One of the many joys of being a motoring journalist is the fleet of cars and bikes parked in the garage, vying for your attention. Invariably, there’s something new and shiny to be tested, reviewed and driven up the hills around our home base of Pune. Other mornings are spent deciding what to pick from our ever-expanding fleet of long-term test vehicles, and then finding out who’s up for a drive/ride around Pune. Well that used to be the case until the new C-Class entered our fleet; since then I’ve been strictly monogamous. It is the perfect follow-on to the E350 CDI that I ran for six months earlier this year, a great blend of a gorgeous cabin, great ride and lovely performance. Except … there’s no way to make the tail wag up in the hills. Whatever you do, ESP can never be fully turned off; there are no lunchtime stories that end with a dab-of-oppo.
It was over one such lunch that Ouseph suggested I swap my diesel C-Class for one with a healthy appetite for 97 Octane. I have fended the inevitable calls after he destroyed a set of rear Pirellis in his test two months ago, but a crazy travel schedule means I’ve yet to have a go at the Mercedes-AMG C 63 S. Until now.
Parked in our office garage is another C-Class. It too is blue. It too has four doors and a nice boot. But where my C-Class requires a trawl through menus to switch the ESP into slightly-more-liberal mode, the C 63 S has a nice big button on the centre console. Press once for Sport ESP mode. Pop some brave pills; long press that ESP button and a big ‘OFF’ lights up on the centre display.
Cue smoky drifts!
Lets back the truck up though. The C 63 S is no hot rod in the traditional AMG mould. I remember the earlier C 63 AMG, as being overwhelmingly about the engine, the poor ESP having to work overtime, everywhere, every minute to contain the mighty 6.2-litre V8. It was hilarious but it also struggled to put down all its power. This new C 63 S, while no less potent in the engine department, has a chassis that can walk the talk.
Making that chassis work is still a V8 motor, but natural aspiration has given way to two turbos nestled in the Vee of the motor – a hot-vee, as they call it. This M177 motor is closely related to the M178 under the long hood of the AMG GT S, the only major difference being the C 63 S sticks with wet-sump lubrication. Otherwise this is every bit as mental a motor as you’d find in any sports car. It displaces four litres. There’s 503bhp. A whopping 700Nm of torque troubles the rear tyres. Select Race Start on the Agility Select controller, click the right paddle to activate launch control and provided you’re on a grippy surface 100kmph will come up in a scant 3.9 seconds. Yes, under four seconds to 100kmph in a four-door, four-seat saloon. The world is a crazy place! Top speed is limited to 250kmph, but 250kmph comes up very, very quickly. And, if you’re interested in these things, the M177 motor is 32 per cent more fuel efficient than the old 6.2-litre V8.
Best of all, you long-press that ESP button, turn off all electronic aids, and you can set those rear tyres on fire. All those YouTube videos of drag racers that light up their tyres on their warm up runs – the C 63 S does exactly the same thing. There’s so much torque that a rolling start with ESP switched off results in a bonfire in the rear wheel arches. It’s unlikely that the tyres on your C 63 S will last for very long but boy oh boy, will you have a whale of a time destroying them.
The chassis, while closely related to that of my diesel C-Class, is heavily upgraded to handle the extra power. There are wider tracks and a longer front-end to accommodate the burly V8. The aluminium fenders are wider by half an inch and look under the bonnet, you will see additional structural bracing. There are active engine mounts that adapt to driving conditions using magnetorheological fluid. The car sits lower and rolls on massive 19-inch wheels. To wrap it, there’s a new, aggressively profiled bumper that not only looks mental but also improves aerodynamics. There is a lower front splitter and wider intakes improve cooling. At the rear there is a three-fin diffuser and quad exhausts that spit and crackle. The bonnet also has twin ‘power dome’ bulges that are visible from behind the ’wheel – it tells you this is a serious piece of kit. Of course that is backed up by a fat, Alcantara-wrapped, flat-bottomed steering wheel with larger aluminium shift paddles, deeply bolstered sports seats, red seat belts and carbonfibre trim on the dash. It ramps up the regular C-Class’s ambience by several notches and there’s even a fancy IWC clock on the centre console.
That clock is showing well past twelve. The roads are empty. There is still three quarters of 97 Octane in the tank.
Time to gas it. It makes a mad noise. Unlike other manufacturers who are resorting to piping intake and exhaust noises into the cabin, or worse playing an artificially synthesised soundtrack into the cabin, what you hear is what the C 63 S actually makes. Of course it is aurally tuned, but there’s great pleasure to be had in listening to the actual tones of the exhaust and the woofling of the turbo. The exhaust also spits and crackles liberally on the overrun; some of the pops and bangs even sounding like rifle-bolts and are scary enough to shake the occasional dawdler up in the hills.
It’s up here, in the hills, that the natural balance of the chassis shines through, allowing you to exploit its inherent awesomeness when things get twisty. There’s grip, lots of grip. It’s not like you give it a boot full of gas and the tail snaps out (or the ESP cuts in if you haven’t had your brave pills). In fact that’s the biggest upgrade to the C 63 over what I remember from the past – all that power and torque is more usable, it can be deployed more often and more liberally. The C 63 S covers ground at amazing velocities, all the while staying in control of its mass. The steering, hydraulically assisted, is beautifully responsive and communicative. And the package is backed up by an electronically controlled rear differential that is even more precise and quick to react than the mechanical rear differential on the non-S C 63.
It means that when you are in the mood for hooning around, the C 63 S will indulge. Power hard out of a corner and you can bring the tail to slide out predictably, laying out the most beautiful arc of power oversteer. Dab-of-oppo, a slight lift, back on the power, and you can hold the slide with the rear tyres smoking away. The C 63 S not only indulges the child in you but it makes you a better driver; it demands concentration to be on top of things and skill to react quickly and precisely, but when you do drive it to its limits it puts the widest smile on your face. It is a beast that makes you go “Ah My God!”.
Back in the office we soon have an audience around both the Cs. Enthusiasts point out to the madder styling, bigger wheels, more aero addenda, a sportier cabin; even a nicer shade of blue on the C 63 S. The C-Class is a handsome car but the AMG turns heads. There’s no doubting its sporting intent. It even looks expensive, which it is– nearly three times as much as the C220. Which brings us to the inevitable question – is the AMG three times as good as the regular diesel? For the performance, the playfulness, the incredible soundtrack and the sheer Thrill of Driving the answer has to be yes. Time we had one of these AMGs in our test fleet.