Found this on c63 forum, although not related to w204 directly, I thought it might be interesting to see how the w204 big brother performs on a racktrack..

(part I mostly introductions to the car itself, skip to part II for roadtest action)

Part I
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zz-q_yVn7Jc

Part II
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TG5i4uyzTok

Hooray for Jeremy Clarkson for saying that, in the end, he'd buy the C63! Thank you for posting those links.

And as a side note, what's up with the "Hamster?" He's starting to look like an honorary member of "The Monkeys". Just kidding - just glad that man is alive after that horrific crash in the jet-car. For the "under 40" crowd, attached is a jpeg of The Monkeys from the 70s.

yeah... that was right after he said that the M3 was clearly a better car and after the Stig put the M3 around the race track a full 5 seconds quicker.

you know, I would still get the c63 at the end of day as well. luv the looks and plus, its a four door. When was the last time you drove on a closed racetrack?

Mitsubishi EVO is a 4 door fast AWD car, and is a high school girl chick magnet

"M3 drivers have no friends."

nah, no offense, grew out of toy boy race car....and i don't need cars to do my work...

As a side note, it was great to hear a journalist acknowledge that there's more to a car's desirability than its track time (or the fact that is has a propeller on its hood).

btw, how did you get ur hands on a FTO? that was my dream car during those time... ended up with a 240sx instead, didn't know FTO made it here to the states.

Actually I was on the track twice last summer, thank you very much for asking

I know you were assuming that I am just some guy who thinks that track times are important without ever having been at the track. Well, you have the wrong guy. I actually do the track.

And by the way, if it was my money I would be all over the M3 if the three choices were those from the test. Like they said, the M3 is the original and the others are good copies. They are all great cars... the choice in the end will come down to the fact that people who are die-hard Benz fans will get the AMG and people who are die-hard BMW fans will get the M3... even though the M3 is the best car out of the three.

lol, if i was on track twice a year, I would go rent a 911 turbo and have at it... what were you driving on track?

:

here's some more for you, gonna be a long one...

I was an M3 lover just because the insanity that car had and the pure driving experience it could give.
My love now goes to C 63 just because of that and because it looks better than the M3.
The new C is an overall better car and that also shows that just now BMW issued an update to 3 series with 21 more horsepower to catch up with c 200but again they still behind.
For everyday use the lap times and the 0-60 times is
Its how much fun you get when you drive the car and this cannot be measured by seconds.
END OF STORY

To each their own. Each car has its merits. I'm just glad there's choice.

For daily driving, I'll take either one... it won't matter. On the track, I'll take the C63AMG for looks, and the M3 for overall performance. No thank you to the RS4 unless it's snowing out.

I think your missing the point that a car that is smooth and well-behaved on the track is also smooth and well behaved on the street... generally. Same thing with Motorcycles... a bike that has bad fueling or rough on-off throttle transitions will be difficult to manage in, say, that slow-speed get-through-it corner right before the very long straight and affect your lap times adversely... that exact same problem will make the bike an annoying commuter as well for obvious reasons. I think the same is true about a cars track behaviour transferring to the street. The M3 was great and much faster than the other cars because it was tractable, precise, and compliant along with being the lightest car in the bunch.

I drive my car at the track and I also ride my sportbike at the track. We can't rent 911 turbos here and I'd rather have experience driving my own car fast than someone elses.

sry, I failed to see your analogy. We are not talking about Sonata vs M3 here. Bad fueling or rouge on throttle? Then that bike shouldn't be on the road to begin with. All three are fine vehicles and honestly, unless driven to the extreme, the differences are not easily shown on day to day driving. I've driven a 03 M3, the car is rough on local street and stop/go traffic. But once that baby was on the highway and open road, it was smooth as johnny walker blue.

Look, I also ride a sportsbike, gsx650, its fast and nimble. But when I want to visit grandma down south on a 3hr trip, I wish I was in a harley.

M3 is a fast and agile car but for daily driving experience I would probably want the c63.

that is my point.

I would want the new M3 for daily driving experience... I hear the comfort mode on the electronic suspension (EDC) is lier jet smooth. Things evolve over time, my friend. The new M3 is a much smoother city car than the E46 M3 (which is a special car all on its own). Seems to me like the C63, while being very fun, would be annoyingly loud and busy for daily driving, no?

As for the bike thing, I have the suspension set-up for me (dialed in thru track riding) and it rides super smooth and stable on the highway for those nice long 8 hour rides. You couldn't pay me to get on a harley and vibrate my *** and ***** to death and sit back on my haunches... not so comfortable for me.