- Doors and Seats
2 doors, 4 seats
- Engine
4.0TT, 8 cyl.
- Engine Power
375kW, 700Nm
- Fuel
Petrol (98) 10.3L/100KM
- Manufacturer
RWD
- Transmission
Auto
- Warranty
5 Yr, Unltd KMs
- Ancap Safety
NA
2022 Mercedes-AMG C63 S Coupe farewell
The Mercedes-AMG C63 S Coupe once roamed our roads like a loud and brash apex predator. In the face of its extinction, we take it for one final, glorious fling.
- Wonderfully anarchic and antagonistic V8
- It's quick, really quick
- And yet can handle most daily driving duties
- The new-gen C63 will be a hybrid four-cylinder
- No spare tyre and wheel
- Dated infotainment system
2022 Mercedes-AMG C63 S Coupe
It’s loud. It’s thirsty. It’s impractical. It’s obnoxious. My neighbours hate me. I hate me.
It’s the Mercedes-AMG C63 S. And I love it.
It seems only fitting we farewell what is destined to be a classic. The last of a dying breed of cars that once stalked and haunted our roads with a fiery belly and a thirst for fuel.
Those days are ending, however, prey to ever-tightening emissions regulations and the full-frontal assault of electric cars.
Mercedes has combated these twin-prong attacks with a downsized C63, confirming the next-gen AMG hero will be a powered by an, admittedly impressive, 500kW turbocharged four-cylinder plug-in hybrid.
Yes, it might be more powerful. And yes, it will in all likelihood be faster than its V8 grandfather. But it will lack that one core ingredient; that one dollop of something special that makes one’s heart sing and scream in equal measure – soul.
To remind ourselves of that special ingredient, we’ve taken the outgoing 2022 Mercedes-AMG C63 S for one final fling before the curtain comes down on an era of motoring that those who come after us will look back on with wonderment, uttering ‘cars once had HOW many cylinders?’.
How much does the Mercedes-AMG C63 S Coupe cost in Australia?
The price for this soul that’s soon to be past its use-by-date is $180,678 before options and on-road costs. Mercedes-Benz Australia doesn’t provide drive-away pricing, but you can be sure it will nudge close to the $200K mark once added in.
It’s a lot of car for the money, though, with bulging wheel arches, an aggressive body, and a thunderous roar from its 4.0-litre (3982cc) twin-turbo V8 under that pumped-up bonnet.
We could talk about standard equipment, such as the infotainment screen that’s at least a generation old and devoid of any touch functionality. Or we could lament that Merc’s latest version of the MBUX operating system is conspicuous by its absence. But that would be churlish, focusing on mere fripperies when the C63 S’s real reason for being lurks menacingly under the bonnet.
Of course, there are some options on our test car worth diving into. The interior carbon package at $2200 is a must, adding large swathes of the lightweight material throughout.
The ‘AMG Performance’ seats add some nice bolstering and support, which you‘ll need/want if you plan to hustle the monster in any kind of meaningful way. They’re priced at $3700.
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And inside the snappy 19-inch alloys out front, you’ll find a pair of ceramic composite AMG High-Performance brakes. For the record, the C63 S Coupe runs staggered wheel sizes, 19s out front and 20s at the rear.
Total outlay for this particular example? How about $194,478 plus on-road costs. And when you get behind the wheel and fire up that stonking V8, it's worth every one of its 19.45 million cents.
Key details | 2022 Mercedes-AMG C63 S Coupe |
Price | $180,678 plus on-road costs |
Colour of test car | Spectral Blue metallic |
Options | Interior carbon package – $2200 AMG Performance Seats – $3700 AMG ceramic composite front brakes – $7900 |
Price as tested | $194,478 plus on-road costs |
Drive-away price | N/A |
Rivals | Jaguar F-Type | Chevrolet Corvette | Lexus LC500 |
How much space does the Mercedes-AMG C63 S Coupe have inside?
Despite its obvious performance bent, the cabin of the C63 S Coupe remains a comfortable and premium environment. Yes, the Performance seats require a slight clamber to insert yourself over the defined bolsters, but once inside, you feel snug and secure.
Merc’s seatbelt extender makes light work of reaching over your shoulder. The seats are heated, too, electrically adjustable and with memory function.
Once ensconced, the first thing that assaults your senses is the optional carbon pack. It is, in a word, lush. And glossy. There’s plenty of it throughout, but the highlight undoubtedly is the flat-bottom steering wheel, resplendent in carbon fibre and Alcantara that looks sublime, feels even better in hand.
There’s satisfaction to be found in its smoothness, and more than once I found myself caressing the carbon-fibre upper and lower sections just, you know, because. It feels that good.
The rest of the cabin is standard high-end Mercedes, with top-notch materials throughout that feel nicely screwed together. Solid.
The cabin is trimmed in leather, in our case black nappa with grey accents, and for those who care about such things, there are a pair of cupholders and smallish door pockets.
The second row is spacious enough, if not exactly comfortable in terms of roominess. But, really, who cares? Getting in and out of the second row is a minor challenge, but once there, the seats are comfy enough. Note this is a four-seater with no middle pew on offer. Families of five need not apply.
Second-row amenities run to air vents for the dual-zone climate control and a pair of cupholders, and not much else.
The boot measures in at 355L, which is adequate.
2022 Mercedes-AMG C63 S Coupe | |
Seats | Four |
Boot volume | 355L |
Length | 4750mm |
Width | 1877mm |
Height | 1402mm |
Wheelbase | 2840mm |
Does the Mercedes-AMG C63 Coupe have Apple CarPlay?
A slimline 10.25-inch colour screen hosts Merc’s older Comand infotainment system. It’s not a touchscreen, meaning you’ll need to toggle through menus via the touchpad or rotary dial in the centre console, or via the thumb-operated touchpads on the steering wheel. None of those options provide the last word in intuition.
Still, there’s Apple CarPlay and Android Auto smartphone mirroring, along with inbuilt satellite navigation and a premium Burmester sound system. A wireless charging pad keeps devices topped up, while two older-style USB-A plugs are housed inside the central storage bin.
Merc’s digital driver display can be configured to taste, with classic (digital) Merc dials our (old man) preference. There’s also a red central tacho for those who prefer to think they’re in a race car, while a host of driving data can be accessed via toggles and touchpads on the steering wheel.
A head-up display does a good job of projecting driving information onto the windscreen.
In short, as we bid farewell to the C63 S Coupe as we know it, we also say auf wiedersehen to Merc’s now decidedly older infotainment set-up. It’s serviceable enough, and you become accustomed to its operation, but the game has moved on.
The caveat here, however, is that if you’re buying this iteration of the C63 S Coupe for the infotainment, you’re doing it wrong.
Is the Mercedes-AMG C63 S Coupe a safe car?
The Mercedes-AMG C63 S Coupe remains untested by Australia’s safety body, ANCAP. Regular versions of this generation C-Class (C200 and C250 petrol, and C220 and C250 diesels specifically) received a five-star rating dating back to 2014.
That said, the decent – if not complete – suite of Merc’s driver assists and safety technologies is on board.
Autonomous emergency braking, lane-departure warning and active lane-keeping assist, blind-spot monitoring and active assist, driver attention monitor, and adaptive cruise control are all standard inclusions. There is, however, no rear cross-traffic alert.
A 360-degree camera provides all around visibility, while the airbag count runs to seven covering both rows.
2022 Mercedes-AMG C63 S Coupe | |
ANCAP rating | Untested |
How much does the Mercedes-AMG C63 S Coupe cost to maintain?
It’s a $200,000 V8-powered Merc. If you want it, you want it, and talking about ‘value’ is meaningless.
But, Mercedes covers the C63 S with its standard five-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty, while servicing is required every 12 months or 20,000km, whichever comes first. Keeping the C63 S Coupe nice and healthy will set you back $4350 over three years or $6050 over five.
At a glance | 2022 Mercedes-AMG C63 S Coupe |
Warranty | Five years, unlimited km |
Service intervals | 12 months or 20,000km |
Servicing costs | $4350 (3 years) $6050 (5 years) |
Is the Mercedes-AMG C63 S Coupe fuel-efficient?
Mercedes claims the C63 S Coupe will use 10.3L/100km of premium 98-octane unleaded on the combined cycle.
Owners will likely not care that the best we could muster over our week with the monster was 16.8L/100km. I make no apologies for this.
The fuel tank measures in at 66L.
Fuel Consumption - brought to you by bp
Fuel Useage | Fuel Stats |
Fuel cons. (claimed) | 10.3L/100km |
Fuel cons. (on test) | 16.8L/100km |
Fuel type | 95-octane premium unleaded |
Fuel tank size | 66L |
What is the Mercedes-AMG C63 S Coupe like to drive?
We’ve covered the basics, like cabin comfort and fuel consumption, because that’s expected.
But, the only thing that matters is how one of AMG’s finest drives. It’s best described as an ‘experience’; a mechanical assault on the mind and body that’s hard not to be intoxicated by.
Push the starter button and the 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 under the bonnet doesn’t just bark into life, it explodes with a fury and bellow that grab your attention, whether inside the car or an innocent bystander outside, judging by the neck-snapping stares of passers-by.
And that’s before you press the loud button on the centre console that opens up the bi-modal exhaust, causing walls to shake and grown men to shed tears of lament for what we are about to lose. Hyperbole? Probably, but words seem inadequate to describe the visceral reactions the C63 S evokes…
Let’s put this in simple terms. The C63 S Coupe is fast. Very fast. With that V8 pumping out 375kW and 700Nm, and Merc’s slick nine-speed automatic transmission sending drive to the rear wheels, the C63 S can be hustled from zero to 100km/h in 3.9 seconds.
That’s quick by any measure, and the kind of neck-snapping acceleration that grabs your attention.
But it’s not just about how quick the C63 S is in a straight line, it’s how it goes about the business of being driven.
In short, it’s an explosion. An explosion of noise and of movement. An explosion of fuel inside those eight glorious cylinders so brutal you can hear fuel burning at a rate now dangerous to our planet.
Dial it a back a notch or two, and the big coupe is equally adept at moving with the flow of traffic in comfort, if not serenity.
That sonorous V8 soundtrack is omnipresent, even at low speeds where it takes on a menacing note, like a lion, snarling and rumbling inside its cage, itching to be released to unleash its full fury on an unsuspecting world.
To fully appreciate the C63 S’s potential, you’ll need a racetrack. Its full arsenal is too much car for public roads. Unfortunately, our time didn’t align with track time, but past experience shows it’s more than capable when untethered.
Various drive modes alter the characteristics of the C63 S. Some alterations you notice, while others are more discreet.
Comfort is your best friend in the city and on suburban roads, offering a firm but not uncomfortable ride, even over more patchy surfaces. It’s not cosseting by any stretch, but neither is the ride so uncomfortable that you start regretting your choices in life.
Things firm up noticeably in Sport and Sport+ mode, together with a commensurate lift in transmission and engine dynamics as well as noise (although to be fair, we left the bi-modal exhaust open ALL the time via that inviting little anti-social button on the centre console… After all, if you’re gonna be loud and obnoxious, be as loud and obnoxious as you can).
Buried within the AMG’s menu structure you’ll find Race and Track modes, the latter providing a glaring and obvious warning – ‘For use on track only’.
It switches off some of the technological nannies designed to keep ninnies like you and me on the black stuff. It also brings a telemetry screen that provides a wealth of data, including lap times.
The school run has never looked more tantalising, even if my old-man sensibilities overrode the hoon in me like Track mode overrides technology for an altogether fiercer, more visceral, analogue experience.
Key details | 2022 Mercedes-AMG C63 S Coupe |
Engine | 4.0-litre V8 twin-turbo petrol |
Power | 375kW @ 6250rpm |
Torque | 700Nm @ 2000–4500rpm |
Drive type | Rear-wheel drive |
Transmission | Nine-speed multi-clutch automatic |
Power to weight ratio | 204kW/t |
Weight (tare) | 1840kg |
Spare tyre type | Tyre repair kit |
Tow rating | 1800kg braked 750kg unbraked |
Turning circle | 11.8m |
Should I buy a Mercedes-AMG C63 S Coupe?
In a word? Yes!
That’s the thing about the AMG C63 S Coupe. It’s an ageing fighter, a once-great warrior whose time is coming to an end. It’s an archaic and anarchic machine in a world where technology and conservation are taking hold.
It howls at you, at the horizon, and it bellows at bystanders whose reactions range from glancing admiration to outright outrage.
A four-cylinder C63 is coming, and while it might be more powerful, and probably even faster than the monster that lurks beneath the current model, it won’t have the same visceral feel. It’ll be different certainly, and arguably better, but it will also serve as a reminder of the great and unbridled joy only a powerful and noisy bent-eight can give.
Farewell, Mercedes-AMG C63 S. It might be an ageing warrior, past its prime as dictated by modern society, but it will forever be remembered too. A street brawler with the ability to match the confident swagger that exudes from its every bulging and aggressive surface, its every thunderous bark of cylinder explosion.
Will its four-cylinder successor evoke the same emotions, the same hair-raising reaction in full flight, as this staggering and swaggering marvel of internal combustion once did? Maybe. Just in a different way.
Should you buy the last of the breed before its inevitable extinction? Absolutely. Future generations will thank you for keeping the muscle-car flame alive.