My AMG S63

This post is about the path we took and the methodology we leveraged to buy our dream car. The S63 Coupe isn't mentioned here, because we didn't know it existed yet, and this post is about how it all started.

With one exception, up to that point in May or June of 2016 where this journey starts, I always went with practical cars that served a purpose. An ugly but comfortable crossover FX. A practical SUV. A nice 4 door family car. A Lexus SUV. Unexciting at the best of times and self-inflicted, which the dictionary defines as "inflicted by oneself upon oneself".

When I broke my back in a sporting accident, and I was no longer able to ride my Ducati, we first got me a Nissan 350Z. It was a 'feel good' purchase to get my morale up in something that looked sporty and fun. It was very nice in summer, despite being a pretty rough noisy ride, with bare bones tech, and what felt like wooden seats, but then came fall with cold temperatures and rain, and we were deeply disappointed with how poorly the Nissan handled in the wet Pacific Northwest. Forget about freezing rain, or snow, or a bit of ice... We ended up renting a car for me to drive in winter. Sigh. Still, it planted a love of coupes in my mind... Just not one with paper-only performance. A lesson learned.

From that point on (due to my busted back) the decision to buy a car focused on the car's seat. Was it comfortable? Was it going to increase or maintain my level of back pain. How a car looked or performed made no difference at that point. It was just a tool to get me to work and back. And that's how we decided to buy my Lexus SUV.

I had to adapt my driving style to the big, underpowered, and less than stable SUV. More than once it attempted to assassinate me while taking a turn at grandma speeds on wet roads. Given that, we never had any emotional attachment to the machine that took us from point A to point B. No nice feelings, anyway.

So fast forward to Spring and a massive change in how we looked at cars. What if a car became a gateway to adventure? What if a car was more that a tool to get me to work and us to other places? What if a car was something so special that it actually became a life changer? With that in mind we started the search.

I always loved Range Rovers. As a young Army officer it was my dream car. But now, older if not much wiser, I realized that in over 20 years of riding motorcycles, I always opted for the fastest and biggest ones we could afford. From the Ninja 7R to the Suzuki 1300 GXSR to my final Ducati. I realized that I wanted something far more interesting than a Range Rover, and I also had my initial requirement--it had to be fast.

With that in mind and after a week of research, we visited the local Jaguar dealership and looked at the handsome and very powerful Jaguar F Type R. It had an awesome look that didn't disappoint in person.

While it was externally beautiful and had a powerful 550 horsepower engine--the interior was quite disappointing. It was a fairly claustrophobic cockpit, the tech wasn't very impressive, and the seat was less comfortable than the Lexus. In fact, it was pretty hard, but it looked really nice. So despite that, which is pure stupidity on my part, I still thought about getting it, but in the SVR edition, when my wiser far better half gave me insight into what I really wanted. Speed for sure. But also high tech and something that went beyond comfortable. The word used was luxury. I initially bulked at it but when I gave it serious thought, I realized that she was clearly right. I love to listen to high quality music, to have the latest gadgets, and I didn't like noisy cars. I also didn't appreciate bumpy rides. Alas, in my advanced years, I developed an appreciation for tasteful and functional luxury.

Why not look at Mercedes suggested my better half?

I looked at the bigger Jaguar that had 4 doors, BMW 6 and 7 series, and various Maseratis-- researched their specs and capabilities, but none motivated me to go test drive one. I spent a lot of time looking at Porsche as they are very popular at work, but I just wasn't seeing what others must see in that brand. It's a racing work of art, but I'm not a race driver and I wanted AWD. I saw lots of beautiful cars but wasn't able to fall in love in the end-to-end story despite some very handsome designs and powerful engines.

I watched a bunch of YouTube videos and read articles and reviews. I saw the good in each vehicle, but also the trade-offs and negatives. I couldn't get really excited about any of them. I started thinking about the Type R again, when I finally started looking at Mercedes-Benz.

I decided to approach it in the same manner we design software. It became a project that ended up taking over two months to define and research. I had to have clear goals and prioritized requirements. For context, goals are higher level and thus easier to define; requirements are specific and actionable. Here are the ones I used for this project:

P0: Must have. I will pass on any car that can't fulfill this requirement
P1: Really want to have. If at all possible I will fulfill this requirement. Not a deal breaker
P2: Nice to have but will live without fulfilling this and not regret missing it later.

Every detail had to be researched and reasoned out. Every data point verified and fully considered. More than once. No ' feel good' stuff. Lots of 'what if' questions to validate the correct priorities were critical. Get this wrong and the project will fail. Finally, the car had to be special enough to fall in love with. In essentials the rational analysis had to produce an emotional reaction. I blindly hit upon a core design principle here but more on that later.

Goals:

Strong fast car that I can drive year round
High tech and comfortable to the point of being luxurious
Beautiful design but somewhat understated and not flashy
Keep me intrigued and engaged for 5-6 years

Initial Requirements:

P0: A coupe (later refined to 2 door coupe)
P0: V8 engine with +400 HP
P0: AWD for year long driving in wet and cold Washington state
P0: Great sound system that'll work with all current media types
P0: Performance had to translate from paper to reality--all components had to work together to achieve high end-to-end performance on dry or wet roads; in summer and in winter.
P0: Reliable brand that I could trust 100%
P0: The most comfortable heated seat I've ever sat on (means sit on it for 30 min and monitor pain)
P0: The usual cadre of technology (navigation, voice recognition, automatic lights / wipers)
P0: Could accelerate from 0 to 60 in less than 5 seconds on dry or wet road
P0: Keyless entry and start
P0: Stunning good looks
P1: 19" or 20" wheels with big fat rear tires
P1: Heated steering wheel
P1: Ability to start remotely
P1: Usable back seats and trunk
P1: Could accelerate from 0 to 60 in less than 4.5 seconds on dry or wet road
P1: I could drive it for more than 4 hours without getting tired and/or limping after getting out of the car
P1: Adaptive high beam
P2: Remote door lock and unlock
P2: Capable of semi autonomous drive
P2: Air filtration that helps with allergies and stinky diesel engines
P2: Range of more than 260 miles with a single tank of fuel
P2: Night vision
P2: Head Up Display

So with that I went back to the original set of cars and spent a lot of time on the Mercedes site looking at all the different cars and coupes. It was here that I discovered the concept of the 4 door coupe in the CLS. It was the very first car that hit almost everything I wanted and had some options I didn't know I wanted. Even in grey it is a very handsome car.

And then I found the S Class Coupe.

The S550 4MATIC Coupe to be precise. I loved the way it looked! It had good looks and it was somewhat understated. The design was great and not flashy!

But the bigger surprise was the interior. The interior was so outstanding it seemed alien, and not very real.

I knew I wanted to sit in this car! I wanted to experience being in this car! I wanted to take the S550 Coupe for a test drive. I continued reading more, watching videos, and we decided to go to the MB dealership and see it in person.