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CITY ISLAND, NY (CNN/Money) -
On the way to work one morning a fellow in a Lexus SUV pulled up on my right using an empty bus stop as his personal passing lane, figuring he'd dust the guy in the Mercedes station wagon when the light turned green.
To make it even more annoying he started edging out around me long before the opposing light even went to yellow.
I tried to take a Zen-like approach to this behavior. After all, what is it to me if this man -- this poor little man with so little of real value in his life that the scant moments he would add to his workday are so important to him -- wants to push his way around me? I could rein in the 469 horses under my hood, allowing him this little pleasure:
screeEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! VROOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
Get back in line, punk.
For more photos and details of the Mercedes-Benz E55 AMG wagon, click here.
For detailed specs, options and prices, click here.
With acceleration that's about a half-second quicker to sixty than a Mustang GT, the handling of a great European sports sedan and comfortable seating for four (you can squeeze in up to seven in a pinch, if you get the optional third-row seats), you might expect this kind of wagoneering experience to cost a lot of money. Well, you're right.
With a $1,700 gas guzzler tax and $720 destination charge, prices for the E55 AMG station wagon start at about $86,000. The car I was driving, with options like the $3,390 "Premium Package" that included "Driving Dynamic" front seats, cost $90,550.
Adding greatly to this car's cool is that, at first glance, it doesn't look like it's capable of doing the things it does. It's a little lower to the ground than a regular Mercedes E-class wagon with low-profile performance tires. Its supercharged V8 engine has a bit deeper rumble than you usually hear coming from under the hood of a station wagon. It also has the word "Kompressor" near the front wheel wells and the letters AMG stamped in various places, including on the four chrome exhaust tips.
But to casual viewers, those not clued into such things, it's a nice looking Mercedes-Benz station wagon. To those who know, the E55 AMG is just about the coolest ride imaginable. Well, it is to me, at any rate. Thanks in part to DaimlerChrysler's own Dodge Magnum, wagons are getting to be, not just popular again, but actually sort of a hot item.
The extra space allows one to take the car on a weekend outing with kids and luggage, making it into something more than the standard trek.
My only complaints about the E55 were that the power steering was rather too helpful, particularly at low speeds, and the back tires spun in place perhaps a bit too easily as well. I suspect some grippier tires might help.
Now, you might think that someone who could free up $90,000 for a sporty car could probably afford to buy their practicality separately. Why weigh down your fun with all that extra glass in the back? You could just buy a regular old wagon to wagon things in and a sports car to sport with.
As for me, I find something strangely appealing about "covert performance machines," cars that are way more fun to drive than they look. The goofy illogic of something like a station wagon clawing the asphalt the way this thing does adds mightily to the entertainment factor. In tight turns, it does give up something to the ordinary laws of physics, but not nearly enough to take the smile off my face. The E55 is, possibly, the ultimate example of a CPM.
Eyeing the long loop of an empty on-ramp, I punched it. With a slight chirp from the back wheels the car rocketed forwarded, pushing me back into the seat like a bar bouncer with his hand against my chest. With a turn approaching, I eased off the gas a little going in, then pushed back down as I went through.
The seat's side bolsters, connected to a sensor that gauged the increasing cornering forces, pressed in against my right side as I swung the car through the fast left-hand curve. As the road straightened out, the "Driving Dynamic" seat loosened its grip until the next turn came.
In case you've forgotten, yes, you are still reading about a station wagon. For a while there, I forgot I was driving one.
For more photos and details of the Mercedes-Benz E55 AMG wagon, click here.
For detailed specs, options and prices, click here.
For more autos news and reviews, click here.
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