Of course, it would be Mercedes. They’ve been the pioneers of so much of the technology that we’ve come to take for granted. Airbags, anti-lock brakes, crumple zones, even all-wheel drive, four-wheel independent suspension, and being the first to have a supercharged engine. Mercedes has gone and done it again: they’ve made a cool hybrid. And a wagon at that!
Enter in the Mercedes-AMG E53. Available in both sedan and wagon forms, this 3.0L inline six-cylinder is paired with a hybrid system to produce 585 horsepower. No four-cylinder depression here, the lump of inline-six produces 442 horsepower by itself.
This means the big Merc can hit 0-62 mph in approximately four seconds with all the electronic nannies set to launch it into the stratosphere. Top speed is listed at 173, which makes it one fast car that can also go up to sixty-two miles on pure electric and approximately 78.43 MPGe.
The 28.6kw battery can even be charged from 10% to 80% in a mere 20 minutes if you desire to stop and use a DC fast charger. They even thought of the speed demons when designing the battery discharge. The battery has a small 21.2kw available, with the difference from full capacity always being available for the power boost, if you so choose you need the extra oomph off the line or other high-performance tomfoolery.
Best of all, this thing is available as a wagon—an estate as our European friends calls it. Imagine being able to go that fast, in a thrifty, massive wagon. Whoever said the future isn’t going to be cool, they’re going to eat those words if Mercedes has anything to do with it.
