By: Denis Droppa
Zwartkops - The war of the Germans intensified this week with the unveiling of the much-awaited Mercedes-AMG C63 in South Africa.
In launching a rival to the BMW M3/M4 and the Audi RS5, Stuttgart hasn’t adopted a conservative approach of offering Benz customers a token extra couple of kiloWatts with which to brag. The C63’s new four-litre biturbo V8 simply annihilates the opposition (on paper anyway) with its output figures of 350kW/650Nm for the C63 and 375kW/700Nm for the more potent C63 S (compared to the M3/M4’s 317kW/550Nm and the Audi RS5’s 331kW/430Nm).
Based on the unit that powers Merc’s new AMG GT supercar, this new engine’s a big step up from the normally-aspirated 6.2 V8 that endowed the previous-generation C63 AMG with 336kW and 600Nm, and being turbocharged it has the added advantage of not succumbing to altitude sickness.
At sea level or in the thinner air of higher altitudes, the turbo V8 turns the C-Class family sedan into a fire-spitting performer credited with a 0-100km/h time of 4.1 seconds (one-tenth quicker for the S version). Top speeds are governed to the usual 250km/h, or 290km/h if customers opt for the AMG Driver’s Package.
In the interests of reducing weight and maintaining driving “purism”, Benz has stuck with the rear wheels to harness all this power instead of opting for Audi-style all-wheel drive, but there’s a raft of dynamic safety features to help ensure the C63 keeps its wide tyres stuck to the road.
Along with a three-mode stability-control system that can be switched off if you have the cojones for it, both C63 versions run on AMG Ride Control sports suspension that stiffens the dampers when the pace hots up, assisted by an understeer-reducing mechanical rear axle locking differential in the C63 and an electronically-controlled one in the C 63 S.
The gutsier C63 S is also equipped with dynamic engine mounts that automatically firm up to improve handling agility during fast-paced driving.
Transmission duty is perfomed by an AMG Speedshift MCT seven-speed sports gearbox with four settings (five in the C63 S model which also has a Race mode).
High-performance steel brakes with 390mm front discs are standard, while the C63 S is optionally available for the first time with ceramic composite front brakes with an enlarged 402mm diameter.
Visual aggro to identify the C63s from the garden-variety C-Class includes a twin-blade radiator grille with AMG lettering, a front splitter, and a rear diffuser with a quartet of tailpipes.
The interior’s also been given the AMG treatment with a bottom-flattened steering wheel covered in nappa leather, sports seats, and an AMG instrument cluster with a laptimer.
The Mercedes-AMG C63 is priced at R1 004 700 and the C63 S at R1 163 800, both standard with Merc’s six-year o 100 000km maintenance plan.
For an extra R212 000 either version is available from market launch in a glammed-up “Edition 1” specification which comes with items such as a spoiler lip in high-gloss black, red highlights on the radiator grille and exterior mirrors, side sports stripes in matt graphite grey, red designo seat belts, and performance seats and door centre panels in diamond-pattern black nappa leather.
ON THE TRACK
Mercedes hosted the C63’s South African media launch in and around the Zwartkops Raceway near Pretoria last week, and what stood out for me was how these cars adopted entirely different personalities, going from mellow to mad at the press of a button or two.
On one end, they rock your Richter scale with their accelerative fury and sound. Select Sport+, or Race mode in the S model, and you unleash the madness as they turn into growling, snapping beasts that hanker for a racetrack, alive with anger and charged with steroid-boosted adrenaline.
But switch to comfort mode and you have a car that slows its heartbeat, retracts its claws and adopts the benign personality of a labrador - even though it’s a labrador that could outrun a cheetah. The ride becomes cushier and the throttle response gentler, hiding that hyper pace beneath a layer of cotton wool.
The C63 S I drove on the launch displayed an impressively bump-soaking ride on its 19-inch low-profile rubber (18s are standard on the C63 model).
With the suspension in comfort mode there’s some noticeable judder on rougher roads and potholes should be carefully avoided to spare the low-profile tyres, but on the whole the ride’s cushy enough to use this car as a daily driver. Comfort mode also activates the fuel-saving stop-start function which, if you drive like there’s an egg under the accelerator, will deliver figures of 8.2 litres per 100km according to the factory.
Whichever mode it’s in Merc’s AMG-treated C-Class is just about fast enough to outrun its own shadow, effortlessly romping past long trucks when a swift overtaking move is called for.
It’s a lag-free and linear acceleration free of any hesitation waiting for turbos to spool up, and with its launch-control function engaged the car blasts off with a hooliganistic chirp of the rear wheels.
The new C63s serve up all the requisite sensations and charisma of a sports sedan, along with a dash of madness, relegating the myth of Mercs being “old-men’s-cars” ever further into the history bin.
The speed-sensitive steering’s direct and has a weighty feel, and the multi-clutch Speedshift fires through its gears like a machine gun.
Turbocharging hasn’t strangled the AMG war cry as might have been feared, and the V8 makes a predatory holler in Sport+ and Race modes where the adjustable exhaust flaps open sooner.
Also, if you like “burps” on upshifts and throttle-blips on downshifts, you’re at the right address.
In Comfort and Sport modes the pipes deliver a more subdued sound, another example of this car’s mad-mellow dual personality.
There’s a mode to suit every driving ability. Around Zwartkops racetrack with the stability control engaged, the C63s delivered almost foolproof roadholding, the electronic nanny scrupulously preventing any wheelspin.
The intermediate Sport mode allows a little tail-sliding action before the ESP chimes in and saves you from a messy end, but it’s only with the ESP switched off that you unleash the snorting monster in all its wheel-smoking glory, where intimate knowledge of opposite-lock technique is called for. And perhaps a dash of madness. - Star Motoring
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