a sober Mercedes sedan

久しぶりにクルマのインプレ，いっちゃおうか。NYT(New York Times）のcar testです。小山本君，太字の箇所をどうぞ。あっそれから写真の見出しも忘れないように。日本では１，７００万円くらいかな。君だったら（先生に），ポーンとプレゼントしてくれるよね。（UG）
　　　　　　　　
TESTED 2010 Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG
WHAT IS IT? A teenage daydream disguised as a sober Mercedes sedan.
HOW MUCH? Base price $88,325; $101,195 as tested, including $1,750 Night View Assist, $1,070 Panorama sunroof, $4,900 premium package, $2,900 driver assistance package (adaptive cruise control, automatic pre-collision braking, lane and blind-spot monitors).
WHAT MAKES IT RUN? A hand-assembled 518-horsepower V-8 that probably costs more than some new cars; 7-speed paddle-shifted automatic transmission.
IS IT THIRSTY? The E63 returned 9.5 m.p.g. when driven hard, but saying that the Benz burns $1 in gas every three or four miles seems much scarier.
ALTERNATIVES Audi S6, BMW M5, Cadillac CTS-V, Jaguar XFR.
IF the E63 AMG sounds expensive — and it is, with as-delivered prices topping $100,000 — think about what it costs Mercedes-Benz.
This 518-horsepower supersedan is exactly the kind of charming reprobate that has saddled Mercedes with nearly $300 million in federal fines since 1985 for not achieving federal fuel economy (CAFE) standards. E63 buyers also get smacked with a $1,700 gas-guzzler tax.
Yet with the feds raising the fuel-economy bar to roughly 35 miles per gallon by 2016, the practice of buying federal indulgences for the sins of excessive consumption — a sort of cap-and-trade for cars — may be ending. Mercedes, the chief offender, is among the luxury automakers that have vowed to mend their ways; its 2008 fine of $6.8 million was down sharply from a record $30.3 million for 2006.
As with buyers of other speed-centric brands, fans of the brand’s AMG performance division will need to wrap their brains around scaled-down en-gines and new technologies, from hybrids to a coming electric version of the fanciful SLS AMG gullwing sports car.
But that’s for tomorrow. For today’s speed eaters, the E63 AMG feels like a two-ton burrito in habanero sauce: driving it is akin to the last gas-spewing binge before the diet begins.
The party starts with a hand-built, 6.2-liter V-8 and 7-speed MCT transmission. This terrific transmission replaces a conventional torque converter with a wet clutch pack. The transmission features four shift modes from “comfort” to a computerized “race start” program that catapults the Mercedes from a stop to 60 m.p.h. in 4.3 seconds. Pay an extra $8,950 for the sport package (which includes a firmer suspension, larger wheels and a limited-slip differential) and Mercedes generously raises the electronically limited top speed to 186 m.p.h., from 155.
So the Mercedes is fast. But what’s different about the latest E63 is how electrifying it is to drive. Tired of fiddling behind the BMW M5 —and recently, the 556-horsepower Cadillac CTS-V sedan — Mercedes took its recently redesigned E-Class sedan and turned it into an M5 fighter with the heart (and lungs) of a hooligan.
Almost nothing seems left from the donor car: the front axle is 2 inches wider, permitting wider tires and a surer grip up front. The steering rack is hydraulic, and 20 percent quicker than on the standard E with its electrically assisted steering. The suspension is literally twice as stiff. The brakes are the usual AMG fare, meaning they are strong enough to stop a convoy of runaway Toyotas.
The result is the most well-rounded AMG model yet, including rarities like the insanely priced ($300,000) SL65 Black Series. Even Mercedes’s notoriously constricting stability control has been set free; a competition mode allows extreme levels of tire-burning and drifting before it intervenes, and the system can be shut off entirely.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/29/automobiles/autoreviews/29BLOCK.html?_r=1&hp