|
By EWAN KENNEDY
15 March 2010
These
days even those who crave high-performance engines under the
bonnets of their cars want to do their bit towards minimising
emissions and cutting fuel use. This social responsibility takes
two paths: the owner of the car wants to do the right thing, and
just as importantly they want to be seen to be socially
responsible.
AMG, the high-performance arm of Mercedes-Benz is a master at
producing efficient powerplants. Now it has just taken and
important new step forward in engine design, producing a unit
that's 20 to 25 per cent cleaner than the one it replaces, yet
which produces significantly more power and torque.
We have just spent half a day at the AMG technical design centre
near Stuttgart. There we spoke to engineers, technicians and
engine builders about their latest V8. With the internal code name
of M157, the new engine will eventually replace the 6.2-litre V8
powerplant we have driven and enjoyed in various models, such as
the AMG C63, and most recently the new-generation AMG E63.
Confusingly, this engine has never had a capacity of 6.3 litres as
suggested by its title, it has always been a 6.2-litre unit. Even
more confusingly, the new M157 V8 displaces 5.5 litres, yet is
still tagged as a 6.3.
This engine is a totally new design and features very-high
pressure direct injection and twin turbochargers. In its normal
format it will produce a most impressive 420 kW, 544 horsepower,
and an amazing 800 Newton metres.
If the power and torque outputs are impressive, the fuel
consumption is even more laudable. The engine has been officially
measured at just 10.5 litres per hundred kilometres using the
official Australian standard on the ‘combined’ cycle. There
are six-cylinder engines that struggle to have consumption as low
as that.
The work isn't only being done by the engine. AMG's new
seven-speed automatic transmission, already seen in a few
Australian imports of AMGs, also plays a major part. It uses twin
wet-plate clutches at the front of the gears instead of a power
robbing torque convertor. We have sampled this transmission in
older models and found it slightly harsh in its action, but the
AMG engineers say they have now tamed this unit. We certainly look
forward to carrying out road tests with the new drivetrain.
Interestingly, Mercedes Australia won't wait for an all-new model
to introduce the twin-turbo V8 to this country. Instead we will
see it here in the facelifted version of the AMG 63 CL-Class in
late this year. This time around the car will be called an S-Class
coupe, not a CL-Class in the interests of simplifying the somewhat
complex nature of the company's naming policy.
We paid a visit to the AMG assembly room and loved the fact that
every engine is hand built, with one man being responsible for a
complete engine, then finishes it off by adding a build plate with
his (there are no hers at this stage) signature on it. This is a
nice old fashioned touch in this age of mass production and just
the sort of thing that will be appreciated by the person to whom
money is no object in their relentless search for perfection.
© Copyright
Marque Publishing Company
|
|
