Mercedes-AMG C 63 2018 Review 

Mercedes-AMG launched the facelifted C 43 a few weeks ago on the perfect roads in and around Luxembourg. It launched the facelifted Mercedes-AMG C 63 S last week on the Bilster Berg private race resort, an astonishingly belligerent rollercoaster in north-west Germany.

There is a very clear reason for this and the launch locations alone define, for anybody confused about it, the jobs that Mercedes-AMG has given the C 43 and this one, 20 something-or-others higher in the badging.

Mercedes-Benz’s AMG hot-haus’ C 43 is a nicer, faster C-Class. The Mercedes-AMG C 63 S is a nasty, loud, brash fast C-Class and it backs it up with as much track cred as most of its buyers will ever be comfortable utilising.

Where BMW has shelved production of the stock M3 until it can organise its WLTP emissions (the hi-po versions and the M4 are unaffected) and Audi’s less visceral RS 4 continues to be wagon-only, the Mercedes-AMG C 63 S has simply become more convincing.

It’s simply a better car to live with than it was before. That’s the good news. The bad news is that, umm, well, there’s not much bad news.

The updated Mercedes-AMG C 63 S will be here later this year (2018) and while the price will move upwards, it will only be a little bit, leaving the sedan as something like a $165,000 machine.

It will also, for the first time, be built in coupe, convertible, sedan and wagon forms right from the start of its production run.

There are also two levels of performance: the C 63 (which has 350kW and 650Nm, but isn’t coming here, so forget we mentioned it) and the stronger C 63 S, which will have 375kW and 700Nm from its twin-turbo, 4.0-litre V8.

The standout mechanical upgrade is the move to a nine-speed automatic transmission to send the V8’s exertions to the electronically controlled rear limited-slip differential.

Like the seven-speed unit before it, the core design work for the nine-speeder comes from AMG’s parent, Mercedes-Benz, and is used across the C-Class board.

The difference is that AMG offloads the torque converter for a wet-clutch pack to make the shifts faster and more positive. It’s effectively an automated manual gearbox, but based around an automatic transmission rather than a manual one.

The result of all of that is that the coupe will run to 100km/h in an unchanged 3.9sec, the sedan gets there a tenth of a second later and even the humble wagon and the flashy Cabriolet get there in 4.1sec.

That leaves the sedan 0.8sec quicker to 100km/h than the V6-powered C 43, and the cheaper car is also all-wheel drive, while the C 63 remains stoically a rear-driver.

Both the wagon and Cabriolet are limited to 280km/h, while the two more mainstream models (they soak up 70 per cent of the Australian C 63 sales between them) climb to 290km/h before they’re electronically reined in.

Not only does the S version of the C 63 come standard with handling-oriented stuff like dynamic engine mounts that counter the V8’s mass transfer in corners, but there are also six drive programs (ranging from Slippery to Race).

This seems simple enough, but there are subsets beneath that, with “agility modes” ranging from Basic to Advanced to Pro to Master, which the car selects by itself, which makes you wonder why it’s even telling you about them.

“Basic” governs in the less intense operations, like Slippery and Comfort, while “Advanced” governs Sport, “Pro” takes care of Sport + and “Master” lifts that to another level for Race.

It’s almost as though AMG just wanted to throw in some cool names for stuff, but ran out of stuff to name so they named things twice.

And, on top of all of that, there is a nine-step traction control system, controlled by a knob on the steering wheel, which lets you choose the drift angle of the car once you’ve turned off the skid-control. But it’s not a drift control. No, sir. It’s straight out of the GT R and it’s surprisingly easy to use, even on the fly and even mid-drift.

To get to that point, though, you’ve first got to deal with that monster of a V8. It sounds every bit as naughty as it is, but the tone it delivers is also precocious and menacing and nasty, none of which the Mercedes-AMG C 63 S actually is.

If you could separate the noise from the performance delivery, you’d find a muscular, honest engine that gives its all at low revs and keeps giving its all right up until the limiter, just before 7000rpm. And that’s the opposite of precocious or menacing or nasty -- it’s actually faithful and strong and flexible and disturbingly easy to live with whether you’re on a highway, in a city or belting around a racetrack.

The engine remains as it has always been: theatrical and rambunctious in its faster modes, less so in Comfort. It’s much quieter at highway speeds and on a constant throttle. And it remains the core of the Mercedes-AMG C 63 S’ appeal, despite the visual upgrades like its two new power “domes” on the bonnet (that look more like creases, if we’re being honest).

There is still that wonderful throttle response mid-corner, the barking, popping crackle on the overrun and it manages to be uncompromisingly fast and whisperingly quiet at highway speeds all at the same time.

Collecting nine forward gear cogs in a tiny metal case is quite the achievement, but a greater achievement still would have been making the thing’s inner workings undetectable to the driver.

Alas, they’re not. It caught itself bunny hopping in first gear in Sport mode three times, it paused notably upshifting near the redline in both Sport + and Manual modes even though the entire instrument cluster turns into a flashing red strobe 800rpm from the rev limiter in the hope that you’ll snap at the right paddle before the discomfort begins.

Mostly, though, it’s a slick companion, sliding through gears on gentle throttle in Comfort mode, cracking through them in Sport or banging them home in race. It also adds multiple downshifts on a long pull of the paddle, which some people like, apparently.

Why not all-paw?There is one big question hanging over the updated Mercedes-AMG C 63 S’ head: why would it stay rear-wheel drive when there’s so much to gain from all-wheel drive? Its larger E 63 S uses all-wheel drive to great effect, especially when it can more or less become a rear-driver on demand, and it gets more out use of its engine’s performance.

The C 63 S has been developed to the point where its power down can struggle, at serious track extremes, to capitalise on the good work its chassis and wondrously complex suspension does at the front half of a corner.

The Mercedes-AMG C 63 S’ steering is not at its best in its Comfort mode, but it feels meatier and more accurate in the more playful settings

The C 63 S gets its own suspension setup and its own geometry and hardware to go with the four-link front and five-link rear suspensions. But while it’s tremendously capable, it never feels light on its toes and ready to dance, like the best of the M3 family.

It will, however, always feel faithful, easy to manage mid-corner and it’s even willing to slide into bends just a touch. It’s a wonderful cruiser point-to-point and it won’t let anything – anything – bully it on an autobahn, even punching with enthusiasm from 250km/h.

It is easy and comfortable in cities, chills out with active cruise control and even oozes its way over lumps and bumps with dignity. But then it can lose pace when it’s pressing on via either the driver or the car’s skid-control having to manage wheelspin at unexpectedly small throttle openings. You know, stuff it wouldn’t have to deal with if it had a front diff to help.

It could just be the track surface at Bilster Berg, but there were spots where the car’s corner-exit pace didn’t match up to its cheeriness about being flung into the apex. Given that, and that its steering is accurate enough without any delicacy, it’s hard to see what the C 63 would lose by bringing another diff in to play.

The Mercedes-AMG C 63 S has had style upgrade, with multi-beam LED headlights, LED tail-lights and a new grille, new tail pipes and a new rear diffuser, but the big news is inside.

Here the AMG wunderkinder scores the core C-Class upgrades.

That means about 80 per cent of the electronic architecture has been updated, allowing it to adopt the fully digital instrument cluster ideas of the E and S Class ranges even if it lacks their double-width screens. (Which even the new A-Class cops)

But the 12.3-inch display is worth a fiddle on the new steering-wheel controls, and it has shied away from touchscreen technology for the infotainment unit, preferring to stick with the scroller or voice control.

The instrument cluster has allowed AMG to poke in some specific details, like boost pressure, torque output, lateral acceleration, engine and gearbox oil temperature and a dizzying host of track data that most customers will use… Once.

The sportier modes flick the stock instrument layout, pulling a large tacho into the middle of the screen, complete with yellows and reds to denote the aggression you’re presumably getting out of your system.

Mercedes-Benz Australia has ditched the stock Performance seats for Sports seats because too many locals found them a bit, well, tight. And we (the nation, not motoring.com.au) complained that the aggressive side bolstering made getting in and out of the C 63 a bit irksome.

So they’re gone, in favour of the more comfortable ventilated Sports stump, but the Performance ones are still available as an option.

Of more importance is the new steering wheel, now with a narrower cutout in the Alcantara steering wheel around the spokes, right where the drivers’ hands go.

It means the C 63 can still tote a thick steering wheel, but it’s now more comfortable to drive, unlike the M3 wheel, which leaves you feeling like your hands have been cast to recover from a broken scaphoid.

How much is the 2018 Mercedes-AMG C 63 S sedan?
Price: $165,000 (estimated)
Engine: 4.0-litre twin-turbo petrol V8
Output: 375kW/700Nm
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic
Fuel: 9.9L/100km
CO2: 227g/km
Safety rating: TBC