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It is SUV coupe season! We’ve got the Citroen Basalt around the corner, the Tata Curvv is already here and now this: India’s favourite performance SUV Coupe. The GLC 43 Coupe is a best-seller for AMG in India, and it is now back in an all new generation. Obviously, it is based on the new generation GLC and picks up styling and interior elements from that car. But that aside, plenty else is going on. There’s a new engine in the hood — down from six cylinders to four, but up in performance. There’s a more dynamic chassis, and plenty of tech to help hustle it in our conditions. Question is, does the GLC 43 still have the ingredients to be a best-seller?
Is it just me or does it look a lot better than the last GLC 43 Coupe? A lot tighter, a lot more sinewy compared to the last one? The older GLC 43 did have a coupe-like roofline but now that I’ve seen this, that one just looks a little flabby. I love how the rear deck slams downwards, and then kicks out with an almost ducktail like spoiler. Even from the side, it looks more chiseled and since the GLC isn’t a very big SUV, it doesn’t look ridiculously disproportionate. The front end is typical AMG-aggressive. The Panamericana grille has pervaded the whole range, and I was particularly drawn to the tiny aero elements on the edges of the front bumper. Look super cool, but I’d be terrified of scuffing them in traffic.
Typical Mercedes, the interiors are top notch — lots of digital real estate with the 12.3-inch cluster, and the 11.9-inch portrait display for the infotainment screen. A 15-speaker, 710W sound system is packed in there for when you get bored of the engine’s growl. The overall architecture is an carryover from the standard GLC, but this has been given the AMG touch. Sporty seats, red stitching and red seatbelts are cool but there’s nothing quite like real carbonfibre. The steering wheel of the GLC 43 is part carbon, part technical fabric and it feels really special in your hands. The drive mode knobs are littered around the ’wheel and they do make shuffling between the innumerable a lot easier than heading in to the touchscreen. Backseats? I’m sure they do what they’re meant to do, but you’re going to want to spend time in the driver’s seat here.
I know what the elephant in the room is. That four-cylinder engine that replaces the V6 from the older GLC 43. You’re probably crying bloody murder but downsizing is real. The bright side is, AMG knows a thing or two about building a good engine. So good is the new four-pot that you don’t miss the sixer! Let’s talk spec: a 1991cc turbo-petrol four-cylinder motor doesn’t sound like much, until you slide in some sneaky F1 tech in there. That big turbo has an electric motor at the heart of it to spin it up at low revs — think MGU-H in a modern F1 car, without the energy recovery. The end result is a motor that is more powerful than the one it replaces — 415bhp (30bhp more) and through torque is down to 500Nm (20Nm down) There’s also a 48V mild hybrid system that has a belt driven starter motor that adds a little bit of thrust.
The engine is a tiny firecracker, it hustles the GLC 43 along very rapidly. Responses from the drivetrain are sharp — you have the e-turbo to thank for that and it pulls hard to the redline. Acceleration is obviously quick: 0-100kmph comes up in 4.8 seconds, and you really don’t realise how quickly you hit triple digit speeds. It also feels like a very high-strung, race-y engine particularly in the more sporty drive modes. When you rev it out, there’s an urgency to the way it sounds and reacts to inputs that makes it feel properly sporty. This is, after all, the most powerful production 4-cylinder in the world. Sounds good too!
Ride quality is reasonably good in Comfort mode. This is obviously not your run-of-the-mill GLC, and AMG has worked heavily on the suspension to allow it to deal with the outputs of the engine. While it is firm, it still is useable on the daily and can deal with Indian conditions without triggering spondylitis. Our car was running the standard 21-inch wheels, and you can also have them with optional 20s which may soften that edge out a little bit more. However, dial up the damping in Race mode and it does get fairly stiff. Don’t go near that button unless you have a racetrack, or at least a very good expressway to exploit.
That suspension does do wonders for the handling, but it isn’t alone. This GLC 43 is properly kitted out. Rear wheel steer? You got it — up to 2.5 degrees. Dynamic engine mounts? There as well. Together, they make the GLC 43 a riot in the corners. Turn in is so sharp, so direct. You’ve got so much grip from those fat tyres mid corner, and then you can really lean on them on the exits — standing on the throttle, letting the AWD system figure out where the traction is and then putting down all of that firepower to all four wheels. I’m firing the SUV though a wide, uphill corner I know reasonably well. I’m fast. Faster than I usually go. And yet, no drama. No understeer, no tyre squeal, just loads of composure. This new Mercedes-AMG GLC 43 Coupe just grips and goes. I try again, faster this time. The results are the same. Grips, goes. I had to really catch it by the scruff of its neck and fling it in to the bend to hear the distant chirruping of rubber against road. Most SUVs would have been tying themselves in knots by now — the tyres giving up, the body leaning over on its side, the sheer mass of the car working against it and pushing it wide. Not the GLC 43 Coupe. The GLC 43 Coupe handles like a proper AMG! The best part? It feels natural. It doesn’t feel like the car is fighting itself to do this — it feels like you can get in to a flow state even while pushing really hard, and that’s not something you can say about every sporty SUV.
There’s a reason why the GLC 43 is the best-selling AMG in India till date: it gets so much right for our conditions. It is fast, it is comfortable, it has the ground clearance, your kids won’t have to be left at home on the Sunday morning drives and the swooping roofline will ensure your neighbour knows that this isn’t some basic Merc. It checks so many boxes, but there was one more factor that made it so popular. Price. Back when it was launched in 2020, the GLC 43 was a CKD and cost ₹77 lakh (ex-showroom). When it was discontinued, it was at a cool ₹88 lakh. This new one? It is a CBU and that has taken prices up to ₹1.10 crore . It still has all of those other things going for it — performance, presence, usability. But at this price, it is going to be a slightly harder sell for Mercedes-AMG in India.
