LOL! nice predictions on the gas prices there LLN!!!

to bad it took a damn recession for it to happen though

I like the car.
My 0.00000002 cents

1st impressions: it freakin rocks!. Let me give you the Denis Miller / car mag editor breakdown.

First, It has the best seats on the planet. The amazingly soft and supple, yet grand canyon deep adjustable bolsters cradle your torso and ass like a mother seeing her newborn for the first time. The hides feel like they are from a pampered Kobe beef cow which was massaged in butter every day of its life. The 7 speed shifter with the throttle blip downshifts is amazing. Although it is technically an “automatic”, you would never know it. It works way better then the BMW SMG, which sucks BTW. The up shifts are really quick, yet freakishly smooth unlike the BMW tranny which snaps your neck on ever shift, not in a good way. In sport auto mode, as you stomp on the breaks, it automatically sequentially downshifts with perfect rev matching throttle blips. Each one sounding like a formula one car decelerating from the back straight of the Montreal speedway. Very quick, bang, bang, bang, each one producing a small little backfire and “Burble”, half expecting to see the tell tale flame shooting out the back of the 4 ginormous exhaust pipes. The exhaust note is pure evil. Go to youtube and search for c63 sound. You will understand what I mean. It barks when you start it, and the idle sounds like a 69 Dodge Hemi Roadrunner. Very throaty… Low end torque is really strong. You can easily spin the tires in 1-3 gears. The C63s 450ft lbs of torque at 2k/RPM feels as if you are counter rotating the very earth we stand on, but as you approach about 5k/min on the tach, it feels like a 1978 Porsche 911 turbo kicks in (you know the one I refer to…) and there is an unexpected rush of additional push and the rate of acceleration increases big time. With the exhaust and engine now screaming like it was born from a one night stand between a Nascar and a Ferrari 599GTB, the sudden additional rush is unlike I have felt before in the M5 or my viper. Going from 5k to 7500/rpms takes way less time than 2-5k/rpm It takes some getting used to. 7500rpm on the tach comes pretty quick. When I drive it hard and run it to redline 1st through 3rd, it gets about 6-8mpg. Overall I am averaging about 14mpg which isn’t too bad. I will definitely be getting another Christmas card from Opec this year. There was no evidence of global warming this year in Chicago as it was the coldest year on record since 1973 from January to current…

When you stomp the binders the 6 piston cross drilled, slotted breaks and huge PZERO tires directly challenge the very tensile strength of your optic nerves, with virtually no front end dive. It is as if you ran into a large block of ballistics gel.

Cornering is like riding on the Wizard at Great America. It just sticks without body roll. I haven’t fully explored the full handling capabilities yet with the ESP turned completely off. The sport mode will let you hang the back end out by about 30 degrees before pulling you back in off the ledge and guardrail. You can easily drift this car in 3rd gear. I opted out of the hardcore sport/track package which included 40% stiffer shocks and limited slip. It is “plenty” stiff as it is and given the roads around here, it would have reduced any of the passenger’s dental work to dust. I am however, a bit pissed that you could only get the limited slip with the super hard suspension. That is about my only nit along with the very flimsy thin wiperblades which look like they are from a 1972 toyota.

The interior is really good. the entertainment center really works. The voice activated everything works great. You can just say an address and it enters it into the nav system destination. The HK speakers aren’t bad, they are however a bit peaky. Huge base and treble, but seem to be missing a little in the midrange. I’ll live…  The steering wheel has a flat bottom and about 15 buttons on the steering wheel. At low speeds it turns as easy as a 72 Cadillac Eldorado. At higher speeds it gets much firmer.

I drove the M3 alot and although I can see why the car mags like it at the track, around town it would not be nearly as fun. You have to floor it and wring that engine out to like 6-8500k to really start having fun. The low end torque, 283ft lbs, just does not cut it in normal, semi aggressive around town driving. The M3 sounds great and handles amazing. The interior of the M3 is a bit disappointing though. A lot of the materials they used felt like the plastic and the leather felt like elephant skin. There are few steering wheel buttons which mean you have to use the ridiculous Idrive for just about everything and take your eyes off the road to do it…

In the lastest road test on youtube comparing the M3 and the C63, although the M3 beat the C63 around the track by a few tenths, the look on the drivers face and sheer “giddiness” and outright laughing from the fun he is having while driving C63 vs. the more subdued response of the M3 says it all.

If you are going go racing alot, get the M3. I race in my Vipersrt 10 at Gingerman and Blackhawk here near chicago and used to have a Ferrari 550Maranello which I tracked alot. After owning a Ferrari, Viper and M5, I can honestly tell you that the c63 is one of the funnest cars I have ever driven. The best thing about it though is that unlike the Viper, the M5 and even the Ferrari, when you want to just cruise around or are not in the mood to drift, the C63 requires Zero effort to drive. It is a truely bi-polar car. You just throw into drive an go, knowing full well that Mr. Hyde is only a slight nudge of your big toe away.. The other cars always required effort. Rush hour sucked with the heaver clutches. II have always been a manual shift guy, but this tranny is the first I can say rocks..

That’s my two cents….

Cheers,

Mark Elias

First of all, how the hell do they build nearly 18,000 of these by hand? They pump out 18,000 “hand crafted” 6.2′s from the AMG factory monthly?

Secondly, what’s up with those seats? Did they come out of a 70′s arcade game or something? I can’t imagine the frustration being in the rear seats, trying to look over those huge things… let alone having enough room back there.

Lastly, just basically the interior. I think a lot of you have picked up as well, it looks really cheap. Pretty much everything has this cheap, glaring sort of plastic. They weren’t very creative when thinking about the layout, either. However, I think the fore mention is due to Mercedes-Benz trying to be “different” from BMW, who everyone seems to be striving for.

Am I the only one who somewhat misses the round headlights Mercedes had going for a while? They looked really nice on some vehicles, and gave real character. Now, they look like Audi or BMW lights.

And hey, suprisingly I like the underdogs more. The Mercedes C class has been around for such a long time, and hasn’t really had any serious competition up till now, so they’ve let it slip. BMW’s new to the game, but Infiniti and everyone else is right behind them playing BMW’s tune in terms of design. The Lexus IS looks a little weird, but it’s a nice car in and out. But my personal favorite is the CTS. Real design language going on there, great quality, and so far has been extremely competitive. Also, the new engine in the CTS-V will be producing 550 horsepower, and 550 foot ibs of torque, the vehicle is equipped with magnetic suspension that reacts to driving conditions, longer wheelbase, etc.. Of course, the CTS is much larger, but also has shorter overhangs. If only the Cadillac lost about 600 ibs, around where the AMG C-class is.

You skipped entirely over the part about being chafed! And damn, I wanted to mention that there was as much leather as in a certain racing official’s closet, but he is currently on a tear to sue anyone who defames him. Damn, again! But thanks for all the huzzzahs!!!

dracolnyte,

I know what the engine sizes in at, but M-B wants to call it a 6.3, let them enjoy it. It’s much the same way that my laptop’s hard drive is rated at 320gb. Really, though, it only has a capacity of 298gb! (where’s my other 22 gigabytes?)

Mark Elias

“Goes like snot…” “In the words of Spinal Tap’s Nigel Tufnell, this one goes to 11. Well, actually, 186 mph.”

Kudos my man, now THIS is a review!!!!!! You have arrived!!!!!