mmarshall

A Review of the 2009 Mercedes C63 AMG


http://www.mercedes-amg.com/index2.h...oom/models/c63



In a Nutshell: A scorching, BMW-fighter sports sedan to the core, but with second-rate interior hardware and a lot of quirks.








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Though I got only one or two direct requests for a C63 AMG review, there's no doubt that this car generates quite a bit of interest in CL's CAR CHAT....a number of you actually own or are considering one. So, I decided now was the time to check it out. In the CL forums, it seems to be one of the benchmarks for those who are seeking a good alternative to classic BMW sports sedans. I came to the same conclusion after reviewing it, though, if it were money out of my pocket, I'd still get the BMW 335xi for almost 20K less.

The Mercedes C-Class was all-new and redesigned last year, for 2008. The C63 AMG model sits at the top of the U.S.-market lineup, which also includes of C300 Luxury, C300 Sport, and C350 Sport (no, there are no Bluetec diesels yet for the American market, but Mercedes is mum on future availability....it will probably depend on how well the new E-Class Bluetec sells, which IS coming here). C300 Luxury and Sport models get a 3.0L V6 with 228 HP and 221 ft-lbs. of torque with a 7-speed automatic in the Luxury and the same automatic or a 6-speed manual in the Sport. The C350 gets a 3.5L V6 with 268 HP and 258 ft-lbs. of torque, and the same 7-speed automatic. The C63 AMG, in comparison, is a rocket. Like all AMGs, it gets a special hand-built engine; this one a 6.2L V8 with 451 HP and 445 ft.lbs. of torque, a special 7-speed automatic with AMG Speed-shift programming, and, yes, the brakes and chassis to go with it.

But be prepared to cough up some cash for a car like this. It doesn't come cheap, whether you buy or lease one. Though it is not a lot of money by larger, more upmarket Mercedes AMG standards (which can run to some $200,000), my test car, with several options, still maxed out at over $66,000, more than either the BMW M3 or Lexus IS-F I reviewed earlier in the year. A Mercedes salesman quoted roughly a $1300 month lease, with $7000-8000 down, for either a two-year or three-year lease (can't remember which). Either way, that's a lot of money....and a lot of depreciation to the residual value.

Of course, you get the vaunted Mercedes reputation for safety features, although there were some poorly-designed interior features...more on that below. Some of the maintenance is covered....but schedueled maintenence, after the first tire rotation, on Mercedes vehicles normally runs only yearly or every 10,000 miles, unless the oil or service light comes on earlier. And when the warranty goes out, parts and service at a Mercedes shop cost an arm and a leg. Recent Mercedes vehicles have had a well-deserved reputation for unreliability in electronics and hardware, but some signs of improvment are begining to show up in both Consumer Reports and J.D. Power surveys.


So........let's see how this not-so-cheap rocket actually checks out.








Model Reviewed: 2009 Mercedes C63 AMG


Base Price: $55,100


Major Options:


Premium Package/Bi-Xenon Headlights: $1100

IPod Integration Kit: $375

AMG Leather Package: $2980

Multimedia Package: $2980

Teleaid: $650

Federal Gas Guzzler Tax: $2100 (Yep, Big Brother gets his hand in the pie on this one).


Destination/Freight: $875 (This is a substantially higher charge than the more typical $650-700 most automakers charge)


List price as reviewed: $66,160





Drivetrain: RWD, Hand-built,longitudionally-mounted 6.2L DOHC 32-valve V8, 451 HP@ 6800 RPM, torque 443 ft-lbs. @ 5000,
7-speed automatic transmission with Sport-shift and AMG Speedshift features.(Limited-slip-differetial optional).


EPA Mileage Ratings: 11 City, 19 Highway (The reason for the Gas Guzzler tax)




Exterior Color: Arctic White

Interior: Black AMG Leather.






PLUSSES:


Drag-strip, muscle-car acceleration.

Hand-built, balanced/blueprinted engine.

Superb chassis balance.

Flat cornering.

Quick steering response.

Excellent ride-handling compromise.

3-stage Stability control system.

Right-now-responsive but quirky brakes.

Classy, handsome exterior syling.

Hood rises to vertical position.

Nice, smooth AMG-spec seat leather.

Extremely supportive front seats.

Comfortable-to-grip steering wheel.

Smart-looking brushed-metal and carbon-fiber trim on dash and door panels.

Numerous safety features in the body and chassis.

Tank-solid doors, hood, and body panels.

Superb-quality exterior trim.

well-finished, roomy trunk with first-aid kit.

European-delivery program available (you get a European vacation out of it).







MINUSES:


Awful cruise control and turn-signal levers.

Hard-to-buckle drivers'seat belt.

Poor-quality hardware inside for a car of this class.

Floating-needle speedometer more difficult to read quickly than straight-needle type.

Torque curve powerful but a little peaky.

Overly noisy exhaust.

Extra-sharp side bolstering on sport seats marginal for wide torsos.

Tight rear seat leg and headroom.

Stereo sound OK but not quite up to the competition.

Overly complex stereo/NAV screen controls.

Cheesy-looking, cheap-plastic pop-up video screen for NAV/stereo.

4-matic AWD system from C300 not avialable on C63.

Too tight and cluttered under the hood.

Low ground clearance.

Somewhat loose and wobbly-feeling climate-control dials.

Temporary spare tire and wheel (yes, in a $66,000 car).

Shift lever has annoying ziz-zag pattern.

Restrictions on color/trim patterns.

OK paint job for the price, but not the best.

Overly-dull paint colors (with one exception).

Metallic paint colors extra cost.

Below-average reliability hisory, but appears to be improving.

Poor gas mileage, gas-guzzler tax, and premium-only fuel.

Expensive lease rates.

4/50 bumper-to-bumper warranty not up to those of Japanese or American luxury cars.






EXTERIOR:

The C63, upon first walking up to it, looks more or less like its other C-Class cousins, except for the special AMG trim, slightly lower body fairings and front air dam. That, of course, along with the low-profile tires (C63s get 235/40-18's up front and 255/35-18s in back), lowers ground clearance a little, which makes it more difficult to go over speed bumps or get a hose underneath for washing the underside. The exterior styling, to my tastes, is not bad at all. The typical conservative Mercedes grille, with the big 3-point star on it, dominates the front end (though I prefer the traditional 3-star hood ornament used on the C300 Luxury). The headlights are classy and restrained, without the extreme sweep-back found on a lot of today's cars. The roofline shows a moderate but not extreme taper (which helps rear head room a little), and the back end is likewise classy and handsome as well, although I didn't particularly care for the shape of the taillights.

The body sheet metal is solid and substantial (expected of a Mercedes), and all four doors, hood, and trunk lid close with tank-like solidness (better than the last-generation C-Class, which felt and sounded a little tinnier than the present-generation car). All of the exterior trim is solid, substantial, well-made, and has a smooth, well-fitted feel, esppecially the brushed-metal trim above the windows. The side mirrors, like those of other Mercedes products, incorporate imbedded turn signals, have solid, durable housings, and swivel/snap-lock smoothly. The paint job on my non-metallic, pure white test car (metallics, like on most European-nameplate cars, cost extra), was pretty well-done, certainly not bad for the price, but darker colors tended to show too much orange peel for a car of this class. The C-Class includes some 11 exterior paint colors (most of which come right out of Clancy's Morgue), 6 different leather color combinations, and 4 interior wood/aluminum/carbon-fiber trim patterns, but is somewhat restrictive on which come with which, and on what model.....see the brochure or web site for details. There wasn't a single exterior color I actually liked, though the Mars Red is a little less funeral-like than the others. The carbon-fiber and Burl Walnut options inside, however were nice.......more on that below.






UNDERHOOD:

Open the tank-solid hood, and the unusual hinges and dual gas struts allow the hood to go all the way up to vertical to help with servicing. The hood includes the usual underhood insulation, which quiets the engine but doesn't do much for the noisy exhaust (more on that later). Underneath the hood, of course, is a real treat...........the 6.2L, AMG-certified, hand-built V8. The one in my particular car, though, while certified on the price sticker as hand-built, did not have the plaque attached to the top of it and signed off by the techincian like most AMG engines do.

Unfortunately, this treat of an engine is stuffed into an overtight engine compartment. It seems that the C-Class was not really designed to get a powerplant this big, and the engineers had to work it in carefully with a shoe horn. The big plastic engine cover, minus the usual AMG-certified plaque, blocks just about everything under it (it was probably the last part the AMG technician screwed on). Some components alongside the engine, along with dipsticks, filler caps, and reservoirs, are reached OK.....others are hidden by covers and panels. The engine itself fits tight enough that almost nothing can be reached down the front or sides. The battery, like in many new cars, lies back under the trunk with the (cough, cough) temporary spare tire.....more on that below.






INTERIOR:

Overall, I was nowhere near as impressed with this interior as with the Jaguar XF that I reviewed a few days ago, though it did have some nice features....and I'll cover them here. The black AMG leather package, an option (standard C63 AMG seats are fabric), had some really nice leather; some of the smoothest and silkiest I've seen in awhile. Most cars with leather nowadays (Lexus and Infiniti excluded), have a rough, grainy, textured feel; not so with the AMG leather. It was smooth, even, silky, and well-fitted. The seats themselves, with large, VERY deep side-bolsters, were comfortable and extremely supportive. Your butt and torso, however, had best not be too wide......I myself was able to only fit in at the absolute limit of the seat's lateral (width) capacity, even with the power-side bolsters adjusted out all the way. But, once in, the seat holds you like a mother cat with a kitten in her jaws......they just don't let you slide or squirm at all. The carbon-fiber and aluminum trim inside was classy, extremely well done, and was well fitted. The steering wheel, with power tilt/telescoping, was comfortable to hold and use. The climate-control rotary-dials, though loose and cheap-feeling, were easy to use and adjust.

But there was little else inside that I liked or was impressed with. The steering wheel buttons and thumb-wheels were somewhat awkward to use. The pop-up NAV/video screen, with a little door that hides it when it is down, has an ugly, flimsy, cheap-looking plastic housing, and the console/dash controls for its many functions (including stereo) are complex, distracting, and take a great deal of practice and fiddling. The stereo itself sounds OK, but is clearly not the best available, especially for this price class. The driver's seat-belt/harness is difficult to buckle in.....the inboard buckle-strap is too low, and you have to reach way down between the seat cushion, the side of your leg, and the console housing. It took me awhile to fool with it and get it clicked in securely. (one should not have to fiddle excessively with belts in a safety-minded car like a Mercedes). One should also, in a safety-minded car, not have to deal with confusing stalks on the steering column. The cruise-control stalk, on the center-left side of the steering column, is EXACTLY where you would expect the turn-signal stalk, by feel, to be in most cars. The turn-signal stalk, in comparison, is smaller, lower, and recessed down underneath the cruise-control stalk. So.....the result? Several times, not just once, even trying to be careful, I inadvertantly turned the cruise-control on or off trying to signal for a left or right turn. Sometimes, I get used to something within the first couple of miles, but not with this. I consider this a major design goof, possibly hazardous if one turns the cruise control on advertantly in dense-traffic or slippery-road conditions, and I've written it up as the car's #1 complaint in the MINUS list above. Much of the interior hardware, buttons, and switches had a somewhat cheap look and feel to them, especially for a car in this price class. The floating-needle speedometer, IMO, was harder to read at a glance than conventional full-needle gauges (and with a car of this power, that needle moves up pretty quickly......more on that below). Legroom was fine up front, very cramped in the rear if the front seats were adjusted back. Headroom, with the widely-adjustable front power seats, was no problem up front, even with the sunroof. In the rear, it was OK for people up to about my size.....I fit in just marginally.





CARGO AREA/TRUNK:

The solidly-built trunk lid opens up to a fairly roomy trunk that is well-finished with a nice grade (for a cargo area) of black carpeting. I forgot to check if the back seats fold for added cargo area or if they have a remote-release in the back of the trunk. The literature with the car doesn't say (Most of them, on modern cars, either fold down or have a small center pass-through for long items). The roof line, thanks to a moderate-angle rake, eats into some of the trunk lid, but it's not as bad as with more extreme-raked rooflines. A first-aid kit is placed into a small, paneled compartment in the left-side wall of the trunk; a similiar-paneled compartment on the right opens up for access to wiring and fuses. Under the floor, in the usual spot, lies.......(are you ready for this?).........a temporary spare tire/wheel. In a $66,000 car. Give me a break. The battery, partially due to the crowded engine compartment, lies just to the right of the temporary spare.






ON THE ROAD:

Here, friends, is what you've no doubt been waiting for.....and where this car excels. Start up the big 6.2L V8 with an electronic plastic "key" inserted into a hole in the dash, and twist it to the right. It fires up smoothly, and yes, quite audibly.....the engineers programmed in a throaty, less-than-quiet exhaust note out the four rear pipes even at idle. A little loud for my tastes, but, no doubt, music to the ears of a sport-sedan enthusiast. Warm it up a little, take off...........and I mean TAKE OFF. The 445 ft-lbs. of torque, in a car of this size, smacks you in the back and slingshots you down the road like a Texas jackrabbit running away from hounds. Its peak torque comes at 5000 RPM, which is a little on the peaky side. So, as I didn't take it past 4500 due to the new engine, this car, once broken in and safe to red-line, is probably capable of substantially more even than what I gave it. I myself don't believe in drag-racing on public streets, but, just the same, you won't have to take any crap from guys in their high-powered Mustangs and Camaros. Unless it's a specially reworked version like a Shelby KR, Roush, Saleen, etc......this car will probably blow their doors off. Mercedes itself quotes a 4.3 second 0-60 time.....yes, even with the automatic. If it wasn't for the standard traction control, this car would smoke the rubber right off its rear tires, even from a rolling start. You will quickly learn to use some restraint with your right foot if you want to keep your drivers' license. If the cops don't SEE you, they will probably HEAR you....the rather loud exhaust at idle, of course, becomes quite a bit louder under hard acceleration.

And this car has the chassis and brakes to go with the Give-'Em-Hell engine. The steering is smooth, right-now quick, and has some feel to it (not quite as much feel as a BMW.......BMW's steering is still the best). Cornering is billiard-table flat....I flipped the steering wheel back and forth as hard, at speed, as I felt prudent under the driving conditions and the brand-new tires, and still couldn't induce any noticeable body lean or roll. The chassis and suspension, in typical German sports-sedan style (I've long maintained that the Germans have some of the best suspension engineers in the world), showed a superb abilty to combine super-handling with a ride that, whole firm, is tolerable and won't jar your fillings out. Bumps, of course, are felt, especially with the very low-profile 35-series rear tires, but the ride, overall, is remarkably compliant for a car of this handling capability. A three-stage Electronic Stability system allows varying stages of tail-end slide before cutting in the Nanny-stops, but I strongly recommend doing this only on a track......powerslides and drifting, regardless of what enthusiast magazines will tell you, are dangerous on public roads, especially in or near blind curves. Brakes are easily the equal of the engine and chassis....the big 14.2" ventilated 6-piston front rotors and 13" rears (Mercedes designs their own AMG brakes rather than use Brembos), haul the speed down quickly, smoothly, responsively, and with no pedal sponginess....pretty much the equal of equivalent BMW sports sedans. The pedal, as one would expect, had no problem with the adjacent gas pedal in terms of my big foot catching on it or hanging up with size-15 shoes.....something I have to be careful of in some cars. The only quirk in the brakes (and it was noticeable), is a tendency to drag for a second or two after releasing the pedal......I noticed the same tendency in the E63 when I drove it last spring.

Road and wind-noise isolation, apart from the obviously loud exhaust, is pretty good; the car is well-sealed, as expected of a sport-luxury sedan in this price range.

I saved the 7-speed automatic Sport-shift transmission until last because it was the one thing that detracted a little from the car's superlative driving habits. It is quiet, shifts smooth enough under normal driving and hard acceleration, and has a special AMG Speed-shift feature for max-performance runs (a little harder than the ones I gave it). But the shifter, while smooth and slick-operating, has an annoying zig-zag pattern from front to back, has 7 speeds, which I think is overkill and just adds to transmission complexity/cost of production. 5 or 6 speeds, IMO, would work just as well. The lever uses the same side-to-side motion with the lever for up and down-shifting as Chrysler's Autostick does.....most auto-manual transmissions have you bump the lever forward/back in a smaller, parallel shift-gate. Large steering column paddles are provided for shifting, if desired, and I thought they worked better and more intuitively than the lever's side-to-side motion.





THE VERDICT:

There's no denying that, from a strictly driver's point of view (providing the driver has reasonable skill and can fit in the rather deep, narrow seats), this is a superb sports-sedan, one of the best I have seen or driven outside of BMWs. From my point of view, it easily out-handles the larger E63 AMG, gives the new M3 a run for its money in the twisties, and, though I didn't have a stopwatch to actually time it, feels like it pulls away from the M3 on a straight road. Perhaps that is not suprising, as the M3, even with a more efficient straight-manual transmission, has only 295 ft-lbs. of torque and does not reach its maximum 414 HP until around 8000 RPM, which is way above what most people would use on a public road. The C63, with its superb but quirky brakes, also has the whoa to match the go.

But, from my point of view, it is not the car for me. It simply costs too much, even though it is the lowest-priced AMG model at 55-70K. The interior, on the whole, except for the superb leather, is stark and crude compared to the beautiful Jaguar XF I drove a few days ago, and has too many quirks and hard-to-operate controls. The turn-signal/cruise control design screw-up is inexcusable on a safety-mided vehicle like a Mercedes. No AWD 4-Matic option is available like it is on many BMWs....and other C-Class models. The lack of a real spare tire in a car like this is an insult (as it also is in the $94,000 E63). And the 4/50 warranty, though the same as some other European automakers, is not impressive compared to some of the competition.

But, for those of you guys who dig a car like this, have thick wallets, and want it in spite of its quirks, go to it. It will give you some of the best sport-sedan driving pleasure you will find outside of the blue-and-white BMW propeller.

xknowonex

iTrader: (2)

Noisy Exhaust. Low Ground Clearance. Poor Mileage and Premium Fuel Only? It is a high performance car for chrissake! I sat in one of these at the car show and all I have to say is that the seats are snug.

I8ABMR

never ever buy any HOT new car. They always have bugs and there need to be tweaks. Usually by third or even 2nd tweak by mercedes the car will solid. I had a patient the other day who told me that she is a test driver for lexus at the proving grounds here in AZ. She said that she is currently driving only the ISF and the LS600H. She even said that they are going to be tweaking the gearing of the ISF. To far apart on the low end and to close on the high end. She said that they will give suggestions about where to place the door handle on the dor to reduce resistance. I thought she had a fantasy job

inLine4

I'd prefer the IS-F. Being practical:IS350.

UberNoob

another jolly good review

bravo, mmarshall!

so interior quality wise, does it go like this? IS-F > RS4 > M3 > C63?

or RS4 > IS-F > M3 > C63?

mmarshall

Exactly. And those are some of the minuses that go with sport-oriented cars ......just as acceleration and handling are some of the plusses. There's nothing wrong with what I posted....it is what is to be expected.

mmarshall

Thanks.

I've been doing my share of reviews lately. I'm going to take a breather next week while I'm on jury duty.

By my tastes (yours may or may not agree) I'd rank them RS4/IS-F/M3/C63.
But I think the Infiniti M45 and Jaguar XF's interior beats all four of them.

mmarshall

The IS-F is likely to be more reliable in the long run; its interior, though with a lot of black, is nicer than the C63's, and it is well-built, but its chassis felt almost primitive compared to similiar BMW and Mercedes chassis. The IS-F I drove last spring, even with correct tire pressures, rode so badly over warps/heaves and bumps, especially with the rear suspension, that it tossed the car up and down like a porpoise. The IS-F doesn't quite have the C63's torque below 3500...its acceleration lags, then hits suddenly between 3600 and 4000 when the secondary cams cut in.

mmarshall

Unlike the IS-F, the C63 is in its second year of production. The IS-F has only been in public hands since April.






For what little my opinion is worth, you can tell her the IS-F's rear suspension is too harsh, the torque curve too peaky, the rear seat too cramped, and the interior too monotone black, except for the nice textured silver carbon-fiber on the console. But, hey........what do I know?



An interesting job indeed......but whenever you do something as a job, it can become boring over time.

SoCalSC4

I've driven the C63, and I can say that it is a rocket.

Without the traction control on, this car would definitely be a handful on the street... or the track!

Torque is good. But in typical Mercedes fashion, the rest of the car underwhelms me. My review would pretty much match mmarshall's!

mmarshall

Thanks. It's nice to know I'm in good company.


Even WITH the T/C on, you still can't drive this car mindlessly. It picks up speed in a hurry.....if you're not paying attention, you can run right into something.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

I just have to say I appreciate you using a picture of the MB logo with a g-string on it.

blacksc400

iTrader: (4)

You beat me to it!

RXSF

I just bought a C350 last week, and i have to say i disagree with a lot of your negatives on the interior.

i mean the details in ths car are overly amazing. im just going to throw in some specific ones.

1) navigation shows lanes on most main streets, and tells you which lanes are turning only, and which ones are going straight, or both
2) a lot of the interior pieces are backlit, even behind the scrolls that turn down the vents
3) speedo computer in the middle of the instrument panel shows nav directions, and the usual settings for the car
4) nav is actually quite intuitive after you get a hand of it. i love the control ****

also want to say i opted for the MB tex and its grainy. though it has a leather steering wheel thats also very grainy. almost the same texture. the leather in lexus is much much softer in my experience. im not sure if the AMG gets different/better leather

INHOCJP

Great review mmarshall. I also prefer the interior of the IS-F over the C63, and the navigation system is much easier to use on the IS-F. But the C63 is so much more fun to drive.

You make some good points, but I'll disagree about the exhaust. Yes it's loud and obnoxious...I love it

Yes, the AMG models get a higher grade leather. My E's leather has a very nice texture, especially with the alcantara inserts. My wife's ML has MB tex...I'm not a big fan, very tough feeling.