While we wait for Audi to release the B9 A4/S4/RS4, I’ve been keeping an eye on Mercedes. Last year I test drove their C400 4MATIC offering, which is a nice car but has some turbo lag, sluggishness in the transmission, and doesn’t sound particularly great. I don’t think the C450 will fix any of that. The C63 AMG is a car everyone should take note of because it feels like a logical continuation of the E90 M3 with the V8 - if blindfolded you’d think you were in a new iteration of that car with a lot of attention paid to ride quality. I’d say the suspension is perfect except when braking, where it needs a second to compress the front end before the car starts arresting (rear rebound not great for braking either). Otherwise it can effortlessly go from gliding over crappy pavement to using all of the lateral grip on good pavement without any driver intervention or mode switching.
For $69,300 MSRP and or about $64,000 with incentives you can get a really top notch road car. It’s important not to think of this as a track car because you’ll spend $20,000 on options and upgrades you don’t need. The sedan in base trim is a total sleeper, whereas the forthcoming C63 coupe has the wheelbase lengthened and the fenders pushed out over an inch on either side of the car and takes on a DTM look.
What surprised me the most is that the MCT transmission is excellent at all speeds. In Sport mode it has effortlessly fast shifts, and in Sport+ mode it has brutal shifts that thunk the whole driveline in a hamfisted sort of way.
The V8 basically has no turbo lag and responds just as quickly as the 3.0TFSI does. The demo car I drove didn’t even have the $1250 sport exhaust and it was quite loud. If you buy this car you really are buying it for the engine. Even an idiot like me could do an 11.9 1/4 mile in this car.