In both my GLC63S and GLC43, when I accelerate really hard making a turn from a standstill in an effort to try skidding the rear end, the engine seems to lose power briefly. Is a safety mechanism of some kind kicking in that causes the loss of power, or is something else going on?

 

Yes the engine will loose power until all the wheels gain traction equally again. ESP. Electronic stability program.
Even turning the ESP button off it will still be there in the background but will be a little bit more loose.

 

so how do you get these cars to purposely loose traction so the rear end skids out? Or can they?

 

some 63’s have drift mode or race mode. I’m sure that will let the rear end lose. Personally I like mine staying in control.

 

Time to RTFM

 

You really can't unless you have the 4matic+ transmission...this is why Mercedes came out with the 4matic+

 

For starters, you have to turn ESP completely off. Press and hold the ESP button for at least 3 seconds until you see it show as off in the instrument cluster. These things have a 3-stage ESP system. By default it's on. One brief press puts it in Sport Handling mode which dials back TC and allows some drift angles, then stage 3 is off. However, the SUVs due to their high center of gravity never really fully turn off ESP. The rollover protection remains active, so if you try a maneuver like this, the system will intervene to keep it from rolling over. On top of that, you have AWD, so the front wheels will always try to pull you straight. The SUVs are not meant for drifting, which is why none of them, even the newer ones, have drift mode.

For comparison, I have a C63S Coupe, which is a 100% RWD, and with ESP fully off, I'm gonna do 360s unless I control the drift. Ask me how I know. My car also has a 9-stage traction control, so with ESP fully off, I can dial in how much traction control I want. ESP off will disable what's called yaw control. Which is what tries to counter the rotation of the car beyond your steering angle using selective brake control and if necessary cutting engine power. Traction control is a subsystem of ESP and as the name says is concerned with ensuring the wheels have traction. It will also cut engine power if the wheels lose traction. Being able to control yaw control and traction control somewhat separate gives a lot more freedom. The GLC doesn't have this option. You can only put it in Sport Handling, which increases both the thresholds for yaw control and traction control, or you can turn both off, but you can't have a middle ground. But as said, you also have the rollover protection that will step in if it senses there's a risk of the vehicle flipping over due to the high center of gravity.

 

Thanks Superswiss. I RTFM and it is quite a complicated subject, as your post indicates. I really need to study this. The GLC63S is such a beast, it is difficult to know what the limit is before the car loses control. I might be only using 30% or 50% of its capability. I'd really like to know just how aggressively you can push this car relative to manoeuvring before something bad is likely to happen. I should probably take lessons at the race track....the instructor should know I would think.

 

I recommend you take a look at the AMG Experience events https://www.amgexperienceus.com/. They are a blast and they helped me discover the limits of my own AMG, because it was actually part of the fleet at the time and I got to drift it at those events. I've attended several of them in the USA and Europe such as at Laguna Seca, the Nürburgring and other tracks, including a winter driving event in Austria. The purchase of a brand new AMG 63 actually includes a complementary day. However, you will find that even AMG doesn't use their SUVs for any kind of track driving or drifting. That should tell you something, but you get to experience other models that are designed for that kind of driving.

 

I drift my GLC63 every chance I get and a huge reason why I got the car as the system switches to rear wheel drive bias for goon mode. AWD for family mode. Road conditions matter. ESP defeat setting matters. ESP off with weather conditions the car is on ICEEEEEEE. Sport with weather the car want to straighten out and can violently get you there if dry normal conditions you need ESP defeated for any funny business. In sport it will be grippy with very very limited slip. Just enough to aggressively tackle a track. Tires can all play a difference also but I'm not gonna get into all that. Long story short the cars can do it, it takes a bit of driver learning and to be honest aggression as the car almost wants to know you intend to manhandle her otherwise the german tech kicks in and says you are not ready for the fun. When you get the hang of if and the throttle feathering etc it is addictive. Thank you again to the team at AMG. Ive built cars of different types and experimented with a bunch of things for a daily driver but this car was very well thought out and it seems the intent was to let you have a legitimate AMG experience. The sundown for MBUX though, I'm very disappointed until goon mode kicks in and I remember that I dont need the MBUX anymore.

 

the GLC63 drifts

 

If you read carefully what I wrote I didn't say anywhere that it doesn't drift. You can get anything to drift with enough manhandling and brute force. Ultimately the tires have finite grip. You even allude to this in your post above. There's a difference between a chassis that wants to play and one that you have to manhandle to get it to play. That's what it comes down to. The C63 is often described as a car that wants to kill you, because if you don't know what you are doing the rear will overtake the front. The GLC63 is a car that you have to force to kill you. Neither is a bad thing. Just depends if you want something more safe, or something more playful that keeps you on the edge at all times. I've had my share of AWD performance cars, drifted them, too, but you can feel that they don't really want to do this. Ultimately I got tired of them, and I had to go back to a proper RWD chassis.

 

You stated "The SUVs are not meant for drifting, which is why none of them, even the newer ones, have drift mode."


thats simply not true. Whether or not suvs are meant for drifting is for debate but im saying the suvs, even the newer ones, can have the rear get loose. the rear of glc will overcome the front also. Especially since both have so much v8 weight in front. To break the rear regardless of calling it a drift or slip or whatever anyone wants to call it the suv platforms (that allow rear wheel bias cutover) do indeed get loose.

the awd cars that have limited capability of the switch like 40/60 20/80 30/70 etc do feel a bit off but in certain vehicles that allow 100% rwd bias are great. You do have mechanicals still physically connected upfront so in theory its never 100% maybe 90-95% rwd bias but driving rwd fwd and awd cars you dont notice the difference imo and I actually prefer the front to grab when necessary.

To each their own but I just wanted to clarify that the suvs do break loose. And let me also clarify the misconception of flipping these cars over.....aint happening unless you are an absolute idiot.

manufacturers would not be making the power in these suvs like the merc, lambo, aston, audi, etc if the design did not keep them planted in most all driving conditions unless doing something absolutely reckless.

 

I guess some people call it drifting if they get the tail out of line a little bit before the front wheels pull them straight again around a sharp turn. The SUVs can definitely do that. But drifting is what's shown in the video below for example. Unless you can go sideways through an entire turn, you are not really drifting. We probably just have different levels of experience.

 

not sure about the "experience". What some call a drift some call a power slide. Who cares. The rear gets loose is the point. Whether someone knowing how to hold it or having a certain style of "drifting" is irrelevant.
Im just making sure people have facts in the forum so they can formulate their own opinions on whether or not these cars can break loose in the rear. Everything else beyond that is extra.

great driving though car looks great doing it!

 

I'm not talking about driver skills. I'm simply talking about vehicle dynamics. It's about whether the chassis setup is willing to hold the drift, or if it's trying to constantly pull you back in and straighten the car. With AWD you are constantly fighting the front wheels wanting to pull you straight shortly after going sideways. That's what the drift mode addresses in the models such as the E63S. It fully decouples the front wheels, so you don't have this issue. Help me out, where's the disconnect here? This is my only point behind the comment that the SUVs are not for drifting. AMG deliberately left the drift mode out of the SUVs. They didn't design them to drift. That doesn't mean you can't do it if you are determined enough, but it's not in their inherent design.

 

The OP wanted to know if "skidding" the rear was possible and if his stalling issues and engine cut were due to the attempts at it. Im trying to stay on topic here and verify that this is possible to do. I would say the only thing I didnt mention is power/torque possibly required to break it loose even after the esp settings are defeated. Irregardless im just trying to answer the OP in saying this is possible and not trying to talk about drifting

 

I can’t imagine getting my ML63 to drift at all. I’d be to **** scared of losing it. 😂