Instrumented Test
From the March 2014 Issue of Car and Driver
TESTED
It’s hard to fully enjoy something when you know it’s almost over. Production of the current Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG is drawing to a close, with the sedan gone by midyear, though the coupe will be around into 2015. With the end looming, every drive of this C63 coupe felt bittersweet.
And what we’ll miss most is AMG’s big, naturally aspirated 6.2-liter V-8, which has already been supplanted in most of the AMG lineup by a twin-turbocharged 5.5-liter V-8. What the 6.2 gives up in torque to the force-fed 5.5, it makes up for with its sound and its willingness to rev. It responds instantly, celebrates every combustion explosion through its brash exhaust, and makes us feel as if we’re getting the most out of every drop of premium, even as it does consume a monsoon of fuel. We were able to go only 16 miles on a gallon.
The Honda Civic–sized car itself is just as raw as the engine. It’s still a Benz, so the structure feels as if it’s whittled out of a G-class, but the C63 has a brutally firm suspension. The steering is quick and alive, resulting in an angry little coupe that is reactive, fun, and more like a Black Series than any other AMG in the lineup.
Perhaps to make the end of production a little easier to swallow—and to move the last of the C63s—AMG is offering the Edition 507 package on both the sedan and the coupe. Named after the uprated 507-hp version of the 6.2, the $9750 package adds a higher, 176-mph top speed; a vented aluminum hood from last year’s C63 Black Series; a multicolored leather interior; and forged 19-inch wheels.
What the 507 option doesn’t do is make the C63 any quicker than the ’12 C63 coupe. Equipped with the discontinued $6050 AMG Development package, that 481-hp C63 was the quickest of any C63 we’ve encountered, hitting 60 mph in 3.7 seconds, quicker than what we saw in the 510-hp Black Series. This C63’s launch-control programming is entertaining, but we still managed to beat it by a few tenths by applying light brake torque to the engine. With that technique, 60 mph arrived in 3.9 seconds. We also tested a C63 507 sedan, which is lighter than the coupe by 45 pounds and managed a 3.8-second time. The take-away from all of this test talk: Every C63 we’ve ever run hit 60 mph in less than four seconds. They’re all quick, with or without the optional power.
Maybe it’s because it won’t be around much longer, but we want a C63 more than ever. That said, we’d probably skip the Edition 507 and save the $10,000. That’s a lot of money, and it doesn’t make an already special car—one we’ll remember fondly long after its impending retirement—any more special.
