BMW M4 v AMG C63 S track test and performance review

Hey guys, Atko here and we're at Queensland Raceway, our test track. Today we've got an iconic rivalry between BMW and Mercedes. We've got the C63 AMG S and the BMW M4 Competition. Both these cars are rear wheel drive monsters with 375 kilowatts of power, 700 newton metres of torque in the AMG and 650 in the BMW. This is a chance for the final V8 version of the C63 to take it to the new M4 until the changes that happen next year with this going hybrid power come into effect. I expect this to be a close battle, but let's get on the track and see how quick they are. All right, we already know the C63 is a rear wheel drive monster and it doesn't take much to show that. This thing is crazy. All right, initial impressions. Seating position is actually really good. I really like it. Nicely placed in the car. Pretty good support and it's comfortable for everyday use as well. So I don't think there's any issues there. Absolutely love the wheel, the Alcantara finish with the carbon. Paddles are in a good position. I don't mind the dash. I'd probably like something a little bit more racy, like for track work. It's fine. You can see the rev needle very easily and I like the shift lights. Nice and subtle, but you can really clearly see it when you need to shift. Now the engine's the key part of this car. That V8 twin turbo, 375 kilowatts and 700 newton meters of torque. So it's just power. As soon as you ask for it, it's there. It's almost too easy to slide. It's ridiculous. It's just got power like the whole way. Super drivable. You can basically be in any gear and just put the power down as she goes. And it's almost smart to be upper gear. It seems if you're in too low a gear, it will just snap on you like that. Pick the gear, get the traction and go. So it seems a smart play with this engine. And I feel like I'm so traction limited, like that's going to be the killer for this car. That I'm just chasing that rear the whole time. So the gearbox actually feels pretty good. No real complaints. And the differential just comes together nicely. Like I don't feel any steps there. It grabs the slip nice and early. Like you really don't get any inside wheel slip. You just pretty much lock the wheels straight together. So that's fine. It's a nine speed multi-clutch transmission, which is somewhere between a dual clutch and a normal automatic, but it feels super quick. The suspension, I've messed around between the sports plus and sports setting. And on this track, which has a few bumps, I think the quicker setting will be the sport. But I don't think there's a lot in it. I really feel like I want the car to squat a little bit more in the rear. And even in the sports setting, to be honest, it doesn't really squat that much. And I think that's why it's so easy to drift. Like you can drift it, no worries at all. But I'm worried that I'm not going to be able to get the power down quick enough off the corners. And really fire forward. I feel like I'm just sitting a little bit up high in the rear and not squatting and shooting off the corners. Now the brakes, it's got the carbon brakes on it. Let's test them out. Stops okay. The carbon brakes, I probably expect a little more. And I guess my main complaint there is that the pedal's just a little bit long. I want a firmer pedal so that I can really modulate it. And I feel like when I push hard, I'm not getting the ABS affecting it. But I just don't have complete confidence. So maybe a little negative there. The tyres are the Michelin Pilot Super Sports. And just laterally are going to miss out to the Cup 2s on the M4. It's just inevitable that that's going to happen. So the AMG is going to have its work cut out to match it. It's got to do everything else impeccable to probably keep up. And I'd say it's going to be one of the first couple of laps. I think the tyres will just drop away after a few laps. And you'll be just missing that outright grip, the performance. All right. We know it oversteers. That's no worries. So good. It's just so easy to slide. It's like 20% throttle and it'll slide. That's so cool. Well, it ticks that box. If you want to drift it, no worries at all. I love this traction control option in this car as well. I've got it completely off now. But for the lat time, I reckon I'll run it around seven or six position. So some help, but not restricting me at all. Let's try and slide it in that position and see if it makes any real difference. Whether it cuts in. That's cool. So I'm hard into the throttle. I'm slightly yawed, but I can continue to hold the slide. Yes, that seems spot on. Let's go up to eight. See what we can get away with in eight. Okay. So it just gets away with a little bit more in eight. But to be fair, that six position feels pretty good. And it's probably where I'll hit the laps at. All right. It's time to get serious and see what sort of lap time we can get out of this C63. I've gone race mode everything except the suspension. I'm going just in sport mode. Manual transmission, master dynamics and then traction control on level six, but ESP completely off. So it'll catch some slide, but only on throttle. All right. Let's start this hot lap and see what time she does. This thing is fun. All right. So first impression is the M4. And wow, this is just a completely different interior to the C63. It's crazy the difference, but in a good way for the track. And first, these seats, they're absolutely unreal. They are maybe my favourite seats I've ever been in a road car on a track. They're comfortable. I feel like I'm down low and angled back. And the support, like I just don't move. It's just completely locked in. And you really feel connected to the car in a way. I also like the fact that you've got the headrest that you can remove the piece so the helmet can go right back. So there's no restriction. My helmet's not hitting anything there. And obviously put that pad back in when you go back out on the road. So you can see they've thought about this car being on the track. Now, the wheel, the wheels, maybe my least favourite part of the interior. It's just a little bit chunkier than I like on the track. And also the fact that it's leather, not Alcantara. So after a few laps and I start to sweat on the palms, which is my own issue anyway. But they just slip around a little bit. And some people like it. Some people don't. I prefer the Alcantara. But the paddle shifts are great. The big carbon paddles, really long, really clear and textured on the back as well. So you can grab them, feel exactly where they are. You don't even really think about it. They're just easy to grab and flick and perfect. No issues there at all. I really like the dash as well. Super clear. The shift lights when you're in M modes, then it pops up at the top. The shift lights come together at the top. You know exactly when to shift. And like I mentioned, the M modes, that's one of my favourite things as well. You can pre-set everything, M1 and M2. And then go on the track and choose between the two settings. So now pick up the pace a little bit. See how it feels. The engine, the transmission. It's twitchy as well. Almost as reactive as that C63. The engine's identical power numbers. Slightly different torque numbers. This feels just a bit peaky, a little bit sharper. And just revs out a little bit more. Still very drivable. I can just feed in the power how I want. If I wanted it to slide, I just up the power and she comes round. This thing is quick. Now the transmission. They've actually gone back to a normal sports automatic and got rid of the dual clutch out of the previous generation M4. And it might be great on the road, through the car parks, things like that. But it just feels a little bit sluggish on the track compared to a dual clutch. Just like you'd expect more. More urgency, more of a bang. And I'd say the C63 wins in that stake. Even though it's not a dual clutch, the gearbox just feels that little bit more responsive. That little quicker and just a little bit more engaging. So I'd give the transmission to the C63. But this is not a huge negative with this car. It's still very usable and very useful on the track. The rear differential. I like the feeling. I feel like it's got really subtle control over the locking. You can just take it to the edge and you can feel the locking coming. And it doesn't slam shut. It just softens the slip. And then if you ask more, then it grabs it. So it's really nice how it can just manage that power, manage the torque. And you can just stay there on a slight angle, straighten up and go. And I think for doing a lap time, that fine detail, that slow, subtle catching of the power and torque, is what makes the difference between a super quick car and a quick car. Now the handling of this M4 is, I'd have to say, my initial feelings is incredible. It's such an amazing package, this thing. It's so well connected. Absolutely love the dampers, the way they work, the support and the subtleness. And what I can get away with as well, I can really ride the kerbs, doesn't react too much, where the C63 is a little bit more reactive on the kerbs. You've still got to be controlling on the throttle. You can't just step on it. But if you nail that throttle delivery, it just settles nicely and shoots off the corner, where the C63 just sits a little bit firmer in the rear, makes it easy to drip, but then makes it a little bit harder to control at the same time. And that's where this maybe gains a fraction of the time off the corner. Now you think with them both being carbon ceramic brakes, that it would be a close call between the two, but the M4 absolutely blows the C63 away in braking terms. It's so much more consistent, and the stopping control and modulation is incredible. You can just slam on the brakes as hard as you want there, and I can just off the brakes nicely into the corner without any issue. The C63, with that extra bit of travel, I just can't modulate the brake as well, and you just can't quite trust it. This, I feel like I'm basically in a race car with a slightly assisted brake. It's insane how good these brakes are on the track. Now, as I mentioned, this car's got the Michelin Cup 2s, which basically gives us nearly a second advantage straight off the bat over the C63. That's the way it is. There's nothing that beats grip, and the lateral grip from these tyres is excellent, as well as the consistency. With the C63, you just feel like after a lap, they just drop away a little bit, where these Cup 2s hang on a lot longer. And you also notice with the Cup 2s that you've got to warm them up a little bit more as well, so it takes a good outlap to get that feeling of the grip coming up, building up the temperature. So you know those tyres are thought of as a track tyre in a way, and does give an upper hand to the M4, that's for sure. All right, now let's take it to the limit and see how it feels there. We know the C63 loves to oversteer. So does this, by the looks of it. A little bit harder to hold a slide, I would say. Being a peak year engine, it's not as easy, but it still doesn't mind to oversteer. I'd say it's a little bit more balanced into the corner. It feels a little bit more connected. The front, the feedback is unreal. The steering's not great, but the actual feedback from the chassis is unreal. I can just drive the edge of the tyre, slide understeer, and then slight bit of oversteer off the corner. Man, that is ideal. That is really well balanced for a road car. The fact that I can do both again, that's so critical on a track. You don't want it to be too biased one way. And this, although it's a slightly oversteery car, you can still make it understeer if you want, and then make it oversteer at the same time, if that's what you're after. All right, time to get serious and see what actual lap time the M4 does. Now, I've gone with M2, everything in sports mode. I didn't go full sports plus in the suspension. I've gone sports. I've gone traction control on level four. And basically, we are ready to race. This feels like a race car. I'm worried for the C63. This thing feels quick, feels sharp. All right, let's start the lap. So there you go, guys. I expected the M4 to win, especially with the tyres, but not by that much. That was impressive. 55.55 seconds. That puts it third on the leaderboard, just behind the GT3 RS and GT2 RS. That's crazy. The C63 actually wasn't that bad, but the M4 was just crazy fast out there. So precise, so connected. Steering feeling, I actually preferred the C63, but that's about it. Everything else went to the M4. It was so impressive on the track, but it is very track orientated, where the C63, you can probably live with every day a little bit better. I feel like they're almost completely separate cars in terms of the demographic. You've got a car that's a cruiser. Sounds amazing. And the other cars are knife-edge race cars. So as much as they're similar, there's so many differences in terms of what you're after in a car. For me personally, the M4 is a car for me. It was amazing on the track. I really enjoyed it. Thanks again for watching, guys. Hope you enjoyed the video. Lots more content to come. Don't forget to like it if you enjoyed the video and subscribe to the channel. Let us know what else you'd like to see on the track and we'll catch you guys again soon.