CarlosAMGBR

Got to experience the demo car, and I got say, maybe my expectations were so low, the car is not half bad.

It still would not see my money, and I much prefer a W205 or W204 C63 AMG, but its half decent to drive.

Transmission is plenty quick, it grips well to the road, the chassis is communicative, but the car does feel and ride is very harsh even in Comfort.

There is some powertrain delay and its all very complicated, but oh boy is it quick, Its almost E63 S AMG quick.

Interior feels cheaper than previous gen. The car also feels heavy under braking, but its handling is pretty surprising (4 Wheel Steering plus harsh ride did the trick)

The point is that the character of the car has changed. Even with the electric assistance it feels slow in low rpms (out of boost) and the character of the engine has changed. Its not an exciting car to drive, its just competent.

Its a good car, but not an enjoyable experience like previous gen. The engine and ride leave a bit to be desired, but other than that, if someone wants a daily with high horsepower, its a good option.

Not sure what lease and incentives are available (given its practically not selling). They should have named this a C43 AMG, and all would be well with the world. And make the C63 a special V8 non PHEV Hybrid - with limited numbers due to emission BS.

W205C43PFL

Interesting, thanks for sharing : )

@Mayur999 this is good news

places

100%, this was always my opinion. As a C43 (or even 53) it would have been a killer, no disappointments, no negative reviews and wicked fast 4 pot. Expectations would have been exceeded and yes, all would be well with the world. Instead they killed off one of the most heralded and important AMG models and turned into an high powered appliance.

W205C43PFL

Agree, this powertrain would had sold much better if it was called the C 43 in W206 form. That said, nothing beats the original W202 C 43

CarlosAMGBR

Its a good car, just not a C63.

The sound is alright for a 4 pot, but misses the rumble of a C63.

It also lacks that beautiful low end grunt and power of a C63, its funny the car has a 1-1.5s delay before you really get the power (I believe its the complicated powetrain, combined with incredibly boosted 4 pot engine). The S 63 AMG I drove was the same thing. Especially in Comfort or Hybrid mode, then the delay is close to 2-3s.

The transmission is great when driving sporty, driving slowly its a little clunky but all 4.0TT + MCT were a little clunky.

Another gripe is the ride, its harsh. Our roads here are crap, but the ride is harsh, its harsher then the pre FL E63 S AMG, and the W205 C 63 AMG. They probably needed to make it that harsh for the performance aspect side of things (it needed to handle).

It does feel heavy under braking and cornering, I think it will churn out quicker lap times than the W205 mainly due to the 4WD out of corners, but it corners a little better. I enjoyed the experience though, but I enjoyed it when I stopped viewing this ias a C63, as it is not a C63. Its a C43 AMG rebranded as a C63 AMG for price and profit. And the C43 AMG is a C450 rebranded for price and profit.

CarlosAMGBR

I think with a good incentive, its a decent buy. Nonetheless I prefer the M3 G80 over it.

Mayur999

Thanks for the thoughts. Appreciate you sharing your experience on the drive for those of us who have not been able to see or drive it yet.

Agree, I would not have been upset if this was a C53/43 and the C63 came with the V8.

Out of curiosity, where are you located? Thanks

5ilver-5urfer

Thanks for the write up! Not sure why it's taking them so long to put it in production, hasn't this car been 'ready' for over a year now?

W205C43PFL

The launch of the W206 C 43 was also delayed a lot and even after all the delays, there were many problems with the vehicles when it got to customers' hands, given how much of a controversy the C 63 S E Performance is, I guess they want to fine tune it more to hopefully give us (positive?) surprises/impress us?

eatmydust

Imagine the comedy if they did name it the c43. At that point a c43 would be faster then the m3 comp haha.

Mayur999

Yeah. I think its country dependant.

The car is released and available in Europe, UK, USA, South Africa. Malaysia, Vietnam and Australia already from what Ive read and seen.

Based on OP information, perhaps in Brazil as well.

Canada however, not yet. We are ALWAYS delayed.

W205C43PFL

They really should had called it a C 43. I mean look at the new CLE 53 and E 53, they are at previous generation 63 S territory and who knows what a beast it will be when the new 63 S comes out.

W205C43PFL

Edited to correct: Sorry, I shouldn't had mentioned CLE 53 as it is no where close to the W214 E 53, I wish they weren't both called "53". The CLE 53's power however is much closer to the W213 E 53

places

Cross branding the 63 name with V8's and 4's was a marketing blunder. Confusing and misleading, no different than the fake quad tips on certain cars. A C43 with these numbers would be nothing to apologize for. It would be groundbreaking. Making it a 63 killed it.

Should be:

43 = 4
53 = 6
63 = 8

CarlosAMGBR

I am in Brazil. The official launch of the car was this previous Wed, they have a demo car rolling out for AMG owners (press event will follow this month and we will also get another chance to experience it further).

CarlosAMGBR

According to the AMG reps here, the car had a multitude of issues which delayed its launch consistently. Apparently there are no more issues, I experienced no hiccups while driving, although the powertrain integration sometimes is weird.

CarlosAMGBR

Yep I am in Brazil. Its not yet available here (just demo and press cars thus far), the consumer cars are arriving in August and September.

The car was delayed several times here (the launch was expected for previous October, and the order bank opened last August).

CarlosAMGBR

I can gather my thoughts with more detail now:

Performance:
The car is not the powerhouse of performance the V8s were (there are some rev ranges in which the car has no power and performance at all). The car also lacks performance in Hybrid mode (Comfort for example) (there is a 2s until the engine kicks in and kickdowns).

Other than that, by god its fast. Its E63 S W213 fast. It picks up and go. There are some weird spots, such as when I believe the electric engine changes up a gear in which the car stops pulling but then it goes back. Its very fast. It has far more top end pull than the W205 (I was not expecting that). Its car that gets the job done in the Sportier settings.

Handling:
Very good. It does feel heavy, but it grips well to the road, and communicates well through the chassis. The grip limits are impressive, and traction is awesome. They changed the characteristics of the 4Matic+ though, it no longer feels like that RWD biased system, where the rear slips a little. Now there is no slip, its just grip. A W205 won't be able to keep up with this thing on track or twisties. It feels heavy though, and under braking, you can feel the car moving around, and you can also feel it begin to wash wide due to understeer from weight.

Transmission:
Very fast but gear ratios are too short for 1-2-3, so you are constantly shifting, nonetheless now it shifts automatically up even in manual mode (such B.S.). The transmission is a bit clunky at low revs, and like the C43 W206, the engine outside of boost has little performance and once on boost it eats through the revs quickly, so it feels jerky sometimes as gears are short. The electric engine actually smoothens things out. I believe its far less clunky then the W206 C43, but its not smooth, although my previous gen W213 E63 was similar in that regard. I like the harshness of the gear change when driving quickly though, and the paddles respond very quickly. I just found the kickdown a little slow even in the sportiest settings (I believe there is too much going on).

Steering:
Completely devoid of feel but incredibly precise, its almost telephatic. It steers far more confidently than the W205, but it has 0 feel whatsoever, you feel what is happening to the car through the chassis not through the steering.

Suspension:
Very little roll, but too harsh. Almost unbearable in bad road surfaces. The W205 was always a harsh ride too, but its far more supple than this one. The W206 was made for very flat german roads, and you can notice that. I believe that with less tyre pressure and some tweaking the ride can be improved, but its still harsh.

Brakes:
Awesome brakes, per usual with AMG, the car brakes very well, and also the brake pedal feel is very good. I was expecting regen to ruin it, but it didn't.

Engine (ICE 4 cil):
This is where things begin to go downhill fast. The engine has no performance whatsoever outside of boost, so the electric engine is what saves it. There is some delays as well untill it delivers full power. The sound is so fake and artificial as well. They tried to give it a V8 AMG noise, but its just not possible. I like the 4cil in the context of the CLA/A45 AMG where its a 1,5 ton car, but for a 2,2 ton car, this engine is unacceptable. The engine revs out beautifully, and on boost, it actually works nicely, but still does not sound good.

Finish:
Mercedes has been going downhill with its interior quality and this is no exception. The seats are very nice, but the door panels and especially center console are creakier and clearly worse in terms of materials to the W205.

Space:
Nicely spacious cabin, but the boot is a joke. Honestly, I can't believe anyone found that acceptable. No way anyone with a family can use that boot. 290l is completely unacceptable.


Overall its a decent but flawed car.

W205C43PFL

Thanks for the updated impressions.

5ilver-5urfer

This is a really nice write up - and I think it will help a lot of people make a decision about whether to pursue this car or not. Outside of straight line speed under certain conditions, did you feel like this car has any 'drama'? The beauty of the W205 C63S really was it's ability to kick out the back, the rumble of the 8, and it's road presence. I'm not sure I've seen a single review talk about any sense of drama that comes with this car. I know that straight line speed is what's going for it right now, but I'm not sure that's enough of a selling point, is it? Why wouldn't someone just save money and buy a performance Tesla if they were looking for speed - what else are you really getting with this new C63S E? Mind you, I don't ever see myself as a Tesla guy - I just don't get why MB went so far away from their secret sauce.

You never really buy an M3 because you want to be the fastest, you buy one because you want the crazy inline-6 and to go sideways on demand. You never really buy an RS6 because you want extreme tunability, you buy it because it feels opulent while performant.

eatmydust

No creaks in my w206 c43. Guess I got lucky

superswiss

That's really the crux of the situation. Nice review by OP, and pretty much along the lines of everybody else who has driven the car. There's lag when normal driving it, but on the boil it's not too bad. Same issue the GT63 SE had. If you can keep it on the boil in Race mode it's not bad, except for all the weight you have to haul around. It doesn't handle bad for how much it weighs, but we really don't have much of a reference point, because there's no C63 w/o E Performance to compare how it would handle if it weighted 500 lbs less. The closest car to compare it to is the C43, and it all comes at the expense of a stiff suspension to manage the weight. That's unsurprising.

AMG is indeed trying to dazzle everyone with the straight-line speed and the theoretical horsepower figures. Theoretical, because the rated horsepower is only available for 10 seconds at a time. Just driving around, you are essentially driving a slightly larger CLA 45. I think that's the issue. It doesn't feel special at 35 mph. It's just a 4-banger while daily driving. The 205 felt special at any speed. You didn't have to drive it ***** out to know that you are not driving a C300, and lack of power was never really something the 205 had. It already has more power than you can reasonably use on public roads, so what's the selling point of even more power that you can't use?

I'm going to be driving this thing in 2 months at the Mercedes Test Center in Immendingen, so I'll report back after my trip. I'm mainly looking forward to driving the GT63 coupe, though.

CarlosAMGBR

I dont understand as well why AMG went on this direction and why it also made its Hybrid system so damn complicated (two speeds, e-turbo) and so on. The complications actually affect the experience overall.

The theatre of the V8 AMG is gone in the C63. There is no theatre, its all engineering. It does not feel special, unless ringed out to 11/10 and even then its not as good to drive as the W205. Its fun when driven hard, but not close to what the W205 could provide in entertainment. The main disappointment is the engine noise and torque delivery compared to the W205.

I agree with you on all counts. I much rather own a RS5 or M3 to the new C63. Its a compromised car. But it has some upsides, it is economical and its a feasible dd for those who dont need a large boot.

CarlosAMGBR

Spot on assessment. It feels like driving a C300 unless driven hard. Its too complicated as well, the two speed hybrid system that causes gaps in acceleration, the overly boosted 4cyl.

Then theres the harsh ride. The 10s performance, is a complicated aspect. Its hard to be in any situation where you can press the gas for more than the 10s, and I havent felt that decrease in performance while driving, but yeah I am sure in the top end the V8 will beat this thing (for the autobahn drivers)

The GT63 Coupe does not seem that promising either. Too heavy, higher center of gravity, cheaper platform, no more transaxle transmission.

To me it feels like AMG is milking the brand. The C63 should be a C43 or something, the GT63 Coupe, should be a C63 Coupe not a GT63.

CarlosAMGBR

No creaks in the C63 I drove. But if you press the panels, they creak.