2025 Mercedes-AMG E53 Review | 605 HP Plug-In Hybrid Luxury Super Sedan
getting groceries, going to work, and this has it all. Plus, you can feel like you’re in a disco. Oh. Whoa. Holy smokes. Holy. Not only do the seat belts completely cinch up, but the red lighting that goes and blinks and you feel like you are playing a video game going into hyperspace, but you’re getting this is a true 4D experience. Oh man. 0 to 60 in just about 3 and 1/2 seconds. We have 64 horsepower going to all four wheels here. Uh, this has a gas engine and it has a plug. And this could be one of my favorite Mercedes-Benz products. It is this red beauty here. This is the new top dog in the E-Class. It is the brand new Mercedes-Benz AMG E53. And there is a lot going on here. So, let’s not waste any time. Let’s get to it. So, what’s powering this 600 plus horsepower vehicle? Well, under the hood, you have one of my favorite uh type of engines, and that is an inline 6. It produces a lot of good torque. Yeah, it’s not a beautiful V8 uh engine, which I love. And that AMG sound is is so sweet. But it definitely does have a nice tone to it and it just pulls so well when you match that as well with a 120 kW electric motor and that is up front by the transmission and you get a total of 577 horsepower from this E53. Now if you get the dynamic plus package, you get an extra boost which gives you 604 horsepower and that’s what we have right here. Now, you’ll hear the shifts, up and down shifting, and that’s coming from the N-speed automatic transmission. Very crisp shifts. If you want to row your own gears, we do have paddle shifters right there. Just like that. Sounds so good, right? All right, let’s do a little cornering action here. Oh, this thing is fun, especially in the corners. So, we have adaptive suspension on this E53 as well. We have it in sport uh mode right now. You can go all the way to sport plus with this. There’s also some AMG track screens through the infotainment right here, but everything is accessible through the dials on the steering wheel. We’re going to talk about the steering wheel in just a second. The electrical portion of this E53 consists, of course, of that electric motor that we talked about on the transmission, but also a lightweight 28.6 6 kWh battery and that is in the rear underneath uh there. And the nice thing about that is that it’s not all 28.6 dedicated just for EV driving. You’re basically looking around 22 kwatt hours of uh EV driving on that. Uh the rest is reserved for performance driving. So it’s always has that reserve. If I put my foot down. Okay. Not only do you get all that rush of that gasoline um twin turbo engine, but you also get the torque and the extra horsepower from the electrical system as well. And the nice thing once again is on these dials here. If I just turn these dials, I can just turn it right to electric. And now with a flick of a switch, listen, it’s silent because we’re in electric mode. And this is really beneficial because not all the time do you really want or need to burn gas. If you’re doing your daily commute on the freeway, there’s traffic happening and it’s just like it’s literally a waste of running that, you know, that gasoline engine. You can switch to EV mode only and it’s just that easy. Why not? You do get some decent range with this E53. Uh it’s rated for about 69 km. However, in our real world testing, basically we’re on day five of driving this now. I am seriously getting anywhere between 70 and 80 km on it. And I’m not pussy-footing it. I’m just driving it normally. Uh, and that’s great. And a lot of it’s actually being on highway uh at speeds of between 110 and 120 km an hour. That’s like 70 mph. So, yeah, no issue at all. By the way, you could also drive this as as fast as 140 km an hour on the freeway or wherever you are without that gasoline engine kicking on at all. Which means that hey, if your commute is, let’s say, less than 50 mi or 80 km a day, you could essentially drive this as an EV. And then, hey, on the weekends or once you get on the back roads where you want to have some fun, you flick that over, turn the radio off, flick that over, go into your sport or sport plus mode. It stiffens the suspension up. It changes the all the the parameters of the the mapping and and you could have a lot more fun. Now, brakewise on here, I definitely noticed, especially when you’re in EV mode, I I guess because it has some regen characteristics, the brakes are a little bit on the really sensitive and touchy spongy side. But once we get out of that EV mode, uh we are putting them to work right now. They have some nice good progression. They’re They’re not overly boosted that I find like when you’re on EV mode. So, let’s just go deeper into a quarter here. Yeah, you got to put your foot into it, which I like. I really do like that. It gives you a really good brake feel. But man, the mid to high-end range of this thing is awesome. It’s no V8, but it’ll do. And even though this is an AMG product, this E53’s engine though is not handbuilt in Germany at Alfaltobach, which is the AMG factory. Uh, but it still is an AMG. Okay, let’s try the passing power here. It’s effortless. I love the pop when it changes the gears. I would actually be very happy with this as a daily driver. And that is one of the reasons why I think this excels so much in my books because yeah, everybody wants a a car that’s got a ton of horsepower. It’s raw. It’s emotional. But it’s not something that you actually get to do every day to drive a car like that. A lot of times you’re just driving dayto-day and picking up the kids, getting groceries, going to work. And this has it all. Now, not long ago, we actually tested the brand new BMW M5. And man, that is a machine as well. You know, they they are two different machines. Even though they’re in the same category, which is kind of like a super sport sedan. That one though has a little bit more power. You can get over 700 horsepower on that M5. And it’s also a plugin. and it has that great BMW dynamic drive as well. However, you won’t get as much EV range out of that. That system is a different type of system. Uh, and the battery is not as big. This one just seems like it it does everything without any compromise. It really you get the best of both worlds for sure. Of course, if you lived in Germany or somewhere where there are no speed limits or areas with no speed limits, uh you would feel very comfortable driving at high speeds on here. You have nice head-up display. You’ll take your eyes off anywhere. And once again, if you want to change anything, everything is right here on the dials, right easily at hand. And just be like, wait, this is the go-kart. It’s a big long go-kart. It’s a go-kart that has massaging seats and you feel like you can be in a disco at nighttime here. But the fun doesn’t just stop at the drive of this E53. Let’s talk about the inside. And I got to tell you, it is something else. All right, we are at a charging station. I’m going to put some juice into here just to see what it’s like. to say one thing is that this E53 has a lot of gadgets and gimmicks. But for the most part, these gimmicks actually work pretty well and they they do have a purpose. Uh so before we get to the gimmicks, let’s talk about what’s in front of us. A big massive screen. We saw like this hypers screen in the first EQS when we first drove that. Well, this is like a mega screen. It’s very very similar. Um, this is an option, by the way. But be aware though, if you do go for this option, which gives you this passenger screen, you get all this piano gloss black and it looks good when it’s clean, but it really will show fingerprints. Like my hands, I washed my hands not too long ago, yet if I touch the screen, I can still see where my fingers fingerprints were. Like, it’s it’s really really evident. So, just be aware of that. Just make sure you carry a cloth at all times to wipe your screen down. Uh we get a wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. That passenger screen can basically double of what this the main screen does. So, you know, the passenger can control the media. Uh even some of the navigation features. Um and you can you even change the picture what you have there. Camera. Love the camera in this thing. So, you get a 360 camera. But not only that, I just love how when you activate the camera, okay, we have this big huge wide view, but if I go and kind of zoom in on the side and you can really really rotate and tilt this camera and it’s so crisp and it superimposes itself. I absolutely love this thing. Uh you can also get a dash camera and here comes gimmick number one is right up front here. There is an interior camera. This camera is meant to do selfies when you’re not driving. I don’t know how many people are going to use that camera. So, yeah. Is it kind of cool? Yeah. But this thing’s embedded right in and I don’t know. It’s uh Yeah. I don’t think a lot of people may use up. I may be wrong. I’m I’m kind of old now. Uh okay. Uh that’s number one. Next thing we have our climate control here. Now, if I hit my climate control menu, because it’s all done through the screen here, I have digital vent control. Yes, I can actually go and go and let’s say upper body, and you can see the vents physically move up, down, left, and right. Pretty cool, right? Once again, it’s a gimmick. Do we need it? No. Is it cool? Yes. And but the good thing about it is that some of these things even though they exist, they do have redundant control because if I don’t want to use a digital vent control, I can still manually go and control it how I’ve done it for the last 40 plus years. Okay, so that’s really really easy. Same thing goes to this is equipped with uh soft closed doors. If I want to open it, if I just close it gently, it will suck itself. That’s an option. But if something went wrong, I can still do it manually. That’s always a big plus as well. Uh then we get to the ambient lighting here is absolutely next level. Sure, we’ve seen ambient lighting on door panels and you know in the front area and in your footwells, but this one, first of all, I’ve noticed this, you know, the these OLEDs now, I think that that’s what they are. They’re so bright that even in the daytime, you can easily uh see them. But this one, it extends all the way in the front, not only by the air vents, but deep into the windshield area. And you can have multiolor. Basically link it with different drive modes. But where it can be really kind of cool though is if we go into our menu and we go into our comfort, we have energizing comfort. We also have a fragrance pod in the glove box that can infuse the air uh if you like that. I’m not a big fan of big fragrances, but it is there. We also have on this one, it is an option though is we have the massaging seats, we have heating, we have ventilation. So, when you’re sitting in here, you can go and let’s just say, you know, joy and relaxation and sunlight lift your mood. If I hit that, it’s going to basically play a program and it’s going to incorporate, you know, massage, heating, uh, music for your for your audio senses as well as, you know, even the fragrance and the lighting. So, it really is a full sensory experience. If you do want to charge up your battery on this E53, it actually has one quick trick up its sleeve. Why I say quick? Because it has DC fast charging up to 60 kW. Now, normally I don’t see the point of level three charging a PHEV because you could just use gas. But, you know, certain times if it’s convenient and it’s cost effective, why not? One thing, and this has nothing to do with Mercedes-Benz, this has to do with British Columbia and Ontario that require a front license plate. Look at this beautiful car. And what sticks out to you? Yeah, this license plate. Gh, terrible. Absolutely terrible. I wish you could even just like, you know, pay pay us a fee or something like that just to do a front license plate delete. If you’re looking for the perfect balance between power, presence, and practicality, well, hey, look no further. This could be one of the best midsize sports sedans that you can buy. And you know what? As we mentioned, we tested that M5 earlier on and let me know your thoughts. Which one would you choose? They are two different vehicles, similar horsepower, similar performance, but definitely different technology, a different execution, and the E53 does come in at a lower starting point. So, it’s kind of interesting which one would you choose? Don’t forget to like and subscribe for more everyday reviews. Ciao. Heat. Heat.
The all-new 2025 Mercedes-Benz AMG E53 is here, and it’s redefining what a performance luxury sedan can be. Under the hood, it pairs a potent biturbo inline-6 engine with a plug-in hybrid system, delivering up to 605 horsepower while still offering real-world EV-only driving of up to 50 miles (80 km) in our testing.
This AMG doesn’t just flex on power—it’s packed with adaptive suspension for precision handling, a sound system that thrills, and next-level technology, including exterior and interior cameras, plus an ambient lighting system so wild it could make nightclubs jealous.
How does it stack up against the competition? The BMW M5 is very similar on paper, but falls short with a higher price tag and a lower EV range, making the AMG E53 an even more compelling option.
If you’re shopping for a luxury performance sedan that blends brute force, electrification, and futuristic tech, the 2025 AMG E53 might be the sweet spot.
👉 What do you think—would you choose the AMG E53 over the BMW M5? Let us know in the comments!
