It's about the sound of this stunning high-performance car as anything else. We found ourselves powering down the windows of the Mercedes AMG C63 more and more often as our week’s road test of the car passed all too quickly. That was to savour the sound of the exhaust note from the huge V8 engine. It produces a sound that's exciting even when accelerating gently, and which rises to grin-inducing levels when you really get stuck into the loud pedal.
Not that we could hit the accelerator for too long at any one time. Because just five seconds after getting off the mark this superb AMG has reached the highest speed limit in any state in Australia. Having just five seconds of excitement may sound silly to those who don’t love their cars, but most people with upwards of $150,000 to spend on a compact four-door sedan will have the wherewithal to enjoy a trip to Europe from time to time. At trip that will probably encompass a stay in Germany to enjoy an AMG to the full. Smiling at the way it slices along high-speed motorways, making light of big distances in safety and serenity.
Even in Australia AMG owners enjoy the ultra-safe overtaking ability and superb on-road dynamics of any Mercedes that has been improved by its high-performance division, AMG. Any car with the straight-line potential of a C63 must also have improved braking, as well as taut chassis dynamics. However, the ride is relatively firm and those in the passenger seats who are looking for a peaceful cruise may find it's not to their tastes.
Most buy a car like this to appreciate the potential performance that's on tap any time you want it. Others are simply in that rarefied class of people who want the best in whatever they buy. If you are short of the $144,365 (plus on-road costs) needed to put you in the driver’s seat of an C63 AMG sedan, then Mercedes-Benz can sell you several others in the C-Class range – prices begin at a pretty reasonable $57,090 for the C-Class 200K.
The engine in the C63 AMG has a capacity of 6.2 litres – quite why there's this anomaly in the car’s name we are not too sure. Indeed, we have given up trying to make sense of any of the car numbers from big name German marques. They seem to be in competition with one another as to who can dream up a number that has the least relevance to the car itself.
But enough of the whinging about silly numbers, let's look at some serious numbers on the C63 AMG. This state of the art V8 engine recently took out number one spot in its class at the International Engine of the Year Awards, 2009. It produces a highly desirable 336 kilowatts, or 460 horsepower in performance car terms. Even more impressive than that sheer power is the torque on offer, a neat 600 Newton metres is there for the asking.
And asking this engine to give you more grunt, results in a reply from your movements on the throttle that are almost race-car in their promptness and intensity. Yet if you aren’t in the mood for performance then modern day engine electronics means it's as docile to drive around town as the typical four-cylinder commuter car.
In a relatively light car this engine is not only powerful but surprisingly economical as well. Easy paced trips see it using fuel in the nine to ten litres per hundred kilometres range, commuting in heavy traffic will see this rise to about 12 to 14 litres. And full-on sports driving still won't incur a rise to much more than 16 litres per hundred. Part of the fuel saving is due to the efficient engine being complemented by a seven-speed automatic transmission. Naturally, there's a fair bit of manual control over this auto, but we generally found it to be in the right ratio at the right time in everything but heavy-duty driving close to the limit on our favourite stretches of quiet road.
A great feature of the automatic transmission is the throttle ‘blip’ on downchanges. We are not sure if these are really necessary – but what the heck ... it adds to the aural pleasure we described at the opening of this feature. On a slightly more mundane side, this AMG is a perfectly usable machine as a family car, provided that is that those in the back seat aren’t large teenagers. After all, this is a compact car and not really aimed at transporting four large adults. You need on of the E-Class AMGs for that, but that's another story.
AT A GLANCE
MODEL RANGE
C63 AMG 6.2-litre two-door coupe: $144,365
FEATURES
ABS Brakes: Standard
Air Conditioning: Standard
Automatic Transmission: Standard
CD Player: Standard
Central Locking: Standard
Cruise Control: Standard
Dual Front Airbags: Standard
Front Side Airbags: Standard
Stability Control: Standard
Traction Control: Standard
SPECIFICATIONS (Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG 6.2-litre two-door coupe)
ENGINE:
Capacity: 6.208 litres
Configuration: V8
Head Design: Four valves per cylinder
Compression Ratio: 11.3:1
Bore/Stroke: 102.2 x 94.6 mm
Maximum Power: 336 kW @ 6800 rpm
Maximum Torque: 600 Nm @ 5000 rpm
DRIVELINE:
Driven Wheels: Front
Manual Transmission: Not offered
Automatic Transmission: Seven-speed
Final Drive Ratio: 2.85:1
DIMENSIONS, WEIGHT AND CAPACITIES:
Length: 4726 mm
Wheelbase: 2765 mm
Width: 1795 mm
Height: 1439 mm
Turning Circle: 11.75 metres
Kerb Mass: 1730 kg
Fuel Tank Capacity: 74 litres
Towing Ability: Not supplied
SUSPENSION AND BRAKES:
Front Suspension: Three-link, coil springs, anti-dive, anti-roll bar
Rear Suspension: Independent, multi-link, coil springs, anti-roll bar
Front Brakes: Ventilated disc
Rear Brakes: Ventilated disc
PERFORMANCE:
0-100 km/h Acceleration: 4.5 secs
FUEL CONSUMPTION:
Type: Petrol 98RON
Combined Cycle (ADR 81/01): 14.5 L/100km
GREEN VEHICLE GUIDE RATTINGS:
Greenhouse Rating: 2.5/10
Air Pollution Rating: 8.5/10
STANDARD WARRANTY:
Three years/unlimited km
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