If you don’t remember the original C43 AMG chances are you wouldn’t care too much about this one either, and we’re going to assume that you don’t like cars to begin with. Either ways here’s a refresher, it was one of the first AMGs to get a massive 4.3 litre V8 which made 306bhp and could make it to 100kmph in about 5.7 seconds. This was in 1997.
Almost two decades in, the badge is back, now what we were expecting when rumours came down the line that a 43 was in the pipeline; was a slightly warmer c-class two door to play second fiddle to mental C63. But apparently the good people at AMG don’t particularly understand the word, warmer.
As is the usual case, the Mercedes-AMG C43 4Matic Coupe (which is what it is scheduled to be called) is scheduled to be even more mental than its predecessor even though it will hit the road with a V6 instead of the traditional bi-turbo V8. Even then the C-class baby spawn makes 362bhp through a 9 speed automatic transmission. On the slightly more sensible side the all-wheel drive C43 AMG will hit the 100 mark in 4.7 seconds. Retracting entirely from the earlier statement of sensibility.
As if it needed any sweetening, the C43 is some half-baked AMG performance model, Mercedes have confirmed that it will have full AMG status. This, despite the fact that it shares it motor with the GLE450 AMG coupe. Further compounded by the fact that Mercedes-AMG nomenclature. What this means is that it may not have the piss-your-pants C63 performance, but should handle just as well. Word on the grape-vine is that the C43 is scheduled to hit the road post the unveiling at Geneva this year.
As far as the subcontinent is concerned, we think – read want—the AMG to hit shores as soon as possible. However, there’s no word from Mercedes India about when or if at all, the V6 AMG will make it to the country.