Don't underestimate the AMG GLC 63 S' powertrain. Picture: Jaco van der Merwe
The news of the latest generation Mercedes-AMG C 63 S E Performance sedan ditching the bi-turbo 4.0-litre V8 petrol engine in favour of an electrified 2.0-litre four-pot mill was not well received by petrolheads worldwide.
When we finally got our hands on it to put through a high-performance test, the results showed that there was indeed method in Affalterbach’s “madness”. It clocked a mere 3.31 seconds from 0 to 100km/h.
Its sprint time wasn’t only good enough to pip its arch-rival the BMW M3 by 0.03 seconds, by also its predecessor by 0.78 seconds. Not too shabby for a 2.0-litre hey?
In this week’s edition of the Pitstop podcast, The Citizen Motoring looks at the test results from the new Mercedes-AMG GLC 63 S. Like its sedan sibling, the SUV has also swopped out the 4.0-litre V8 for an electrified 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine.
The powertrain sees the 350kW/545Nm 2.0-litre engine combine with a 6.1-kWh battery pack connected to an electric motor. The motor can produce a maximum power output of 150kW. In total, the Mercedes-AMG GLC 63 S also makes 500kW/1 020Nm like the C 63. It goes to all four corners via nine-speed MCT gearbox.
The time the new GLC 63 was up against was the 3.99 seconds the version generation clocked at Gerotek in 2018. Similar to the sedan, the new GLC 63 is also heavier that its predecessor, a full 225kg to be exact. But like the sedan, it has enough power to compensate for the weight. And then some.
ALSO READ: Mercedes-AMG slaps price on red-hot, electrified GLC 43 and 63
During Road Test Editor Mark Jones’ test, the new Mercedes-AMG GLC 63 S clocked a very impressive sprint time of 3.53 seconds. That time was good enough to earn it bragging rights over its direct German rival, the BMW X3 M Competition. The 375kW/650Nm 3.0-litre straight-six BMW managed a time of 3.62 seconds last year.
Like with the C 63 and M3, the X3 M Competition does catch up with the AMG the longer the race goes on due to the depletion of the battery. The X3 (11.71 seconds) just gets the better of the AMG (11.84) at a quarter-mile. But after that the punishment gets severe with the BMW reaching 200km/h in 12.74 seconds compared to the AMG’s 14.82 seconds.
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