Seats could use more lateral support, steering-wheel spokes are too thick.

 Seats could use more lateral support, steering-wheel spokes are too thick.

Surprisingly, the steering-assist mech­anism is identical to that of the E430, and it remains light at most speeds. So light that the mechanism in a BMW 328i feels leaden in comparison. But it directs the E55 with such accuracy and fluency that more weight at the rim doesn't seem nec­essary. In fact, when you add the car's tenacious grip (0.88 g on the skidpad) and tightly tied-down body motions to the razor-sharp helm, the E55 can take on almost anything in the corners. But be warned, the driver will likely need some recalibration; the car's abundantly stiff structure and good isolation lead one to underestimate corner entry speeds. On the introductory ride-and-drive in Napa, California, a couple of drivers from other publications went off the road, and we suspect that those incidents were partly due to the decep­tive ease with which this car gathers speed.

What shouldn't go unno­ticed in the E55 (and this is particularly seductive) is the push in the back you get when you pin the throttle. The torque is so prodigious (41 pound­-feet more than a Corvette's), and the torque curve so flat, that the E55 pulls hard all the way through each gear, pro­ducing a concerted thrust like that of a 757 on a takeoff run. It just keeps on coming.

Aerodynamic drag beyond triple-digit speeds does little to blunt its charge, and our E55 was still accelerating when it hit an electronic limiter at 158 mph. Hard enough to suggest a real top speed somewhere around 180 mph. Still, 158 ought to be enough for most people, and at that speed the E55 tracks as straight as a die.

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At more reasonable rates of travel, the E55 assumes its more civilized persona, providing a smooth, quiet ride that will take its occupants on interstate travel with little discomfort. This is perhaps the car's most noteworthy aspect. When not being flogged hard, it behaves more like a limo than a supercar. In fact, the transmission's computer reads driver inputs and adjusts its activities accordingly.

The compromises you accept for this broad operating bandwidth are few. A sus­pension designed for high speeds and mas­sive cornering potential can't be expected to traverse broken surfaces without trans­mitting some impact shock and movement into the car. On the other end of the scale, the factory-issue seats (available in all­-black leather or in two-tone combinations of black and blue and black and silver) are firm and supportive enough for a cross­-continent tour, but they lack the wrap­around support of dedicated sport seats. We also found the leather-wrapped wheel (also available in solid or two-tone hues) to have a rather obstructive arrangement of spokes and thumb pads, leaving too little rim available for those of us with large hands. Understand, please, that this is deliberate picking of the smallest nits.

For most people's needs, the mix of sporting and luxury attributes is right on the money. As the two companies involved in the E55's genesis have drawn closer (AMG is being acquired by Daimler-­Chrysler), so the levels of sophistication have increased. Thus, the E55 retains all the elaborate technical aspects of the V-8-powered E-class cars: the stability- and traction-control systems; the twin-plug cylinder heads; the variable-volume intake tract; the oil-quality monitor-in short, all the assets of a factory-backed product.