https://www.motortrend.com/reviews/2...-drive-review/

They praise the driving experience with the caveat that it lacks some of the emotion of previous C63, m3 manual, Alfa QV, or Blackwing.

 

Yeah, there were a few reviews on youtube that came up in the last week and today. Most if not all were positive aside from the expected complaint of loss of V8 sound and V8 emotion. But general acceptance as a new comer, though perhaps mislabelled as a C63 as most here have suggested.

 

I drove it, and thought it was far better than my expectations.

Still think the ride is too harsh, there is far too much lag out of the sportiest settings (engine is gutless out of boost) and its a flawed concept. But its a very quick, balanced and precise tool.

It drives in a manner none of the old C63s would keep up with it. But I still think its not a C63. If they sold it as a C43 or C45, it would have sold like hot cake. Instead they priced it more expensively than the previous V8 car, and gave the same name.

 

Many have arrived at the conclusion that on its own, it's not necessarily a bad car. It's just not a C63. It's a very fast CLA 45 that allows you to drive away in silence early morning w/o waking up the neighbors. The other thing you have to consider with reviews is that many of them are positive as not to upset the manufacturer and not get invited to the next exotic car unveiling at a 5-star resort all expenses paid. Point is go drive it yourself. I know myself enough that the idea of this car simply doesn't appeal to me. I'm not gonna spend six figures on something like this with a 4-cylinder engine when a car isn't a necessity for me in the first place. It's just not special. Straight line speed is uninteresting anywhere other than the German Autobahn and as a track car this thing is simply too heavy unless you enjoy buying tires and new brakes after a day on the track. 0-60 also gets old quickly, unless you live life one traffic light at a time.

The other day I read a review on the new GT 63 E Performance coupe and they praised it for being a great GT and long distance tourer. I can see that. If I lived in Germany I might consider one. The insane weight isn't much of a factor bombing down the Autobahn at 300 kph in a straight line, so the car has some merits there. Just don't see much of a point in both the C63 E and the GT63 E on US roads. Can't really use the added performance, yet you have to lug around all the weight that comes with it.

 

Precisely, more on that topic (of early access and press cars/reviews) here:

 

Interesting article in Aussie magazine about the future of AMG powertrains: https://www.motor1.com/news/729311/m...-cylinder-amg/

 

Big difference between phones and six figure cars. Unless the entire industry goes to the 4 pot, enthusiasts will go elsewhere.

 

Smartphones were successful because they became more than phones. We don't really type on phones much these days anymore, other than an occasional short text message. I used to write entire emails on my Treos etc., but I don't do it anymore, because it's a pain w/o a physical keyboard. I now wait until I'm back in front of my laptop and I upgraded my desktop experience with an ultrawide monitor to have plenty of screen real estate. I use my smartphone for tasks that don't need a lot of typing. Controlling my smart home, mobile banking, mobile payment, digital keys etc., all new things we didn't use to do on phones. My phone has replaced my physical key chain, and my physical wallet for the most part. There's an app for everything, remember? What's new about these cars? They don't do anything new. They just do the same thing with less excitement. Horsepower on paper gets old soon if you can't really use it on the road, instead you are constantly contending with all the weight this supposedly cool technology adds to these cars. There needs to be a killer feature for something new to take off. I don't see the killer feature on these cars. I see only downsides. Complicated powertrains that will be expensive to fix after warranty, lots of weight, no emotion and the list goes on.

As for automatic transmissions, I still haven't warmed up to torque converters in performance cars. The only automatic transmissions I'm ok with are dual clutch transmissions and the AMG 9-MCT (7-MCT sucked), because they retain a clutch. Even though I don't have a third pedal, they maintain the responsiveness and what I love about a manual transmission. The manual modes in these is responsive to the point I don't miss the H gate and the clutch pedal. AMG continues to stand behind the MCT exactly because of this. In their own words they use it because it's more responsive and exciting than a torque converter. They know this damn well. AMG is run by sales and marketing guys now, so what you get is sales and marketing talk. There's nobody like Tobias Moers left. They are all hoping their bets are paying off. So keep telling customers that they gonna like it eventually. That's worked out well for others....not.

BTW, the most likely people who will like these are future generations who don't know anything else. Smartphones didn't really take off until Gen Z was born with one attached to their hips and can't do anything anymore w/o one.

 

Spot on assessment.

 

I think you guys are taking that point too literally. The point is that MB has been "out in front" before, and will contnue with that. Out in front means introducing technology that preceeds customer demand and waiting for the customer to catch up. When MB introduced ABS, nobody even knew it existed. Other things like rain sensing wipers, distronic cruise control, and all kinds of things I can't remember right now, were first introduced by MB ahead of demand. I think that's the argument the article is making.

As far as the details about 4cyl vs 8cyl, the only people who know the difference are car enthusiast and automotive journalist, the vast majority has a belief that they can always get something better with no drawbacks. So they think 4cyl menas better fuel economy than 8cyl, better. And in this application, maybe more space in the engine bay is better. Maybe it will alleviate any of the RMS problems that came with the 4.0 V8. Just saying. To @superswiss point, these cars are getting insanely complicated, and will be impractical to own out of warranty. But new car buyers and the public at large don't realize that. I'm not saying I agree with their point in terms of right and wrong. But I do think the average consumer will follow and be totally mesmerized by the promise.

 

IMO electric cars are generally impractical to own outside of warranty. Disposable appliances is the new trend while the overwhelming effort is for green living and the long term impact is exactly the opposite.

Getting hung up on the name or the cylinder count is tiresome. Who cares? Why are people personally offended or salty? If you don't like it, don't buy it. Your money will have a greater impact opposed to complaining on an internet forum about it.

The car looks fantastic and performs well.

 

As of today, the infrastrucutre to properly maintain older EV cars isn't in place, but 99% of that is due to long term battery health, maintenance, regeneration. Every other aspect of EV vs ICE is 1000X better. An electric motor is a far more effecient generator of power than any engine powered by fuel. The problem stricly lies in battery technology. That's why there's light at the end of the very long very dark tunnel of EV infrastructure.

Couldn't agree with you more. One it's own, it's an amazing machine! The AMG S63 E Performance is also great. But I don't think I'll ever be brave enough to own one.

Yeah, but what fun would that be??? I don't have hair anymore so I can't go to the barbershop. Where else would I go to hear this type of healthy debate???

 

Or we can do both. Both are already happening. The car isn't selling, so seems like potential customers have voted with their wallet. I get the point about being ahead of the curve, but I don't think customers stopped buying cars because MB introduced ABS, DISTRONIC etc. AMG has stated in another recent interview that the new C63 has brought them some new customers who haven't bought AMGs before, so yes some people are interested in this kind of car, but it's worth pointing out that the C63 was AMG's bestseller. Quite a fall it's taken. The core clientele is walking away.

 

To two of your points, only time will tell. I think it's far too soon to make an assumption about the level of interest in the revised C63. All the talking heads have something to say, it gets them more views and likes on Youtube and article views, but they always jump to conclusions. With the slowdown in car sales across the board, it's impossible to attribute slower than expected sales solely on prior customer's feelings about the car. I can't sispute what you're saying, just saying too soon to predict. You might be 100% correct, but only time will tell

 

Sure, there's some of that. Prices have also gone up like crazy. AMG wants too much money for these cars. Not just the new C63. They also had lots of issues with this powertrain. Production was stopped for a while and it wasn't released until recently in North America, however it's been on sale in Europe for quite a while. If anything I would expect it to sell well in Europe where small engines are much more popular. Recent new AMGs have been riddled with issues which has further slowed interest. The SL63 has been a disaster quite frankly and MB USA is now buying off the customers with a $4000 voucher for their troubles. I've had a number of recent loaners such as the W206 and they all had software issues. Part of why I don't want this car is because of the experience I had in W206 C300 and other loaners. The cheapening of the materials and the interiors as a whole is not helping.

We will have to see how things look in a few years. I'm generally not one to jump to conclusions, but speaking of clicks and views, those YouTubers bought the cars in the past to get clicks and views making videos with them. They haven't bought this one to make videos. Just saying. There isn't any buzz and excitement out there. I will be driving one early September in Germany, so will augment my opinion with actual driving experience. We'll see what I think after that.

 

AMG has gone off the rails in term of pricing. The sales flop from the current generation of AMG, reinforces that the market was not willing to play ball with the current product pricing.

I really like the brand and past stuff from it, but the current crop of cars are a massive miss, both in terms of reliablity and quality, and in terms of the characteristics that define an AMG.

The AMG GT is no longer a halo car, its massively overweight and boring.
The C63 AMG should be a C45 AMG (and although good dynamically there is massive problems, such as the ridiculous boot, the laggy engine, the complication of the powertrain, weight)
The new AMG-SL is completely different to the previos gen (and worse in all aspects)

The S63 and AMG GT-63 E Performance are both good cars and more aligned with the brand, nonetheless both are too complicated, heavy and expensive.

And I am sorry to whoever thinks this will be like phone and smartphone, its not. AMG will have to seriously change its path to avoid losing even more customers. The "smartphone" is the new breed of electric performance cars, and right now AMG, BMW M and Porsche - are both undecided if they want to be an EV-Performance Brand or an ICE Performance Brand, so they come out with this half-baked compromised solutions.

While M3 G8x sales have gone through the roof, Mercedes is struggling badly to move a few units only of the C63. If this does not count as a sales flop, I don't know what does.

 

As we all know, MB as a whole wish to go upmarket, their strategy was to cut production and make their cars more exclusive (well, not exclusive as in more special but less common on the road), they decided it is a good idea to sell less for more profit margin than sell a bunch for a lower profit margin. I was hoping if they do that, they put more thought in the build quality and R&D in the vehicles, sadly given what I seen on the forums of the newest models, they just increase profit margin and not quality, not exclusivity. In Canada, the W206 C 43 is selling for W205 C 63 money and the W206 C 63 is selling for C190 GT money (not exactly but very close). At least the good news is, the W214 seems to be a step in the right direction in the use of material, the C236 also looks like it is a step in the right direction. AMG on the other hand, is basically doing what MB is doing but on a whole next level profit margin wise. Sure, AMG and G-wagen always have high profit margin but after following this strategy, it is on steroids in terms of price increase.

 

Although I am Canadian, I have friends across the world, agree with Europe as that is inline with what my European friends reported. However, at least when it comes to talking to my Asian friends, they say the C 63 S E Performance too is not selling in where they live despite vehicles being taxed based on displacement and number of cylinders. For example, one of my Hong Kong friend said he will look elsewhere than choose the C 63 S E Performance because he doesn't agree to pay that much money without getting a six (his bare minimum, makes or breaks a deal for him) or a V8. Granted, all my friends are car enthusiasts like the majority of us on the forums.

 

I don't think it's necessarily too soon to call the new C63 a sales flop. There are tons by me that have been on lots for 3 or 4 months. M3s are selling like hotcakes, so whatever slowdown in car sales that might be hitting the overall market is not hitting the C63's competitors. The core fanbase is indeed going elsewhere. Anecdotally I bought a CT5 Blackwing and it's the best car I've ever owned. Before this I would have laughed at the idea of owning an American car and was a huge AMG fan.