Driving the Ultra-Rare Mercedes-Benz R 63 AMG, a 503-HP, V8-Powered Anomaly

• This low-mileage 2007 R 63 AMG belongs to the Mercedes-Benz Classic Center.
• I got to drive it from Monterey to Big Sur ahead of this year's Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance.
• The R 63 was absurd when it was new, and its strange charm is as compelling as ever today.

The M156 is a stonkin' beast of an engine — and also the one Mercedes used to insist was a 6.3-liter, even though it only displaced 6.2 liters, or 6,208 cc, if you want to get technical. In the R 63 AMG, this engine makes 503 horsepower and 465 lb-ft of torque, enough to propel this 5,100-pound pig to 60 mph in 4.6 seconds. Power runs through a very smooth (and very lazy) seven-speed automatic transmission, and the R 63 is one of the only AMG models of its day to use all-wheel drive.

It's quick, don't get me wrong, but what's even more impressive is how eagerly this thing shoots from 40 to 80 mph on a freeway on-ramp. The sound it makes is killer, too, exiting through meaty exhaust pipes. Every time you dig into the throttle, you just keep thinking, "What the actual heck is an engine like this doing in an R-Class?" But then you're doing well above the speed limit, you're giggling and you don't care.

Handles like ... well, like you'd expect

The R 63 AMG is long, tall and heavy, and despite an air suspension that does a pretty good job trying to balance the R-Class' size and the laws of physics, this thing doesn't exactly love being tossed into a corner. Nimble it is not, though I suppose, given its six-passenger seating arrangement and focus on luxurious accommodations above all, the R 63's preference for long-distance highway domination makes sense. Big brakes hide behind classically styled 20-inch five-spoke wheels and bring the big R-Class to a stop without much drama.

Want proof that Mercedes-Benz — and the auto industry as a whole — has come a long way in making genuinely great-driving performance crossovers? Drive an R 63 AMG back to back with a new GLS 63. The difference is staggering. It's a whole new world.

Oh, that interior

I don't know why it's so hard for me to comprehend that 2007 was 17 years ago. But 10 minutes inside the R 63 AMG and, oh yeah, now I remember. There's a huge un-learning drop-off when it comes to the technology in this car. You can't connect a phone via Bluetooth. The navigation data comes from a CD and entering an address takes, like, an hour. All the active safety tech you don't even think about these days hasn't been invented yet. Scream, "Hey, Mercedes" all you want; there's no active AI assistant to help you.

On the other hand, wow, is this thing nice. This specific R 63 has about 30,000 miles on its clock, yet the interior shows no major signs of wear and tear. And like any good two-decade-old German car, the whole thing smells like crayons. There are no rattles. No fading trim bits. OK, yes, one of the rear window toggles broke off when I was playing with it, but I snapped it back into place. No harm, no foul.

A minivan like no other

A traditional minivan the R-Class is not, in the sense that it doesn't have sliding rear doors. But come on. Two captain's chairs in the second row, easy access to the third, a million cupholders and that shape ... it's a van doing crossover cosplay.

And you know, in most car enthusiast circles, "minivan" isn't a bad word anymore. These once-lame people-transporters have come back around to being rad again. And what's radder than a small-batch minivan with one of the world's greatest V8 engines under its hood? We'll never see anything like the R 63 AMG ever again.

Photos by Michael Shaffer