The first thing that comes to the mind when you hear Mercedes-Benz is Luxury on wheels. It is quite natural since all these years Mercedes-Benz was known for and has manufactured cars with great stress on comfort and luxury. In addition to comfort, Mercedes-Benz was the only luxury car available in India with a dedicated dealer network.
It was the King of the luxury cars and was benchmarked for its Engineering finesse, luxury and built quality. But with the advent of other luxury car makers from Europe like Audi, BMW and Jaguar things have changed drastically.
How can Mercedes-Benz which is known for class leading innovations sit quietly in such circumstances??Mercedes-Benz is planning an onslaught of models which are sportier looking in line with the new design language and is trying hard to regain its No1 position in the Indian market.
The key to this lies in how much success does Mercedes achieve in attracting the younger and more performance oriented buyers in addition to its traditional comfort oriented buyers. The launch of new sporty M-Class (Mercedes-Benz M-Class sold 175 units in June alone), stylish CLS class and the facelifted C-Class are evidence of Mercedes’s efforts to target the younger buyers.
Going in line with its policies Mercedes offers an AMG version of its C-class and thanks to ALCON, Mercedes-Benz dealer for Goa, we were the first to get our hands on one. The car has almost similar dimension to regular C-class and from a distance looks like one too.
If you are thinking it is just another gimmicky variant then think twice, the C63 AMG is a wolf in a sheep’s clothing and comes with a humongous 6.3 V8 engine and an AMG sports suspension. The car boasts of a mind boggling top speed of 280km/hr and phenomenal 0-100km acceleration figures of around 4 seconds.
And at 88 Lakhs on road Goa it costs a fortune too.Interesting isn’t it?? You want to know more about the car right?? Read on and we tell you ifit is worth its around Rs. 88 lakh price tag and whether youshould buy one.
EXTERIORS
Looks wise The C63 AMG is similar to a C-Class on which it is based upon but closer inspection reveals a different story. There is a lot to differentiate this car from the normal C-Class and the detailing too is top class.
The front is dominated by the Chrome finished radiator grille with the huge 3 pointed star sitting right in the middle of it. The grille is unique with a single chromed louvre. The car has projector headlamps; the headlamp cluster is finely detailed, which along with the day time running LED lights looks simply superb.
The front air dam is detailed too and the car also has a front spoiler which adds to the sporty looks of the C63 AMG. The bonnet is also unique with two power domes which are essentially two sculpted lines, which run from the grille to the windshield and add to the sportiness of the design. They look awesome especially when viewed from the inside of the car. The car comes equipped with special AMG body kit which is unique to AMG range of cars from Mercedes. The AMG kit includes front apron with side air outlet, side skirts and diffuser type rear Apron.
Moving to the side, the flared wheel arches and the side skirting makes this car look much sportier than the standard C class. The car is lowered and comes with low profile 18 inch wheels. The car has 5-twin-spoke light alloy wheels, painted titanium grey with high sheen finish. The alloys are stunning looking and the car comes equipped with large, internally ventilated and perforated discs brakes and you can order the brake callipers in red colour too.
The car comes with different sets of front and rear tyres. The front gets 235/40 R18 whereas the rear has 255/35 R18 tyres. The more prominent Shoulder line and the AMG badging are the other touches which sets this car apart. The usual touches like ORVM with side turn indicators and the chrome strips surrounding the windows are retained from the C-class.
The rear tail lights with LEDs look good. There is a chrome strip on the tailgate just above the number plate housing and rear defogger with wash and wipe for the rear windscreen . The unique AMG touches include the carbon fibre spoiler tip on the boot, AMG badging, diffuser styled rear apron and AMG sports exhaust system with 2 twin-chromed exhaust tailpipes.
Overall this car is much lower than a standard C-Class and looks much sportier than one.
Overview of equipment and appointments:
- AMG 5-twin-spoke light-alloy wheels, painted titanium grey with a
- High-sheen finish, with 235/40 R 18 front tyres and 255/35 R 18 rear tyres
- AMG body styling, consisting of front apron with side air outlets,
- Side skirts and diffuser-style rear apron
- AMG high-performance braking system with 360 x 36 mm front brake discs and 330 x 26 mm rear brake discs
- AMG spoiler lip on the boot lid
- AMG sports exhaust system with two chromed twin tailpipes
- Distinctive, flared front wings with “6.3 AMG” lettering
- Tail lights with LED technology
- Unique AMG bonnet with new powerdomes
- Unique AMG front apron with cross strut in high-gloss black
- Unique AMG LED daytime driving lights
- Unique AMG radiator grille with a single chromed louvre
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To be Continued
Drive By: Viray, Gurudatta & Gautam
Photography: Gurudatta
