Car Magazine reckons the W204 C63 has got the E92 M3's number

[si|verfish]

http://www.autocarmagazine.com/contentImages/Car/Mercedes-Benz/C-Class/27774599.jpg

As the M3 has gotten softer and a far cry from its racing homologation days
despite having more and more horsepower, no thanks to BMW's marketing men, Audi
and Mercedes have caught up in the uber saloon stakes. Whilst BMW is thanking
their lucky stars that Audi's fantastic RS4 is no longer in production (new one
coming sometime in 2009), Mercedes is going to unleash the C63 AMG, a 451bhp
443lbft rain on the M3's parade.
https://www.zerotohundred.com/forums/file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Tom%20Goh/Local%20Settings/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/FrontPageTempDir/wp0bs396.jpg

Source: http://www.carmagazine.co.uk/print.php?sid=969


So this is Merc’s answer to the new BMW M3...
Got it. Hot C's have long
been part of Mercedes' line-up, but none has had us quite as excited as this,
the C63 which as the name suggests, gets the big 6.3-litre V8 from the car right
at the top of Merc's range, the CL63.

It’s worth pointing out that while
Audi and BMW have only just got around to slotting V8s under their cars’
bonnets, Merc has been at it for years starting with the C43 back in 1997. The
C63 doesn’t go on sale in the UK until mid-2008, but when it gets here it will
only have the M3 to beat as its other obvious rival, the Audi RS4, is about to
die and won’t be replaced until 2009.

How will I spot it?
Try the flared wheelarches, new front and rear
bumpers, quad
exhausts, twin bonnet powerdomes, rear diffuser or wing vents.
And if you get close enough, peek through the window at the unusual sports seats
that look like they came out of an ’80s 911, the leather-wrapped wheel,
rubber-studded aluminium pedals and SLR-style silver instruments that look great
but aren’t that easy to read.

Any way you look at it, this isn’t your
usual sobre-suited Merc.

So run me through the highlights
That
6.3-litre V8 is the same one you’ll find in the CL63 but detuned slightly to
deliver 451bhp and 443lb ft of torque. So it trumps the
new
M3 to the tune of 37bhp and a gigantic 148lb ft.

It
drives through a tweaked version of Merc’s seven-speed auto with three modes:
Comfort (typically Merc smooth upshifts, reluctant downshifts), Sport (30
percent quicker shifts, blips on the way down) and Manual, which swaps ratios in
half the time needed in Comfort mode.

So it's not slow then?
Not unless your regular car is a top fuel
dragster. The new M3 does 62mph in 4.8sec but Merc says the C63 will hit the
same benchmark in 4.5sec, so reckon on nearer 4.0sec dead to 60mph.

And
even that doesn’t fully illustrate how rapid the C63 feels, particularly above
100mph. Any gearbox snobs out there need to know that the auto ’box works really
well, Sport mode being enough for day-to-day stuff and manual the right tool for
when you really want to have some fun.

But it’s whipped in the bends, right?
Wrong. Unlike some rival cars the
C63 comes with no buttons to change steering or
suspension settings, although if you think the standard car
isn’t going to be hardcore enough or expect to be doing a lot of track work, you
can specify tauter suspension, bigger
brakes and wide 19-inch tyres when you place your order.


But even the standard 18-inch
wheel
car is a delight. With ESP set in Sport mode, every deviation
from the straight-ahead as you turn the wheel results in a three-way conference
call between accelerator, throttle and
rear
suspension. The steering retains the standard car’s 13.5:1
ratio but the rack is repositioned, the front track is 35mm wider and the brakes
are serious: six pots up front, four pots at the back and full of feel.


Switch ESP out altogether and it’s an absolute riot. The RS4 doesn’t really do
oversteer, at least not in the dry, and the M3 needs more provocation than
before to perform. But the C63 has the torque and balance to let you play all
day, if sliding is your thing.

It’s sounding like a full five-star car
Factor in the expected £50k price
and, yes, it looks like the C63 has it all sewn up. But there is a niggle and
it’s to do with the way the C63 deals with lumps and bumps. Traditional Merc
customers won’t like it. Even the M3 rides better.

While it’s easy to get
carried away applauding Mercedes for not fitting gimmicky buttons to change the
suspension sittings,
Porsche proved with PASM on the GT3 and RS just how useful
such systems can be. It's the one chink in the Merc's armour.

Verdict
The C63 is a
great
car – and for all sorts of reasons we weren’t expecting. It’s
agile, has great brakes and steering, the auto gearbox works well and it’s even
good value for money. On top of that it’s blisteringly quick, but then you knew
that already.

This is an AMG you need make no excuses for and it could
just be the best sports saloon on sale. We'll be hunting down a group test with
its rivals soon to deliver the definitive verdict on that one...


Need
to know: Mercedes C63 AMG
How much? £50,000 (est)
On sale in UK: mid 2008

Engine: 6208cc 32v V8, 451bhp @ 6800rpm, 443lb ft@ 5000rpm
Transmission:
Seven-speed automatic, rear-wheel drive
Performance: 4.5sec 0-62mph, 155mph
(limited)
How heavy/made of? 1728kg/steel
How big (length/width/height in
mm)? 4725/1795/1438
Rating *****
Source:
Images: Autocar / BMW

 

[infernaL]

Re: Car Magazine reckons the C63 has got the M3's number

another quality product that AMG time and time again produces more often then the M division ?

 

[si|verfish]

Well, AMG has always produced crazy autobahn rockets. The difference these days is that they now realise the need to make their products more appealing to more serious drivers. Something which BMW's M Division does very well. Audi's Quattro Division is also in the act nowadays.

What all this means is superb news for fans of uber Teutonic saloons.

PS: Hmm...me post got edited again. Maybe I should post in the contributors section first?

 

[Lennon]

The front part remind me of Altezza, just a slight similarity on the headlight.... But hell it's good looking....

 

[infernaL]

wtf the 2nd pic dosent look merc-ish lol

 

[si|verfish]

I didn't do that.

I suppose Tom or whoever edited it to remind people what the new M3 looks like :)

 

[infernaL]

bleh, the 1st pic of the C63 looks better, it oozes DTM and AMG all over it.

 

[si|verfish]

Yup, the Merc absolutely spanks the Bimmer for looks. Can't wait for other nutters like Brabus to get their hands on it. I'm anticipating some absolutely psychotic machines from them.