Motivemagazine - First Drive: 2008 Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG

Tycoon

In the urinary Olympics known as the German car industry, it was inevitable that Deutschland's three biggest luxury automakers would start stuffing V8s into performance versions of their so-called "entry-luxury" cars. Audi's S4 has packed eight cylinders since 2003, but it was the 420-hp RS4 that garnered real attention. Then the 414-horse BMW M3 joined in. With the Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG, the naturally aspirated troika is complete, and there is harmony and balance in the universe - but madness on the streets.

Powering this new C-class is the AMG-built 6.2-liter, all-aluminum V8 from the CLK63, E63, and S63. It has two overhead camshafts per head that vary intake- and exhaust-valve timing by up to 42 degrees, and it inhales deeply through a two-stage intake manifold. In this application, the V8 produces an even 450 horsepower at 6800 rpm, but look at the output ratings of other cars with this engine and it's clear that AMG is sandbagging. "It was a positioning decision," says AMG honcho "Super" Mario Spitzner. "A smaller air intake box and less aggressive injection, ignition, and throttle mapping keeps horsepower lower than our higher-end offerings but higher than our competition. For example, this car has 50 percent more torque than an M3 [443 lb-ft], and that's without stressing it." Take note, Eurotuners: the S63's 525 hp is just a few tweaks away.

Shoehorning the V8 into this car was more than a matter of greasing it up and stuffing it in, though. Spitzner says, "We wanted AMG to get back into this C-class segment, but we wanted to do it right." Adopting the approach of BMW's M group and Audi's Quattro GmbH, AMG made substantial changes to the chassis. It moved the engine two inches closer to the firewall and lowered its cradle, resulting in an somewhat BMW-like front/rear weight distribution of 54/46 percent and revised suspension geometry that affords a lower roll center. While it was at it, AMG installed a longer front axle that carries a three-link front suspension twice as rigid as the base car's, paying dividends in steering and braking precision. The steering itself is quicker, with a ratio of 13.5:1 instead of 14.5:1, and it is unobtrusively speed sensitive. Our market will get standard 18-inch wheels, which make room for 14.2-inch, six-piston-front/13.0-inch, four-piston-rear cross-drilled and vented brakes.

AMG also installed its Speedshift Plus transmission, a seven-speed manumatic with three modes: Comfort mode swaps gears most leisurely; Sport speeds up changes by about 30 percent; Manual is 20 percent faster still. This is the automatic that aspires to be a twin-clutch transmission - it revs to just under the fuel cut out, automatically blips the throttle for downshifts, and upshifts instantaneously, without upsetting the load balance of the car.

The C63 gets a few new body panels, such as a blistered hood (not functional), and new fenders and lower aprons with lots of cooling gills and four exhaust tips (functional). Inside, the car's relatively austere origins make themselves known in the rectilinear dashboard design that, unlike other Benzes, does without much trim. The 16-way leather sport seats, however, feel like they slid off a side of Wagyu beef.

There's a wonderful incongruity to this car, a kind of high-spirited ridiculousness that you don't get in the Audi RS4 or the BMW M3. Even the base A4 and 3-series cars have the kind of pliability that invite aggressive driving. The C-class, on the other hand, traditionally has been what you tell your mom to buy.

So even though I went through the technical briefing before my drive, I was still expecting a mild-mannered - if very powerful - Benz, sort of a tidier and lower-riding version of the AMG R-class. That was stupid.

First of all, this engine might be hand-built in Affalterbach, but it speaks in the chaw-spitting patois of Mooresville, North Carolina. Open the throttle anywhere between 2000 and 6500 rpm, and you might think you've been teleported to the stands at Charlotte, only without your beer and with all your teeth. It's all pulsing drama, bass-heavy vibrato, and window-rattling brown notes.

The power delivery is heavy and locomotive-like, pulling just as strongly from 60 to 120 mph as it does from 0 to 60 - a sprint that happens, for the record, in 4.2 seconds. But it's not only fast and remarkably stable in a straight line: The chassis's reflexes feel faster than even the very quick throttle response or the reciprocating parts it controls. Turn in is as flat and crisp as a Saltine. The C63 sets up for a bend promptly, but the body is so tightly controlled that it only leans enough to humor the driver's inner ear. The brakes grip hard and fast, with a high degree of pedal feel for such a small amount of travel. Short, ultra-aggressive ride motions have no rebound, and very little harshness. In fact, the whole car has an astounding economy of motion, thanks to its ingot-like structure. And most men wish their girlfriends were as faithful and perfectly weighted as this car's steering.

This hyper-alert chassis makes cornering a matter of personal preference, but first you have to turn off the three-mode ESP (On, Sport, or Off, which reengages if you jump on the brake mid-corner). Brake abruptly in a straight line before a curve to load up the front end, put the power down hard, and feel the backside come around in a long, lurid, easily controllable slide. Trail brake for almost the same effect, only with narrower slip angles. Or, simply go in way too fast and feel a hint of initial understeer, then keep on the power for a superheroic four-wheel drift whose neutrality eventually turns ass-happy.

The C63 is a surprising effort from AMG. Usually content to swap in a mighty engine and heftier brakes, Mercedes' in-house tuner went big this time, facing off against its smallest, but fiercest, competition. It hasn't magically turned the C63 into a BMW - it's more stout and rigid and heavily muscled than the M3. But when it goes on sale here in August '08, it will cost $63,000, and it will finally give BMW something to think about.

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