Mercedes-AMG C 63 Coupe review

Taken up a notch, its electronic differential further bolsters the silky rear-driven balance, and tight but newly fluid vertical control sets the stage for you to tease and experiment with the tail. This is a wickedly fast and playful car that underpins its ability with a wellspring of confidence at all stages of a corner, which is a trick the outgoing BMW M4 never quite managed.

A high-powered AMG coupé of old might have fallen to pieces against the stopwatch, but while the automatic gearbox in the C63 S remains a touch ponderous for circuit driving, the car impresses overall. Mercedes’ carbon-ceramic brakes resist wilting lap after lap and inspire confidence with their consistency and power. Michelin’s road-biased Pilot Super Sport tyres also bite keenly, although they were past their best after five or six laps.

The aggressive electronic diff helps create massive traction – so much so that short of violently prodding the throttle, good mid-corner balance eventually gives way to numbing understeer. The system is also hugely effective though slow, tight corners, allowing for slingshot acceleration in the dry.

And while the car’s raised centre of gravity is detectable compared with sports cars such as the Porsche 911, body movements are generally neatly controlled, resulting in a very competitive lap time.

COMFORT AND ISOLATION

Historically, luxury and refinement have always been pivotal, if somewhat ancillary, elements of AMG experience. Today’s C63 S might not tout such liberal levels of wooden trim, or such pillowy suspension, but owners will expect their car to make a neat stand-in for out-and-out GT duties in the event of longer, possibly continental drives.

It’s an area in which AMG has made subtle improvements for this facelifted model, even if the W205 C-Class AMG remains a fundamentally stiff car. Long-range comfort is more than acceptable, and although the physical pitter-patter of rougher surfaces is largely inescapable, in Comfort mode it reduces to a reasonable level thanks to the inherent ‘togetherness’ this chassis conjures at speed.

In fact, speed generally improves the ride quality, and the suspension’s ability to gently but confidently absorb longer-wave inputs without surrendering to float elicits its own brand of performance-oriented comfort. Town driving and low-speed manoeuvring can send pronounced shocks through the struts, though you’d expect as much in any car of this type, and those who routinely struggle to exceed second gear should question their motivations for buying a C63 S at all.

However, massive contact patches at each corner make for considerable tyre roar, which has an attritional effect on longer journeys. You might argue this comes with the territory, but at a steady 70mph the newer Audi RS4 tripped our testing microphones a full five decibels quieter than the Mercedes, which goes to show standards for this type of car have improved.