Good, Better, Benz

Was privileged recently to drive the above Mercedes Benz E63 AMG up the coast to Monterey to play a round of golf at fabled Cypress Point, which ought to have been the high point of the trip, hallowed ground that it is. But as they say of journeys and destinations, the getting there was certainly more fun than hacking perfectly good balls into the Pacific on the fearsome 16th hole. Hugging the shoreline on Highway 1 through Big Sur was a thrill akin to riding Secretariat past the wire at Churchill Downs. This is not a car, it's a growling, road-eating beast that made me the temporary envy of car-fiends from Camarillo to Carmel.

The 6.3 liter, all-aluminum V-8 engine could take you up to 155 mph without a tremor, generating some 500-plus horsepower yet remaining church-quiet in the ultra-luxe interior. This sedan gets up to 60 mph in a hair-raising 4.2 seconds, which out accelerates a Porsche by a whisker. Don't dare tap your right foot to the radio -- the merest toe twitch flies you by the other pikers in their Audis and Bimmers.

Gas mileage is going to come in second to performance, naturally, as the E63 only gets around 11 miles in the city, 17 highway. But if you can afford this level of luxury to begin with, what's fuel got to do, got to do with it? P.S., the swankest of the soccer moms needn't feel left behind -- the E63 also comes in a wagon with all-wheel drive and beaucoup cargo space. The consuming of ice-cream cones, however, ought to be ganz verboten, as they say in Deutschland. As for me, I'm back in my Lexus suffering the cold sweat and shivers of withdrawal. Pity me.