As is required by the Automotive Journalism Code, we at The Drive have a fondness for fast station wagons. And few upcoming draggin' wagons have us quite as charged up as the new Mercedes-AMG E63 S Estate. Between its 603-horsepower twin-turbo 4.0-liter V-8, its performance-oriented all-wheel-drive system that can switch over to rear-wheel-drive when its driver feel like getting slideways, and 22.6 cubic feet of storage space behind the second row, the AMG's new E63 wagon effectively combines every bit of capability you need in a family car with every bit of performance you want out of a supercar.
And the time has come to place your order.
That is, if you live in Europe. On Tuesday, Daimler announced that the order books are officially open for the 603-hp Mercedes-AMG E63 S Estate, as well as its slightly-less-muscular, not-headed-to-America twin, the regular E63 Estate. Deliveries of the speedy station wagons begin next month.
Mercedes's announcement also gives us a glimpse into the cost of taking one of these high-speed estates home. The "basic" E63 4Matic+ Estate starts at 112,907 in Germany, while the E63 S 4Matic+ Estate starts at 124,688. Those prices, however, include Germany's 19 percent VAT; by our back-of-the-napkin math, that means pre-tax versions should cost around 94,970 and 105,040, respectively. (To be fair, however, we were journalism majors.) Assuming the E63 S is priced at roughly the same level in the U.S. as it is in its homeland, it should start at around $114,500 before taxes here in the States.
Sadly, those of us in America will have to wait a little while longer to lay our hands on AMG's new estate. A Mercedes-Benz USA spokesperson told The Drive he didn't believe U.S. order books weren't open yet for the AMG E63 wagon. But hey...absence makes the heart grow fonder, right?