Mercedes-Benz E60 AMG: devil in disguise

By Martin Buckley

| 14 Oct 2024

Classic & Sports Car – Mercedes-Benz E60 AMG: devil in disguise

Lighter and more modern to drive than its revered 123-series predecessor, the mid-’80s W124 E-Class saloon was the first Mercedes-Benz to officially carry the ‘E’ designation.

It brought with it the imprint of conservatism and integrity that linked the cars to earlier mid-range models from Sindelfingen, and many still consider them to be the last of the ‘proper’ Mercedes.

They were also, it should be noted, the first Benz offerings to acknowledge fully the challenge from the likes of BMW, Audi and even certain Japanese manufacturers.

Just 45 Mercedes-Benz E500 Limiteds were converted to E60 AMG specification

The 190, the new compact Merc, had shown the way things were going to play out in the 1980s, and the W124 was based on that concept: lighter but stronger bodywork materials, multi-link rear suspension and aerodynamic styling.

At 0.28Cd, the W124 had the lowest drag coefficient of any production car.

The shape, modern yet dignified, was created under the leadership of Bruno Sacco and embraced the latest thoughts on side-impact and roll-over safety.

With the choice of engines ranging from a carburetted 2-litre ‘four’ to a new range of single-overhead-camshaft 2.6- and 3-litre straight-sixes, the W124 had to service the family car, executive saloon and German taxi markets, and it would eventually encompass estate, coupé, limousine and even convertible bodies.

‘The cabin is a fine example of Mercedes’ rational design and build quality’

Commercially, the E-Class was the most important model in the Mercedes-Benz line-up and, as the group’s core passenger-car product, it would enjoy a nine-year, 2.5-million-unit production run.

Where the W124 differed was in the way it was destined to move upmarket with a high-performance halo model that had never played a part in the previous mid-range line-ups.

Yes, there were quickish six-cylinder variants of the W123, but nothing that satisfied the driver who wanted a family-sized stealth saloon with Porsche-style urge.

Enter the 500E, a car partly in the tradition of the low-volume, big-engined Mercedes S-Class V8 saloons (such as the 300SEL 6.3 and 450SEL 6.9) and partly Daimler-Benz AG’s pricier answer to the BMW M5.

The mighty Mercedes-Benz E60 AMG supersaloon flies under the radar

However, this most highly prized of W124 variants might never have happened if Toyota had not produced the Lexus LS400.

This Japanese luxobarge was faster, quieter, cheaper and better put together than anything Mercedes had to offer, and it had stolen more than half of Stuttgart’s North American sedan market since its 1989 introduction.

US dealers, still awaiting the all-new W140 S-Class, were beseeching Daimler-Benz to put a V8 into the still relatively young W124 body to give them a convincing answer to the Japanese challenge.

Mercedes’ response was the 400E, a 300E W124 with the 4.2-litre V8 from the S-Class. Built to square up to the Lexus, it was neither a notably slow car nor – at $60,000 – a cheap one.

The E60 AMG’s fold-down headrests

For an additional $27,000, its beefier brother, the 500E, offered a 5-litre version of the same short-stroke V8 – and associated four-speed automatic gearbox – from the R129 500SL, in a car with an even more aggressive character.

Left-hand-drive only and automatic only, the 500E started out as a 300E body-in-white that was shipped across Stuttgart to Porsche to have its chassis rails widened, before returning to Sindelfingen for painting.

The painted shell, with its beefed-up bulkhead, would then go back to Porsche for completion on a production line it would soon share with the Audi RS2, another Porsche subcontract job.

As well as the 5-litre V8, Porsche grafted in the front suspension from the 500SL (complete with four-piston brake calipers), which widened the track by 38mm and dropped the ground clearance by 23mm.

The Mercedes-Benz 500E and E60 AMG were only sold as left-hand-drive cars

The production process took 18 days, with final sign-off at Sindelfingen.

The idea of Porsche designing and then building a car on behalf of Daimler-Benz continues to amuse pundits.

Yes, it had both Mercedes and Porsche factory ID numbers, but commissioning Zuffenhausen to modify the W124 chassis was a pragmatic decision.

Snowed under by development of the new W140 S-Class, Mercedes couldn’t spare the manpower to develop a low-volume project such as the 400E/500E.

Porsche was, after all, local and highly competent – it was a design consultant for many other car makers – and, after a big drop in its US sales, in need of the work.

‘The Mercedes-Benz E60 AMG’s close-ratio automatic gearbox blends changes beautifully and allows instant access to kickdown violence on request’

Either way, it was no small matter to fit the V8 into the Sacco-designed body – which had been conceived with nothing wider than a straight-six in mind – and ensure the resulting car was still crash-safe and easy to handle.

This is where the Zuffenhausen connection comes in, although it would be wrong to think of the 500E as a Porsche in drag.

All the parts that went into building one were made by Mercedes-Benz – apart from the cover for the battery, which was relocated to the boot.

In fact, Porsche’s contribution to building the 500E would have been limited to handbuilt chassis modifications (as with the 400E) if the widened wings of the more powerful car had not fouled the W124 production line.

Mildly flared arches, fatter rubber, side skirts and a discreetly lower stance gave away the secret of this Porsche-assembled, 5-litre V8-engined W124 to the few who may have cared about such things 30 years ago.

The Mercedes E60 AMG’s huge 245/45 tyres must deal with the V8’s massive power and torque

To the rest it was ‘just’ another W124, one of the last great Mercedes-Benz saloons in the days when engineers still outranked accountants at Stuttgart.

Electric Recaro seats, cruise control and air conditioning were standard when the car went on sale in the UK in 1991, costing a massive £58,949. Leather was a near-£1800 option.

The absence of a right-hand-drive variant, plus that giant price-tag, limited UK interest in the 500E (and the later E500), and just 29 were officially imported.

North America took 1528 fully loaded examples, while the Japanese, curiously, were not far behind at 1184 cars.

Official production ended in 1994, with 10,479 built, although that figure includes 120 ‘last-request’ E500s delivered in 1995.

The AMG-fettled, 6-litre V8 hides beneath plastic cladding – it produces 375bhp and 428lb ft of torque, and spins all the way to 6200rpm

By that time the brakes and front axle were sourced from the V12 SL600 and it was possible to buy an E500 Limited with 17in Evolution alloys, bird’s-eye-maple trim and special, coloured leather inserts for the seats.

Only 951 of these were built, and they are naturally highly sought-after; ditto the 45 E500 Limiteds converted to E60 AMG spec, with a 375bhp 6-litre V8 – of which this car, part of the 1100-strong Mercedes-Benz Classic fleet, is one.

It is a fully optioned 1995 example, finished in Sapphire Black and complete with heated, electric memory seats, power-adjustable steering column and climate control.

Like most of the official E60s, it’s an LE-pack car with two-tone trim and 17in alloys.

Apart from the bootlid badge, the only other way to spot an E60 is by its twin, square-tipped exhaust tailpipes.

The Mercedes’ square tailpipes are among the few E60 giveaways

Delivered as new cars, the option code ‘957 AMG Teknik Paket’ added DM34,270 to the cost of the car.

(An unknown quantity of E500s, thought to be around 100, were also converted to AMG specification privately, with many of them ending up in Japan.)

AMG was still a separate entity in the mid-’90s, based in a factory 15 miles from the main Daimler-Benz HQ.

The E500 bodies were delivered from Zuffenhausen to Affalterbach, where they received suspension tweaks along with the hand-assembled M119 6-litre V8.

By modern standards the W124 saloon body is almost petite, and its compact dimensions put its appeal more in the realm of true sports saloon rather than a hot-rod limo.

The Mercedes-Benz E60 AMG has impressive handling, with plenty of grip

This relative anonymity was, and remains, the glory of the car.

In a 500E (it became the E500 post-1992 facelift) you blend into the crowd, yet with Herculean urge at your disposal when the time comes to leave the herd behind – and much the same can be said about the E60 AMG.

Even so, something about the car’s dogged, four-square stance tells you that this isn’t just another taxi, or even an E500.

The 245/45 tyres were massive for their time, but only averagely large compared to today’s fast saloons.

It is something of a thug of a car – a dream machine, perhaps, for wannabe underworld gangsters.

‘Real urge doesn’t begin until 3800rpm, so for really brisk driving you have to be prepared to rev the engine quite hard’

The engine is a tight fit, and we’re in the era of extensive plastic cladding, with liberal amounts of heat insulation on the bulkhead.

AMG’s quoted 375bhp and 428lb ft are thought to have been pessimistic figures in deference to Mercedes’ factory 6-litre V12 of the day.

The cabin is a fine example of Mercedes’ rational design and build quality, with most of the essential functions on a column stalk or the traditional Benz rotary light switch.

The seats grip your hips and torso, and the view out is unencumbered in all directions. Only the jazzy design of the door trims jars slightly.

An electronically limited 155mph might look almost routine by modern standards (Mercedes had recently entered a ‘gentleman’s agreement’ with BMW on such matters), but 0-62mph in 5.5 secs is still deemed quick in 2024.

The Mercedes-Benz E60 AMG’s individual rear seats

So still absurdly fast, then, but much more sensible is that it will achieve 20mpg if driven moderately – a number that owners of the 300SEL 6.3 and 450SEL 6.9 could only dream of; double figures on a good day was the rule with the older cars.

Perhaps more significantly, you can use more of the E60’s muscle, more of the time, because the handling is so much better: there is immense grip, moderate lean and little penalty in ride comfort.

The calming effect of ASR traction control (which, as in the E500, you can’t switch off) does the necessary should you try to deploy the full 375bhp all at once.

Only a fully floored throttle – it needs a hard shove – gives bottom gear as huge forces are summoned to blast 3800lb (1735kg) of Teutonic anonymity off the line.

No drama and no wheelspin, but more than enough wholesome thrust to rearrange the internal organs.

The Mercedes-Benz E60 AMG has a wider track than the standard 124-series saloon

That said, you don’t get the same exquisite sense of a huge, understressed engine as you do in the 6.3 and 6.9.

The AMG’s 6-litre, four-cam, variably timed V8 is an engine that can wind out to 6200rpm with a sophisticated – but muted – multi-valve growl, pinning you back in your seat to well in excess of 130mph, which it will achieve in less than half a minute.

Real urge doesn’t begin until 3800rpm, so for truly brisk driving you have to be prepared to rev the engine quite hard, but that’s no hardship with a close-ratio auto ’box that blends changes beautifully and allows instant access to kickdown violence on request.

Slow, tight corners aren’t as much fun as they might be in the E60.

The wagging finger of the ASR takes charge of events before anything interesting can happen, chaperoning access to power with a flashing yellow triangle on the dash when temptation is put in your path.

The Mercedes-Benz E60 AMG’s traction-control system reins in the fun in tight turns

I was once told a well-placed paperclip can take ASR out of the loop, but I probably wouldn’t bother.

Through fast corners the car’s poise, lack of roll, pleasantly meaty – if not pin-sharp – steering, supple ride and general willingness to soak up great distances at high speed in an aura of calm more than make up for its reluctance to go sideways.

(Not something in which you need to indulge in a car such as this anyway.)

It would be wrong to think of the E60 as a hot rod: it was far too carefully engineered to be considered in any way homespun.

Driven gently, the AMG W124 is peaceful inside, with the sober furnishings and sense of solidity that were once the Benz trademark, before a dark period of pound-shop build quality in the mid-2000s.

It appeals for most of the same reasons as the 6.3 and 6.9, but, while you can sense the earlier cars in the E60’s make-up, it is a much more sensible vehicle to own because, in the end, it is still a W124 saloon.

Images: Tom König/Pierre Johne

Thanks to: Mercedes-Benz Classic Center

The ‘Hammer’: AMG’s early adrenalin hit

The ‘Hammer’ is one of the most famous pre-merger AMGs

AMG had been in the ascendancy for 10-15 years by the time the W124 appeared, but it was its V8-engined 300E saloons that really made its reputation as a maker of hotted-up road machinery, eventually leading to the acquisition of the firm by Mercedes in 1999.

About 30 of these AMG W124s were built, the ‘Hammer’ name being officially adopted after comments in the German motoring press.

The cars got some excellent column inches in North America, too, where it didn’t go unnoticed that the 5.6-litre version had 125bhp more than a Corvette, thanks to a polished, blueprinted and balanced version of Daimler-Benz AG’s 5.5-litre M117 V8.

AMG’s four-cam, four-valve cylinder heads boosted power to 355bhp, or 375bhp in 6-litre form.

AMG’s ‘Hammer’ is a lot less subtle than the inconspicuous Mercedes-Benz E60

Maximum speed ranged from 178-185mph, with 0-60mph in just 5 secs and the standing quarter-mile in 13.5 secs at a 107mph terminal velocity.

In other words, the Hammer was as fast – or faster – than most of the two-seater Italian exotica available at the time, and thus the quickest saloon commercially available.

One estate was also produced, along with probably only a handful of CE coupés.

The fastest, yes, but also one of the most expensive, at up to $180,000.

For that you got a suitably beefed-up drivetrain, stiffer, shorter springs and a choice of aerodynamic addenda, the most flamboyant of which set the drag coefficient at 0.35Cd.

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