Flooring an S55 on an open stretch of highway is about as close as you’ll ever get to driving a bullet train.

The AMG-fettled German luxobarge pauses for a fraction of a second, waiting for the gearbox to kickdown and the super-charger to spool up, then lunges down to road in a single seamless rush of violently relentless urge.

Yes sir, this sucker is fast. Anyone who doubts that an unrestricted S55 could keep up with most land-based forms of transportation hasn’t watched the 55’s speedo arc gracefully past 140 mph and just keep on going.

Four hundred and ninety-three horses and 516ft-lbs of torque will do that to a car—even when the car in question weighs 4300lbs. The big Merc’s 5.5-liter V8 generates enough grunt to overcome the mass, and put the four-wheeled leviathan on a par with a Porsche 911. (Both sprint from zero to 60 in 4.6 seconds.)

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