Wagner's Own

Richard Wagner is a household name to the world’s operatic performers and audiophiles, alike. Among 19th Century composers, few can match Wagner’s musical genius, moral depravity, and royally bankrolled gravitas. And “gravitas” is especially apt terminology to describe the essence of the German maestro’s work.

Wagnerian operas play heavily upon the drama of live theater, (former German) nationalist sentiment, and are in layout the antithesis of brevity. Wagner’s (and the world’s) longest musical performance lasts for 18 hours (intermezzos included).

When we in the automotive sphere ascribe a car’s performance or character as “Wagnerian,” we transfer the character of the composer’s weighty classics – such as the opening prelude in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg - grandly forceful music that’s meant to wage an audiovisual “shock & awe” campaign. And rguably, there is no greater or more Wagnerian a German soundtrack than that emitted from big-bloc V-8 and V-12 Mercedes-Benz engines.

Over the years, the press has used the adjective when describing many of Stuttgart’s finest– especially those models which received higher tuning at AMG.


~ Examples of Mercedes-Benz Wagnerian performances ~

Last summer, your correspondent stood witness to 6.9 liters of 450SEL V-8 power summoning the descent of the Valkyries in one enthusiast’s demonstration of the “fastest car he ever drove.” The gentleman’s every day car, a 2006 Nissan Maxima, slips past the old S-Class’ 7 ‘n change 0-60 time by more than a second - but he was adamant. “It’s scary.”

Another enthusiast – a BMW M5 driver – wished his near-as-makes-no-difference 400 horsepower super sedan elicited more audible bite. “It’s too quiet,” griped he. And Robert Farago, the seasoned journalist behind The Truth About Cars, confirms that the latest V-10 M5 maintains the burbling subterfuge of the former model albeit with a more groveled accent.

Last month’s issue of CAR magazine pitted the new M5 against Benz’s own E63 AMG in France. The 506 horsepowered E-Class sedan vocalized with a “concomitant snarl” and provided an experience, “NASCAR-esque and wholly addictive." And of the many praises the British testers had for the winning M5, accolades for the V-10's vocals were pointedly absent.

Finally, to support historical accounts with the insight of recent experience – your correspondent was three lanes and a hundred yards away when a rather impetuous driver decided to drop the hammer in his own C32 AMG.

The braying roar that sounded from the little saloon’s V-8 belied the car’s compact profile in creating a hugely imposing presence all those car lengths away. The sound echoed into my own tranquil cabin and clearly startled neighboring drivers. I changed lanes to allow Tristan to meet Isolde.

In an era where car manufacturers are seen and heard loosening their belts and standards in every measurable way, it is genuinely reassuring (and rewarding) to know that the force of mighty tuners such as AMG keep the magic of automotive acoustics alive. For what is the thrill of the drive without the fury of the power's own sound? Indeed, for these reasons the audiophile/ performance enthusiast/Teutonic patron’s best choice is Mercedes-Benz. After all, it’s Wagner’s own.