Engine and performance
The numbers on the C6 SE Performance are a story in themselves. You get a 2.0-litre turbo-charged four-cylinder petrol and an electric motor (hence SE performance). They have a combined output of 670bhp and 1020Nm. The petrol engine is mated to a nine-speed AT while the electric motor gets a two-speed transmission to ensure that the revs don’t drop off past a certain speed as is characteristic of an electric motor. Finally, you also have an AMG-tuned 4MATIC+ AWD system to channel torque to all four wheels with a generally higher bias towards the rear.
The powertrain is unrelenting and thanks to the combination of petrol with electricity, there is no turbo lag. The nine-speed AT in race mode has been tuned to push to the red line with surprisingly smooth shifts even when pushing hard and in full race mode.
For such a track-focused vehicle, the engine note is somewhat muted and yes that’s down to the fact that this is a four-cylinder whereas every C63 up to this point had a V8 under its hood. But it is an exciting little noise and straight-piped four-cylinder cars make a rorty sound to ensure you push where required. Finally, you also get a full electric mode of 13km. This can be recharged via the plugin method or if you set the regen at the highest form, a lap of Buddh Circuit in anger is enough to recharge the batteries sufficiently.
Track drive experience
What do all these stats mean? To be honest, very little if you try to break down how the electric motor and ICE engine work individually. They have been tuned so optimally that it’s hard to tell where one ends and the other steps in and that’s where the fun begins.
The first part of this fun package is an F1-derived electric boost that can be operated via a steering button or by putting pedal to the metal and then pressing the pedal an increment further to activate the boost switch. But just having a boost is not enough and like an F1 driver you have to know where to deploy it on the track for the best lap and Mercedes has taken care of that too! They have built-in track maps into their MBUX system from circuits around the world with optimal points to hit the boost function at each circuit to get the fastest lap time. It can either be in endurance mode which is useful if you churn out the laps or in attack mode which is a full boost over a single lap. You can see where we went with this…
We lined up on the start-finish straight, left foot on the brake, right foot on the accelerator. Builds the revvs up and at 3000rpm when you get your foot off the brake the car takes off in a mild tail-wagging manner letting you hit 100kmph in just three seconds. The car came alive on the back straight where we managed to hit 250kmph before braking hard for the dipping right-hander. Further ahead, I discovered that even in race mode (though with the safety programme on) you had room for course corrections as I went too deep into the parabola and had to adjust for the tightening of the radius.
On my second flying lap, the directional changes over the chicane while attacking turns 13 and 14 gave me the confidence to push harder. Helped by the rear steering and very responsive steering, I was able to change direction quickly and with little drama. I was also able to test the edges of the track limit thanks to the quick doses of confidence the car gave me in just a short time and realized that I would have needed about 10 more laps to start poking the C63 into doing ‘brave’ things in a bid to see how far I could push it. A place like the Buddh Circuit can give anyone confidence to push hard and when you have tools like what the C63 offers, then it’s just a matter of finding some bravery inside to push harder on every lap.
Exterior
On the outside, this AMG C63 can be had either in Plane Jane C-Class colours or in race-ready attire like what our car was sporting. Up front, you get the Panamericana grille with triangular inserts in the bumper for better airflow. The headlamps sit like slivers on the side and are full-LED units.
The side is standard C-Class in profile but you get these really nice multi-spoke AMG wheels painted in a powder black. The stance is forward leaning with perfect proportions and a classy-looking red stripe running along the length of the car. The rear looks mean and aggressive with air intake elements, quad (faux) exhaust tips and a nice little rear spoiler with orange inserts as a part of the package.
There is enough to help the car stand out if you choose the Nardo grey that our car has been painted in. However, if you are more of a let my driving do the talking you can get the car in Plane Jane colours that keep it understated.
Interior and features
It may have the world’s most powerful four-pot under the hood but inside it is still a C-Class and thus you get all the C-Class bits that one would expect when you are paying this kind of money. The feature list includes dual screens, climate control with rear AC vents and leatherette upholstery. The AMG bits include the steering wheel, pedals and F1 branded carbon fibre inserts in the dashboard. You get the regular C-Class seats as a part of the package but can also go in for the AMG race seats that our car has been fitted in our car. However, if you are on the larger side, the AMG seats are a tight fit and can get in the way if you are going track-heavy with this car.
The interior is spacious and comfortable with enough shoulder room, knee room and headroom for two people to sit inside with helmets on. However, ingress and egress are tight due to the low ground clearance and can get cumbersome if you need to keep entering and exiting the vehicle regularly. What’s more the low clearance means you are going to have to do a lot of weaving on public roads to clear the big speed breakers and potholes.
Conclusion
Should you buy this car? Absolutely yes. The performance is phenomenal, it looks smashing and you are not short-changed when it comes to features and comfort despite its race-oriented nature.
You would need to look elsewhere if you want something that’s very agile and relies on lightweight ability rather than grunt-to-push lap times. It’s also very low in terms of ground clearance and the ride is on the firmer side which will show on public roads. At the time of writing this story, the car was priced at Rs 1.95 crore (ex-showroom) and realistically has no rivals in terms of EVs or ICE cars.
Photography: Kaustubh Gandhi
