The Mercedes-AMG C63 S E Performance is just a glimpse of things to come. Picture: Mark Jones
BMW remains in full internal combustion engine mode with their current M3 Competition xDrive. But Mercedes-Benz has already begun the journey to the dark side of electrically-assisted hybrid performance motoring with the Mercedes-AMG C63 S E Performance 4Matic.
Make no mistake, the next generation BMW M3 will also offer hybrid technology and nothing it seems is going to stop the ongoing war between BMW’s M and Mercedes-Benz’s AMG divisions. And performance enthusiasts around the world are celebrating the news that this rivalry will continue well into the electric age of motoring.
There is no way of escaping that the new C63 does not burble and growl like the old 4.4-litre V8 bi-turbo C 63 did. Nor can you get away from the fact that it is 360kg heavier than its predecessor. And 350kg heavier than its natural foe, the BMW M3.
It is not only a lot on paper, but in reality too. This weight is all but negated out on the road by an adaptive suspension and rear-wheel steering. These works perfectly in conjunction with aggressive battery energy use and rapid regeneration to make the AMG C 63 S E Performance way more agile and responsive than you would think. This car is fast in the twisties. You need to drive it first before you make any assumptions.
But road test bragging rights are always against the clock, and for this The Citizen Motoring headed out to the Gerotek test facility with our trusty Racelogic VBOX. And our road test data from the much lighter 375kW/650Nm BMW M3 to see just how the Mercedes-AMG C63 S E Performance would stack up against the current King of the time sheets in a straight-line.
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Offering a full 500kW of power and 1 020Nm of torque from a combination of the 2.0-litre, four-cylinder, turbocharged powerplant and the added urge derived from a 6.1 kWh lithium battery driving through an electric moto attached to the rear axle, this C63 blasted from 0-100km/h in a mere 3.31 seconds, shaving three hunfredths of a second off the BMW M3’s time.
The eagle-eyed will point out that although this Mercedes-AMG C63 S E Performance is quicker off the line, the tapering off of the supply of electricity and the effect of that extra weight onboard means that the hard boosting M3 comes charging back past the machine from Affalterbach the longer the road is. It is fate that this new C63 would suffer if put up against its predecessor too. I guess you can’t have it all. But what you can have if you want it, is substantially improved efficiency and fuel consumption.
The same battery that provides this extra urge also offers a full EV mode. This allows the AMG C63 to be driven silently and petrol free for around 15 km. Now this might now sound like a lot, but it is enough for most to get around the suburbs with. I did try and do this for a bit, and my fuel consumption number dropped under 10 litres per 100 km.
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But this is not why I would buy this car and I don’t think you will either. So don’t expect to see much less than 15 litres per 100km when exploiting all the urge on tap. But who cares, right? There is always a price to pay for fun, but the car does have a cable for charging if you want to feel like you are not having fun and are saving the planet instead. I never used it as the car would charge itself so quickly when in Race Mode. I didn’t think anybody would believe I was a tree hugger in a R2.4-million high performance Mercedes-AMG car anyway.
Whereas it could almost be argued that the BMW M3 is somewhat old school now with its larger capacity, turbocharged petrol only engine, with no fancy electric energy usage or regen, the Mercedes-AMG C63 S E Performance is a taste of the future that offers the latest in modern engineering and hybrid technology and marks a significant departure from its predecessor.
A departure that not everybody is ready to accept. Some of it with merit and some of it not!
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