Cars > Reviews
Toss in AMG SpeedShift, which is purported to be 35 percent faster than manual, and the car almost drives itself. It will automatically downshift in heavy braking, and it won't allow an upshift in the middle of heavy cornering. The last can be a terrifying event, as I experienced with a bad driver in a fast car on a high California mountain road (no guardrails, 2,000-plunge to the right) as he upshifted at apex and lost all traction.
And then, of course, there are the manual shifters built into the steering wheel, allowing thumb-clicks left or right to run through the gears. That wheel is also part of a luxurious, ergonomically wonderful interior. From the wheel you control not only shifts, but audio, information, and navigation systems. Besides great leather and fine wood, the car features functionality in the form of a multilayer center console and a fold-down rear center console, both with storage and cup holders.
Fourteen-way power front seats with lumbar support and memory -- and heating and cooling systems built in -- provide a luxurious, firm ride. Those front seats have pneumatic torso bolsters that respond to speed and cornering and inflate to grip you when speed and cornering get tough.
Sound comes from a 12-speaker Bose system that exhibits liquid depth and granite solidity.
Safety features include air bags front and rear with front, side-impact, and head bags. The front bags are weight- and crash-sensitive, meaning they deploy only with the force that the crash and the weight of seat occupants necessitate.
Stability is provided by myriad systems that use brakes, throttle, and monitors that watch pitch, yaw, body roll, speed, driver intent, steering angle, and braking to fix the problems.
This is a big, luxurious German sedan that will blow the doors off most American sports cars and should be on any enthusiast's dream list.
But then reality intrudes. 
Visit boston.com/cars/Royal Ford can be reached at ford@globe.com.
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