Mercedes-AMG E53 Night Edition Estate 2021 UK first drive

Lightness and leanness aren’t impressions conjured all too readily by much else about the E53. As bigger fast executive options go it’s one that feels its size, but can certainly get a move on when called to. Although it’s grippy, stable and by no means slow when the wind is in its sails, however, it does strike you as a car that’s been reigned in somewhat; one that, being cast in opposition to the burlier, faster and more unhinged E63 S, daren’t deliver too much in the way or pace or excitement for fear of overstepping its rightful place. That might be a strange character to find in any full-sized performance saloon, but somehow seems all the more so from an AMG.

That six-cylinder engine is more of a high-flying firework than a big-hitting sledgehammer; for an AMG, that’s unusual too. You expect big tranches of instant mid-range torque to be on tap here, partly thanks to that clever electric turbo and partly thanks to the electric motor ‘torquefill’ effect. But lock the E53 in a higher gear, flex the accelerator, and what you get only feels moderately potent. Response is good and linearity of delivery likewise, the engine really coming on song from 4000rpm and spinning with a turbine sweetness you wouldn’t get from a V8. Still, the thump of torque you expect to flood in behind a wide-open throttle at lower revs is notable by its absence.

But at least that gives the E53 a decidedly different performance character than a -63. The straight six has plenty of outright performance when you wind it up, and makes the car quite rewarding when you choose a gear for it and let the crankshaft spin. The nine-speed gearbox doesn’t always allow you to get on close terms with the engine if you leave it in ‘D’, though; it has the tendency to shift up early, as the majority of modern automatics tend to, putting rather too many ratios between your ideal cruising and accelerating ratios in give-and-take driving. The sportier driving modes mitigate this a bit. But even here, that slight shortage of accessible torque we mentioned earlier often seems to make the car’s gearbox jump down an extra ratio or two in order to meet bigger part-throttle demands, and can at times contribute to a slightly alienating sense of hyperactivity about the driving experience which a big-hitting super saloon could certainly do without.

For handling appeal and all-round dynamic sophistication, the E53 does quite well - but its chassis, like its powertrain, feels like just a bit of a pulled punch. You sit higher in the E-Class than you would in rival performance options; the seat’s very comfortable and you have good visibility, of course, but you’re aware of just a little bit of altitude separating the car’s centre of gravity and its roll axis which might not be so perceptible in, say, an Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio or even a BMW M550i.

The car rolls a little as it corners whatever drive mode you have it set to, the sportier ones clamping down on vertical body movement but doing little for lateral response, which is good but not super-precise. The E53 feels balanced and surefooted mid-corner, but only moderately agile, and not particularly rear-biased for torque distribution when cornering under power. It’s the sort of car that can be depended upon to go where you point it, but not in a way that’ll make you tuck it in with a bit more speed and keenness next time around.

There is the usual abundance of choice for steering, engine, gearbox and suspension settings, which can be mixed and matched entirely as you prefer if you devise your own ‘individual’ program. The E53 is never better, in this tester’s opinion, than with its suspension set to ‘comfort’, however. It allows the car to breathe agreeably with the bumps and gives it a fairly supple gait at both town and motorway speeds, just as Mr Moers promised; although the 20in wheels and Yokohama tyres that come with ‘Night Edition’ trim do make for a slightly noisy ride over coarser and broken Tarmac.