Prices have landed for the Mercedes-AMG E63. And, unsurprisingly, they are rather exorbitant. The standard car starts at £78,935, while the more powerful S (with its trick diff’ that gives Drift Mode) is £88,295. The Edition 1, meanwhile, which gets special wheels, paint, trim and a few other bits and pieces, is a startling £106,585. Yikes.

And of course there are many options. Ceramic brakes are £6,995 (RM38,911), the sports exhaust (a must-have) is £1,000 (RM5,560) and the carbon-fibre package another £3,370 (RM18,743). The AMG Night Package adds black exterior detailing for £595, while the £2,595 Premium Package (RM14,433) gives a panoramic sunroof, keyless-go, a fancy Burmester stereo and Merc’s deeply clever Multibeam LED headlights. And that’s not all.

The S is the one you want and yes, £90k (RM500,575)feels like quite a lot of money (the AMG GT starts at £98k, for context or RM545,070, without tax of course), but just think about what you’re getting. An executive saloon with upwards of 600bhp, a 0-100kph time that embarrasses anything short of a 911 Turbo and much V8 noise. In sheer performance terms, it’s actually quite good value.

We’d hold out for the Estate, though, which will probably be a few grand extra. Whichever way you look at it, it’ll be more than the £87,720 RS6 Performance. But lovely though the RS6 is, it’s an old car now. And if AMG’s claims are to be believed, slower than the Merc. We can’t wait to get the two of them together.