and 7.97 in the E63. But that was with the less than ideal run data in the Mercedes. So I suspect that it's probably closer to a mid 7 second car like its big brother, the GT63S. Now, what I'm really interested in seeing are the results from the handling tests. After learning the ins and outs of the M5, it put down a very solid 47.46 second time, which makes it the second fastest car so far. In conjunction, we got some pretty good supporting metrics too. Now, the E63s fascinated me because right off the bat I realized that the Mercedes was the better cornering car. And the data proves it. We're looking at a lap time of 46.71 seconds, which is faster than the Viper ACR. Now, before you go ape shit and question if the earth is actually flat, remember this channel is about real world times. And in the real world, even a seasoned track driver isn't going to get into a Viper ACR with the traction control off and put down record times. And, you know, the first two or three hot laps we let ourselves have here. This just means that the E63S has way better electronics helping out. And overall, the car is simply easier to push to the limit for more times and metrics. Check out the fastest link in the description below. So I went into this episode with the biased notion that the M5 would be the better handling car and that AMGs were just loud, bumbling beasts. But boy, was I wrong. The E63 was noticeably more planted. The steering was sharper, it felt like it had more mechanical grip, and overall, just more confident. That's not to say that the M5 didn't handle well either. It's still quite a car at the limit, just not the car I thought it was. Anyway, all things considered, time to pick a winner. And it's been a while since I've done one of these grading system things, but I feel like this episode deserves it. Let's see what we got. We'll start with performance, since that's what we care about the most on this channel. And I gotta give it to the BMW. Even though the AMG was faster in a straight line and around the corners, I can't accept that after four or five runs, the car just overheats and starts pulling timing. It's kind of like my C7Z06, except worse. Plus, I really don't like the fact that there's a delay in launch control between when you release the brake pedal and when it actually takes off. But the Mercedes easily takes the cake with the interior design and cabin layout, steering wheel, gentleman's seat control, panoramic digital displays, and my gosh, those rear seats are simply amazing. Not only for street use, but they provide a lot of lateral support on a track as well. Ride comfort and drivability also goes to the Mercedes because it's noticeably smoother overall on rough pavement, and a comfortable ride generally translates to a more enjoyable daily drive. But even though it's comfortable, the steering feels more responsive and overall the driving experience is slightly more engaging than the muted feel of the M5. I don't like that the AMG will upshift for you in manual mode, but that's a minor thing. The BMW edges out in value simply because they lease so well, and generally you can find better deals on the M5 as opposed to the E63. That goes for both new and used. Where the BMW really shines is aftermarket. Sure, every car has the potential there, but the amount of vendors, tuners, parts and support for the F90 platform simply outshines the Merc. But if you ask me which car looks better, then that's definitely going to be a wash, because neither of them are really trophy wife material and it comes down to taste at that point, which is quite subjective. So tie here. Curb value is also very subjective, and that depends on where you're from. But in my region, BMWs are quite common and Mercedes tend to hold a higher place in the luxury and status department over both BMW and Audi. Now this might seem a bit silly, but the tiebreaker category is the shift paddles. Because the inside joke on this channel is that I'm really picky about the paddles in these modern performance cars. And we all know that I loathe BMW paddles, so Mercedes easily takes this one. You know, someone once told me that all car nerds seem to be infatuated with wagons, and frankly, I'm no different. Last year I was pretty close to buying an E63S wagon, but I just couldn't convince myself that it was worth the price tag. Looking back and knowing what I know now, I probably should have pulled the trigger. Anyway, I also know that there's going to be some complaints down in the comments about trim levels being unfair and whatnot. Like I said earlier, we're a small channel and sometimes we we don't exactly get to choose the perfect lineup in every single scenario, but I know that the non SE63 would be a closer match performance wise to the non comp M. However, I still believe that starting price wise, the E63S is more of a direct competitor. At the end of the day, I'm pretty sure I would most likely pick the AMG over the BMW because you know what M5s are a diamond does around me. So it would be nice to have something a little bit different. But how would you guys rank these two cars? Let me know in the comments below. That's it for this episode, and as always, I will catch you all in the next one. We both did the same thing.