Comparison Tests
Remember when that pasty software engineer from Utah kept winning on Jeopardy!? His name is Ken Jennings, and he won 74 times in a row before ignominiously losing to a real-estate agent from Ventura, California. Jennings was smug and a bit annoying. But love him or hate him, he was shockingly good and seemingly genetically engineered to answer in question form.
With its five-comparison-test winning streak, the current BMW M3 is our very own Ken Jennings, engineered to dominate our comparos. And, like Jennings, its success annoys some people. Administering beat-downs on some of the world’s best cars will do that. Up against the M3 this time is the 6.2-liter V-8–equipped Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG coupe. Based on the AMG-ified C-class sedan that the M3 previously defeated (December 2007), this C63 now sports two doors, a vastly improved interior, and a seven-speed automatic with a wet starting clutch instead of a torque converter. Engine power is slightly higher than that vanquished C63’s, thanks to the $6050 AMG Development package that takes horsepower up 30 to 481, or 67 more ponies than in the M3.
Could those improvements be enough to wipe the grin off the M3’s front fascia? We drove from our editorial HQ in Ann Arbor, Michigan, to Virginia International Raceway (VIR) to find out if the C63 AMG coupe is the M3’s real-estate agent from Ventura.
