June 14th, 2017 | By Jesse Ialuna

Typically, when a car is offered by its company in both sedan and coupe body styles, it’s not difficult to believe that the car manufacturer must have just removed two doors from the typical sedan model of the car and patched the missing area in order to create a coupe.

While that is sometimes correct, the people at Mercedes-AMG went against the strong feeling to go ahead and take the easy way out of creating a coupe and instead conceived the coupe creation of the C-Class sedan as an prime opportunity to improve the performance of the already good vehicle .

If you take a look at the performance stats, though, you won’t really see that difference in the performnce numbers, though. According to the official spec sheet from when it was tested by Mercees-AMG, the Coupe model and sedan model are basically identical in many ways. They both employ the same sized 4.0-liter twin-turbo V-8 rated at an identical 469 hp and both with 479 lb-ft in normal trim and a newly introduced 503 hp and 516 lb-ft for this new S Model. Identical seven-speed multi-clutch automatic transmission is retained and the same limited-slip differential electronically controlled specifically for the S Models, is also kept and quite even down to the same estimated performance number which equivalate to around 3.9 to 4.0 seconds of zero to 60 miles per hour standard versus the more powerful S Model. And, according to Mercedes-AMG, they even weigh the exact same. On the other side of things though, the now optional carbon-ceramic front and steel rear brakes are now crazy powerful in their own way and seemigly virtually impossible to overuse. When tested on the track, officials from Mercedes-AMG, found them selves constantly hitting the brakes too early at the end points of the long straights that they used and subsequently scolding themselves for not braking later. It doesn’t seem like you should have to be able to brake a nearly 4,000-pound vehicle so late on a track, but these officials from Mercedes-AMG will do it, regardless.

In the middle of the car, the seven-speed multi-plate launch-clutch automatic transmission continues to impress the driver and passengers with its “near-as-makes-no-difference telepathic programming” according to Car and Driver. The sporty looking shift paddles are there if you would found the need to do it yourself, but at no point do most anyone feel a need to do so as it is always in the right gear at the right time, and it gets to them almost instantly. At anything less, it is was reported that some people found a disappointing tendency with the gearbox that it leaned towards a slower, stronger upshift rather than the usual smooth, almost-instantaneous upshift it is capable of. For the rest of the time, when you are operating the car like a typical human being, it is a very good car to drive. The racecar designed interior is not differing from the other luxury, sports sedans from the front. In the back, there is a great amount of sitting and cargo space for a two door coupe and for getting in and out is no greater or worse than for any of the other two-door coupes with a back seat. Sight out of the small vehicle are generally okay, seeing though the rear view window is very small and the trunk is kind of tall, so you will probably be using the now available standard rearview camera that now comes standard unlike the previous years of the C63 AMG for when backing up. When put in “Comfort” mode, the ride is basically as nice and genuine as you could possibly ask for from a 503- horse power, high-performance sedan and it now does something called “sails” which is where it briefly disengages the transmission from the actual engine in order to to eliminate unneccesary engine braking whenever physically possible in order to reduce its fuel consumption. Mercedes-AMG doesn’t have official figures to use for the U.S. market yet, but promises that there will be a 20 percent improvement from the last-generation Coupe models. They want consumers to figure a number for MPG for the coupe to be in the same area of the sedans approximate 18 mpg city/25 mpg highway/20 mpg combined.

As seemigly fast and fuel efficient as the C63 S Coupe may appear to someone, the only thing it did not be do fast is arrive here to the United States. The on-sale day or the C63 was set for some time in the beginning summer, which was about 3 months after the standard Coupe went on sale. Similar the fuel economy, the official price has been released, and it was told that the expected starting point price was estimated to be about in the mid-$70,000 range, maybe a little higher than the C63 sedan’s $73,000 starting point of entry.

Now, there are some other key points to notice, though. The new C63 AMG Coupe which shares technically its doors, roof, and trunk lid with the non-AMG base coupe, and it is approximately an inch and a half wider. Also tires are now slightly wider, by 10mm at both ends. Sticking with the theme of sports car, the tires are wider by an inch in the front and an inch and a half in the rear. Pulling this off required new front and rear suspension and subframe designs, not just revised geometry. That’s where the improved performance comes from.

I know anyone who tests this AMG verses other AMG models will see a drastic difference in its skidpad, figure-eight, and road-course lap times, but between then and now, I can tell you you’ll feel the difference. Back when we tested the sedan, I wondered why it didn’t have wider tires and mused they could help settle the slight understeer in hairpin turns and mild on-throttle oversteer at some corner exit. Luckily, for the car class the sedan is a great car and the current leader, so these were minor nits, but valid criticism nonetheless. The Coupe, I’m happy to report, does indeed improve upon the sedan’s performance. The mild understeer found in the tight hairpins is gone. On the road, the front end of this car is glued down and won’t let go for anything. The mild on-throttle oversteer at corner exit is still there, and still as predictable, controllable, and fun as in the sedan. Big things, meet small package: The C450 and C63 cram a whole lot of horsepower under the compact C-class hood. The 3.0-liter twin-turbo V-6 in the C450 makes 362 hp and drives all four wheels through a nine-speed automatic transmission. Step up to the racier, rear-wheel-drive C63 and revel in 469 hp from its 4.0-liter twin-turbo V-8; a seven-speed automatic is standard. Both models are available in sedan, coupe, or cabriolet form. If you need more power, then try the C63, it gets a boost to 503 hp. According to Car and Driver, “Muscle cars ride high on the Motor City’s list of most significant achievements”. This concept is now simple enough to process for the average person to grasp. Which is way too much power combined with a bare minimum of the stuff that slows you down.

Now, it is said that insurance companies and state-wide emission controls may have possibly killed off the classics such as Pontiac GTOs, Plymouth Road Runners, and Oldsmobile 442s that were popular in America a half century ago, but muscle-cars were never rendered extinct. Today, any stylish coupe or small sedan with a powerful engine and a cramped back seat is the ideal picture for a carmaker’s hottest sports car. It’s also always an eager feat for an opportunity to nudge archrivals in the same class, in this case, BMW out of the passing lane.

Mercedes-Benz and AMG are the latest co-conspirators to creating great modern day the muscle-car formats. Take one fresh C-class compact coupe, slap a hand-built twin-turbo V-8 under the hood, and you’ve got a speed demon with a Swabian accent itching to dare Shelbys, Hellcats, ATS-Vs, and M4s.

The Mercedes-AMG C63 starts out with 469 horsepower and a $67,925 base price sticker. Those seeking to look into a maximum rear-tire meltdown will definitely want the still more powerful $75,925 S edition reviewed here. A variety of options bring the already jacked as-tested price to just over $90,000, pretty much offsetting the lack of equipment part of the muscle-car formula. The $5550 Premium 3 package contains Mercedes-Benz’s COMAND infotainment system bundled with about 10 or so driver-assist items that may be of minimal interest to repeat throttle abusers. The close alternative is the Premium 2 package, which provides COMAND without the extra gear for less than half the cost. The $5450 carbon-ceramic front brakes, the $1600 forged wheels with summer performance tires, the $2500 performance seats, and the $1250 performance exhaust system all make perfect sense. I’d also recommend spending the extra $990 for the optional head-up display to help keep eyes on the road at all times; the remaining $7320 for the optional gear on our rental car mainly added flashy trim that could be skipped.

Mercedes and AMG worked hard to make the most of this all-new-for-2017 model. In contrast to its predecessor, this is a good looking coupe, not a too large two-door variant of the C-class sedan. Slightly smaller than a Chevrolet Camaro Z/28 or a Ford Mustang Shelby GT350, the C63 shares its nose with the mainstream four-doors but sports its own skin from the windshield back. A kinship with the Mercedes-AMG GT sports car is evident in the C63’s flanks. Like other badges appended to cars wearing the three-pointed star, the 63 in this car’s name bears no relation to displacement or any other attribute of the actual vehicle, as it did in previous generations with the 6.3 liter V-8 but it is also historically significant. The first V8 Mercedes was introduced in 1963 for its well-known 600 limousine which was a 6.3-liter design. Paying homage, AMG kept the famous digits for the first engine it engineered and manufactured beginning in 2006, even though that mill displaced only 6208 cc. Those naturally aspirated M156 and M159 V-8s powered some of the most powerful sports cars and sedans in history, and it was sad that they discontinued it two years ago. This new V8, known as M177, is a worthy successor to the best naturally aspirated engines ever sold by Mercedes or AMG. It keeps with that legacy with grace and the help of a pair of turbochargers. Also designed and made by AMG, the engine is a new-V design with twin turbos located between the cylinder heads to take maximum advantage of exhaust-pulse energy. In the S trim, the 4.0-liter V-8 delivers a massive 503 horsepower at 6200 rpm, 516 lb-ft of torque from 1750 to 4500 rpm, and an exhaust that wakes up the dead. The intensity begins with the first punch of the start button and continues unabated at most throttle positions with three computer-controlled exhaust-system flaps managing the noise. There’s a whip crack at every upshift and endearing flatulence on the overrun. Craftsman Koray Akdeniz at AMG’s Affalterbach assembly plant built this V-8. We know because his signature is on a plate atop the engine. Unlike the muscle cars of the ’60s, this coupe is well equipped to make use of its 503 horsepower. AMG widened the wheel tracks at both ends and fitted electronically adjustable dampers, variable engine mounts, and a computer-controlled limited-slip differential. Staggered-size Michelin Pilot Super Sport tires (255/35 in front, 285/30 in back) are mounted to 19- and 20-inch forged-aluminum wheels.

What Mercedes calls a Speedshift automatic transmission has seven speeds, paddle shifters, and a wet-starting clutch in comparison of a torque converter for lower rotating inertia and a quicker reaction. The rear wheels are located by a multilink setup attached to a rubber-isolated crossmember that attaches to the unibody at four reinforced locations. The C63 S easily beats competitors such as Cadillac’s ATS-V and the Ford Shelby GT350. A handy Race Start launch-control program provides the quickest path to 60 mph, with that vital figure going ffom 0-60 in a very quick 3.8 seconds