Mercedes-AMG C63 S E Performance review | Autocar

Our first drive of the new C63, with its plug-in hybrid four-cylinder engine, left us more than a little underwhelmed.

While the digitally augmented noise it makes is not actively offensive, it’s also in no way a compelling reason to buy the car. Similarly, while the nine-speed automatic gearbox gets the job done, it’s not a main character in the C63’s performance story.

When we attended the launch event, engineers told us that this powertrain will compensate for its lack of charisma with raw performance, so let’s take a look at the numbers. The C63 Estate’s official 0-62mph time of 3.4sec (which it hit exactly in our testing) is 0.2sec quicker than an M3 Touring’s – impressive, but we expected a bit more daylight between the two.

The real story is in the instant, apparently unending and ever-present in-gear thrust. Take a look at the ‘Acceleration in gear’ box on p52, and even if you don’t live and breathe these numbers like we do, you might notice that the box is unusually well filled and doesn’t contain a single figure over 10sec. Even in ninth gear, which isn’t especially short, it simply pulls from low to high revs, laughing at other cars’ limited powerbands.

While the mighty M5 CS is slightly faster from a standing start and pulls harder when the twin-turbo V8 hits its stride, the C63 monsters it from low revs and beats it from 30-70mph in fourth gear. We’ve never performance tested a four-wheel-drive M3 or M4, but the rear-drive M4 we road tested in 2021 isn’t even in the same conversation, and traction is irrelevant when talking about in-gear performance.

Out on real roads, the C63’s huge in-gear pace figures less than one might imagine, though, because to access it you need to press the accelerator past the kickdown switch. First of all, that feels unnatural; and if you’ve left the gearbox in automatic mode, it will indeed kick down, rendering the low-rev thrust moot.

It’s best to engage manual mode. Then the gearbox won’t downshift and you can slingshot out of tight corners when an M3 would still be filling its lungs.

AMG’s promise that the battery will never run out does ring true in road driving. With the powertrain set to at least Sport, the system does a very good job of topping up the battery to half its capacity during times when you’re not demanding full power, so that when you do, the electric motor can give its best.

Electrified Mercedes can suffer from inconsistent brake pedal feel but we did not find this to be the case with the C63. A stopping distance of 43.6m from 70mph is also quite tidy. However, the standard steel-composite brakes did seem to suffer from repeatedly slowing from high speed and felt slightly juddery for a few hundred miles after performance testing. If you plan to take this 2.2-tonne car on track, the carbon-ceramics seem to be a worthwhile investment.