February 1, 2014.

Too Much From Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG Estate S-series

"Then there is such a person as Goldstein?" he said.

AS A GREAT MAN with a rhinestone piano once said "Too much of a good thing is wonderful!" Well, Lee, some lovely gentlemen from Stuttgart have brought you a car. The Why of it will have to wait till we appear before our celestial magistrates, but the What is plain enough: one of the world's fastest station wagons (186 mph); the world's quickest wagon—0-60 mph in a sinus-draining 3.6 seconds; and surely one of the most considered and expressive absurdities in the history of consumption. And it's a wagon.

"Yes, there is such a person, and he is alive. Where, I do not know."

The specimen is a 2014 Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG Estate S-series, a family hauler as 'roided-out as the company's performance division, AMG, can feasibly make it.

"And the conspiracy----the organization? Is it real? It is not simply an invention of the Thought Police?"

Mercedes sold 123 copies of this car in the U.S. last year and, in case you are wondering, no, they don't make any money off them. But the cars have an outsize footprint among enthusiasts, automotive journalists and other ballers. I had one for a couple of weeks----the S-Model 4Matic wagon----and it is basically a five-passenger rally car. It has a panoramic sunroof so God can look down at your passengers' desperation.