ON PAPER, AT least, in one crucial area Mercedes-Benz's new E 63 AMG looks like a step down from the E 55 AMG it replaces.

While the 6.2-litre E 63 is more powerful (514bhp vs 476bhp), it's actually less torquey than the E 55.

The 5.4-litre supercharged engine of the old car may have been supplanted by an all-new, naturally-aspirated V8, but at least it kicked out torque by the boatload, with 700Nm available from just 2,650 rpm. It was the kind of engine you could imagine was the work of evil genius Lex Luthor, in other words.

The E 63, on the other hand, has to make do with 'just' 630Nm, which comes in later at 5,200rpm. A case of one step forward, two steps back?

Not a bit of it. While it does have less torque to call on than its predecessor, the E 63 AMG is no less savage, delivering the kind of straight-line punch liable to leave you out of breath and dizzy.

That's because its V8 is hooked up to a seven-speed gearbox (the E 55 made do with a five-speeder), and the wider spread of ratios more than compensates for the lack of supercharged boost. Remember, a transmission is basically a torque multiplier, after all.

And so, as you'd expect, the E 63 AMG hammers you in the back with as much violence as the E 55 before it, but keeps the brutal shove going for far longer, the V8 revving to a 7,000rpm redline.

There's actually more torque than the car can use, and if the steering wheel is pointed anywhere but dead straight ahead, once the electronic stability programme switched off and you venture to lean heavily on the throttle, you'll be fishtailing for hundreds of metres. The rear tyres, meanwhile, just disappear into puffs of smoke as if set alight by arsonists.

It's the sort of performance that leaves your passengers wide-eyed and looking as if they've just been slapped between the eyes with a wet fish.

And then there's the sound. The old, supercharged V8 rumbled deliciously, but the 6.2-litre combines that act with a growl that turns into a frantic yowl as the revs build and build, the big engine throbbing with such ferocity that you can feel it shake the car's floor.

Not all of the new engine's benefits are measured in terms of raw pace. Despite being sand-casted for extra strength, the new V8 is actually 12kg lighter than the last engine, mostly because the supercharger added plenty of flab to the front end.

That, in theory, should result in nippier handling, since there's less weight over the nose to deflect. In truth, however, the E 63 AMG doesn't even really try to impersonate a sportscar, despite gaining a quicker steering rack together with the updated looks of the recently facelifted E-Class range.

There's a surprisingly bountiful amount of body roll on hand when you push through corners, and you have to feed the nose of the car towards an apex rather than flicking it in, but the payoff is a remarkably pliant ride over bad roads.

It's certainly far more comfortable to be in than in its nearest sibling, the CLS 63AMG, and the E 63 feels like the kind of car in which you could cross a continent and spring from the driver's seat like a babe from its cradle.

True, there's so much fury under the bonnet of the E 63 that you half expect hot lava to spew forth from its tailpipes whenever you bury the throttle, but it would be wrong to think of the Mercedes as a sort of Lambo-rivalling sedan.

Drive the E 63 AMG, in other words, and you marvel not about how such a fast car manages to be so hospitable, but about how they've managed things so well the other way round.

NEED TO KNOW

Model Mercedes-Benz E 63 AMG
Engine Type 6,208cc, 32V V8
Max Power 514bhp at 6,800rpm
Max Torque 630Nm from 3,500 to 4,000rpm
Gearbox 7-speed automatic
Top speed 250km/h (electronically limited)
0-100km/h 4.5 seconds
Price TBA
Warranty 3 years/100,00km
Contact Cycle & Carriage Industries
Telephone 6298 1818