HERE'S AN EPIC MERCEDES-AMG C63 BATTLE WITH THE 2024 AMG C63S E-PERFORMANCE, THE 2020 AMG C63S AND THE 2012 AMG C63 BLACK SERIES
When Mercedes-AMG announced the latest incarnation of its hugely popular C63 S sedan, fans were as happy as expected, until they found out the clever men in white coats decided to drop that iconic roaring V8 lump in favour of a turbocharged 4-pot. To add insult to injury, the setup was made hybrid. While that’s the way the industry is going there are plenty out there who think electric power is the devil and that it’s killing performance cars by replacing their mechanical souls with batteries. The thing is, you can’t deny how good electric power is, and how fast the technology is evolving. The all-new C 63 S E Performance may have lost the rumbling V8, but thanks to the way this new technology works, it gained power and silly amounts of torque. The trickle-down technology from the automaker’s Formula One exploits has changed the game, and I think the resulting performance is more than enough to make the naysayers choke on their criticisms. The C 63 S E Performance uses a turbocharged 2.0-litre 4-cylinder lump that’s rated at a mighty 350 kW with 545 Nm of torque, making it the most powerful production 4-cylinder. Ok, that title actually belongs to the Mercedes-AMG A45 S with its 310 kW output. In the C63 S E, the petrol-fed lump is accompanied by a rear-mounted permanently excited synchronous motor that adds an extra 150 kW and 320 Nm of torque with a sort of overboost function into the equation to take the hybrid sedan’s power up to an astounding 500 kW with a maximum of 1,020 Nm of torque. Read that again. That’s mad. This equates to mind-blowing performance stats like a 0-100 km/h dash in just 3.4 seconds and a top speed of 280 km/h if the right driver’s package is optioned. Power is sent to all four wheels via a fully variable AMG Performance 4MATIC+ all-wheel drive system and AMG’s 9G Speedshift transmission.
Even with all of that, AMG purists voiced so much concern that the top brass at Mercedes-Benz listened, and so it looks like the turbocharged 4-pot will be dropped and the next generation of the popular sports sedan will feature more cylinders. The latest generation is clearly a monster of a car, but how does it compare to the V8-powered versions that the purists worship? Thanks to the chaps at Mercedes-Benz Downtown Calgary, we get some answers. These guys headed out to a suitable strip of tarmac with three incarnations of the C63 to test them in a heads-up drag race. To make it more fair and to properly exploit the power that these saloons have on tap, the testing was carried out over a ¼ mile dig race with the cars rolling to 60 km/h before mashing the accelerator into the floor board - this is to test torque, throttle response, and real-world performance. The testing also sees the same cars compete in a best-of-three set of races to the half-mile to test power, straight-line speed and outright performance. The Mercedes-AMG models in this matchup include the aforementioned 2024 AMG C63 S E Performance, a 2020 AMG C63S Cabriolet and the iconic and sought-after 2012 AMG C63 Black Series. The drop-top version from 2020 features a twin-turbocharged V8 that generates a healthy 375 kW with 700 Nm of torque, which means it’s still a strong car out on the roads. The Black Series is powered by a and generates 380 kW with 620 Nm of torque, but in this case, the power comes from a normally aspirated 6.3 litre V8. We don’t care what anyone else thinks, this is the AMG with the best soundtrack from a modern Mercedes-AMG. Check out how they fare against each other.
Take a look at the YouTube video from the friendly Canadian chaps who pit the latest-generation, hybrid-powered AMG C63s E-Performance against the previous generations from 2020 and 2012. No matter the outcome, the Black Series is THE ONE: DRAG RACE 2024 AMG C63s E-Performance vs 2020 AMG C63s vs 2012 AMG C63 Black Series | Mercedes-Benz Downtown Calgary
Be sure to check out our YouTube channel here for more exciting and exclusive SXdrv content! And don't forget to smash that subscribe button!
Article Tags:
News Roll Race Dig Race Drag Race AMG C63 Black Series AMG C63S C63 S E Performance SXdrv AMG Mercedes-AMG