AMG Indulgence

MANILA, Philippines - I mean, why settle for tapa, tocino or longganisa when you can have an authentic German banger with extra rice to start your day off? Welcome to the AMG power breakfast, where everything is always sunny side up and the caffeine is force induced.

Now I normally don’t join these types of fun runs simply because the combined horsepower of all my cars is just enough to power up the sound system of a C63. So why bother? It’s like entering a sword fight with a dessert spoon. But when CATS Motors offered up the use of the boss’s twin turbo AMG CLS 63, I jumped out of bed faster than a piece of bread could jump out of a toaster. After all, there’s no better alarm clock than the sound of 517 horsepower being flushed through seven glorious gears.

It was a simple, private gathering with no more than 15 or 20 of CATS Motors’ most premium customers coming together to celebrate their common passion for their finely tuned performance vehicles. A little chit chat, some good food and of course a chance to clean out the pipes of their AMG vehicles.

The buffet lined up that morning may have been mouth watering, but it was completely fat free. For starters, there were a bunch of C63 AMG Benzes, some SL 55s a mixture of other roadsters, coupes and sedans, followed by a main course of the CLS 63 that I was driving, and capped off by two SLS gull wings. All bar the CLS 63 and some of the support vehicles were owner driven.

The route kicked off at CATS Motors, Global City. And after a few safety reminders, it was down EDSA, Skyway, SLEX, exiting at Eton City and then back to Maxims at Resorts World for an even oilier breakfast.

Mindful of the early morning traffic, it was a constant battle between will power and horsepower as it took all my strength to rein this big fella in. There was a very strict speed limit imposed by CATS, one that was gently enforced by a representative in the back seat, but every now and then, on the lonely patches where not a car or cow were in sight, we let the CATS out of the bag. And let me tell you, while it was few and far between, you only need a patch the size of a football field to break every national speed limit in any country except Germany.

Needless to say that the public highway system was no place to try this out, and painful as it was, we showed restraint; but this just happened to be the exact same unit we used in the AMG driving experience a month or so back when driving instructor, Peter Hackett, took four of us up to 270 km/h down the runway of Subic International Airport.

Unlike the previous 6.2-liter naturally aspirated AMG engines, the all-new 5.5 liter V8 bi-turbo spools up quickly and spits out hundreds of meters of road in mere seconds, leaving you breathless and hungry for more all at the same time, while the low end rumble builds into an angry growl that feels like it’s spitting fire out of each of its’ four tailpipes with each gear shift. Whoever said it was a daddy’s car must have forgotten that Formula One’s 7-time world champion, Michael Schumacher, is also a daddy.

This thing may look tame, but believe me, you don’t want to make this car angry. Simply because you will like it when its angry. And although you don’t need to break any laws to enjoy this car, it does help.

Not that we’d know of course.