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Masterful integration of power, poise, and refinement.

    Masterful integration of power, poise, and refinement. But if you balance your launch in a mature manner, you can expect propul­sion of a decidedly quick nature: 0 to 60 mph in 4.9 seconds and a quarter-mile sprint in 13.5 seconds at 105 mph. To get that sort of thrust from a big luxury car like this, did AMG turn the E55 into a hot rod of the brutal, kidney-crushing variety? Well, yes and no. Fast it is. Rude it ain't. In fact, so suave is this E-class muscle car that its real potential will not be recog­nized by many passengers. You could pick up your boss at the airline terminal and transport them to their hotel at quarter-throttle, and they'd swear it was a luxury ride under them. That's because the quiet 5.4-liter V-8 wuffles along with hydraulic smoothness and slurs gearshifts in a seamless sequence. Even at low revs, there's enough torque to waft up hills without losing speed or digging for another gear. And only if the roads are bad will your VIP sense the t
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1999 Mercedes E55 AMG Does The Twist

  1999 Mercedes E55 AMG Does The Twist From the March 1999 issue of Car and Driver. German engineers mining for torque deposits near Affalterbach must have hit a mother lode. At least, that's what it feels like from behind the AMG-monogrammed steering wheel of this E55. Somewhere between here and the three­-pointed gun sight at the leading edge of the hood is housed 391 pound-feet of torque, available from 3000 rpm onward. This is the kind of urge that prompts you to adjust your head­rest—and those of the passengers—because a careless thrust at the throttle pedal will, in most circumstances, produce a lunge that snaps back heads faster than a space-shuttle launch. Press the ESP button located on the console, disabling the stability-control system (lighting a prominent yellow tri­angle in the dash), and you can expect wheelspin if you mash the throttle from rest. That's with the five-speed automatic transmission that is standard equipment, folks. Brake-torque the E55 for a secon
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