New C63 vs Old C63 | Has AMG got it wrong?

One of those things gives this car a fighting chance, the other one, I mean, damn near kills it. Welcome to the new Mercedes-AMG C63 S E-Performance, otherwise known as one of the most controversial new performance cars of the last five years. When the initial reviews for this thing came out in late 2022, they were mixed, to say the least, and car magazine's Ben Barry even went so far as to say that it felt unfinished. The question is, why all the hate? Well, it's probably something to do with this. The previous gen C63. While this 2017 car doesn't have the 6.2 litre V8 of old, it's still packing a 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8, and as such, it's one of those cars that's bursting with powertrain-driven character. It's loud, leery and a little bit uncouth, and because of that, we absolutely adore it. The only problem is that replacing a snarling, loud 4.0-litre V8 with a four-cylinder, two-litre hybrid isn't exactly going to get people's mouths watering. In fact, it's going to be like eating a box of crackers and washing it down with a pint of sand. However, it's been a year and a half since those initial, underwhelming reviews came out, and in that time, AMG could have refined the car and us reviewers could have got over the initial disappointment. So, in this first UK test of the car, I'm going to address the concerns brought up in the initial reviews and find out whether a typical AMG C63 owner would be interested in buying one. Before all of that, and for the sake of research, I'm going to remind myself of what made the previous C63 so special. Now, obviously, this 2017 model is not a saloon, it's an estate and it's also not the S version, but even so, the general experience is still an absolute riot. I mean, let's just drop it down. Just listen to that. It's got 469 brake horsepower, 479 pounds foot of torque, and all of that is from a straightforward bi-turbo V8. You know, I remember when this car came out and it was a bit of a disappointment that it wasn't a 6.2-litre naturally aspirated V8, and yeah, it wasn't quite the same, but the exhaust does such a good job of communicating that V8 character. It's so angry, so snarling. Oh, it's a proper hot rod. Responds really well, it's got lots of mid-range torque, there's a reason to rev it out. It's just got a bit of everything, this engine. And you don't need to be going fast to appreciate it. As long as you put the exhaust into loud, uncouth mode, you can just burble around at 30 miles an hour and it still makes driving this car an event. You just find yourself squeezing the accelerator unnecessarily just to hear that soundtrack. Interestingly, the standard mechanical diff on this car provides surprisingly strong rotation under power coming out of corners. The traction control light is constantly flickering away and you're aware that it's only a button press away from destroying a set of perfectly good tyres. And yet, drop everything into comfort and it's still a gentle giant that will happily do the full range of a state car chores. It's a curious yet hugely endearing mix of characters. I remember years ago when it was my birthday and we had a C63S in for review and I took it for the South Wales and made my poor girlfriend quite sick actually in the passenger seat. But I had an awesome time because when it comes to just pure fun, it takes some beating. Oh man, I could drive this thing all day. You know, even by the standards of when it came out, it wasn't the sharpest and most precise tool in the box, but it was unquestionably one of, if not the most fun. So, with the benchmark well and truly set, it's now time to find out how the new C63 fits. I'm not going to go into too much detail on the cabin because A, there's plenty of other videos out there for that and B, it is pretty much what you'd expect. There's a very large infotainment screen, a big digital dash and very few physical buttons or switches. It's a familiar evolution and you probably either love it or hate it. However, one thing that is a little concerning on the new car is the boot space. See, for the estate version, it's 360 litres seats up and 1,375 litres seats folded. That's significantly smaller than the old C63 estate and the BMW M3 Touring and the Audi RS4. Now, part of the reason for this is because the battery pack sits atop of the rear axle for optimum 50-50 weight distribution. But, and especially in the case of an estate car, that's a pretty big price to pay. So, has it been worth it? Okay, so as a reminder, this car uses an uprated version of the 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine that's in the AMG A45. And on its own, it produces 469bhp. But, when you pair that with the electric motor that's connected to a 6.1kWh battery, it makes 671bhp and 752lb-ft of torque. And all of that is going through all four wheels. And there's no doubt that is a colossal amount of power and torque, but it also weighs a colossal amount. It's only 35kg short of 2.2t in saloon form. I mean, predictably, when you put everything into race mode, it is biblically fast. I mean, you just do not realise how quickly the numbers are going up unless you have your eyes glued on the speedometer, which definitely isn't a good idea. It is ferociously quick when you take it through the gears. It doesn't actually feel as quick as the numbers are going up, strangely. And there's not much of a crescendo or much point of getting to the top of the rev range, but there's no doubt it's so, so fast. Strangely, though, that power isn't always consistent. Both today and during our previous tests of this car, we noted that the full power delivery would sometimes pause and significantly reduce the acceleration. It could be to do with the electric overboost lasting for a maximum of 10 seconds, yet it often felt like it was being reduced far sooner than that. And whatever it is, it leaves the powertrain feeling unfinished. Also, rolling start when you're in comfort mode and you've got the gearbox in auto, if you suddenly put your foot down, yeah, there's still a big delay, actually. I mean, I think you can probably see that on the camera. I put my foot down and you get that electric feel, but then it seems to take the gearbox ages to respond. And that's something that we noticed last year and it's definitely still doing. They haven't ironed that out of the software at all. There's a really big gap, actually. And also, this might be stating the obvious, but the sound is obviously just nowhere near where it was before. You can do all the augmentation you want, but it's still in a completely different league. It sounds very fake. It's not a particularly pleasant sound anyway. Yeah, that's one area that no amount of software is going to help you there. It just does not sound particularly appealing. It's not just that it doesn't sound like it did before. Of course it doesn't. But even then, it's just not an exciting engine sound. It's a shame. There's also a colossal amount of customisation on offer with eight different driving modes, four ESP settings and four levels of brake regen. Although, unfortunately, unlike the M3 or RS4, there's only one individual mode, which seems like a missed opportunity. Interestingly, the ride comfort is better than I was expecting. We thought when we drove the car last year in Germany that it might struggle on UK roads, but actually on the way down here this morning and now driving it on this country road, no real complaints about the ride. I mean, obviously, if you turn it into the sportier settings, then it gets very firm, but in comfort, this is actually perfectly agreeable. I've got no real issues with this. The brake pedal as well is better than I was expecting following the initial reviews. It's got a nice amount of weight to it, decent amount of feel as well, actually. It's not bad at all. This was one of the big issues with the car when we drove it in Germany last year, and to me, this feels like a good brake pedal. It has to be said that the steering on this car is totally devoid of feel, even by today's standards. But aside from that, it's good speed, it's accurate and, despite the lack of feel, it does actually inspire confidence. It also links in well with the strong body control that actually gives you a sense that, on the road at least, this car feels far lighter than it really is. You certainly wouldn't think that of the two cars we've got here today, this is the heavier one by several hundred kilograms. It does not feel like that. I don't know if you can tell, but I'm a lot more impressed with the chassis than the powertrain. One of those things gives this car a fighting chance, the other one, I mean, damn near kills it. So, those are my thoughts, but at the end of the day, this car has to appeal to existing C63 owners. That surely has to be the target market. So, to find out if it does appeal, my mate Will, owner of the previous gen C63 estate in this video, is going to take the new car for a test drive and give me his honest impressions. Okay, so Will, I know you're a big car fan and you bought a C63. Just briefly, why did you buy a C63? What appealed? I think it was being in a state of practicality, but also the C63 has a V8, which is great power delivery and also great noise and it's just a bit of an event, which is certainly something I enjoy. Yeah, and it was the only one that was a V8 off that kind of car at the time when you bought it as well, so that makes sense. And given that this is now, well, half the engine, would you be interested in this as a potential replacement for your C63? No. I just think it's a completely different proposition, it's a completely different car and it probably appeals to someone looking for something else from a car. Yeah, because I think there's something about your C63 that it makes even a normal low-speed journey quite interesting and not exciting, but just quite satisfying with that V8 burbling away. Whereas with this, the advantage of it is in its outright pace, which you can't experience at low speeds. Oh, absolutely. I think the moment you put your foot down, you realise it's a very quick car, but it's not so much of an event in terms of noise that you sometimes actually don't realise just how fast you're going, so the sense of speed is not quite the same. Yeah. Do you think it just feels like a big hot hatch? Yes. Yeah. Completely down to the powertrain. I'm sort of getting that feeling as well. I mean, I quite like the chassis in a lot of ways. I think the steering is, it's got no feel, but I think it's decent. It doesn't feel as heavy as it is. Don't get me wrong, it's a very quick car, certainly quicker than mine, but it's a completely different car and a completely different proposition, and I think it's meant for a completely different sort of person. I don't think Will will be upgrading his C63 anytime soon, and honestly, I can see why. AMG should be commended for taking a risk with the new C63, but unfortunately, it's one that has not paid off. Granted, other manufacturers will be going to a hybrid powertrain, take the new BMW M5 for example, but they will have to and probably will handle the execution far better. I truly believe that the chassis on the new C63 shows that there are signs of life and perhaps AMG will polish the powertrain eventually, but for now, this feels like a mere shadow of what this great brand is capable of.