Is half enough?

THE ICONIC MERCEDES-BENZ C63 S AMG LOST ITS V8. THE NEW FOUR-CYLINDER IS THE MOST POTENT EVER PRODUCED. BUT IS POWER A REPLACEMENT FOR SOUL? GQ MOTORING ED DIETER LOSSKARN IS TRYING TO FIND OUT IF THE LEGEND IS STILL ALIVE

DON'T GET ME wrong, the 2.0-litre 4-cylinder AMG is an amazing engine, an engineering masterpiece. It is perfectly suited for the A45. But in the C63 S? Maybe I am a bid too old school, but I do miss the V8. It was already difficult to say good-bye to the C63 AMG's 6.2-litre naturally aspirated V8 in 2019. But the twin-turbo V8 (375kW and 700Nm) made up for it then.

By the way, the '63' designation refers to the famous 6.3-litre engine, AMG's first ever tuned engine from 1968. It celebrated race success in 1971 with the famous 'Red Pig, a touring race car based on the 300 SEL Mercedes sedan.

Now it's a plug-in hybrid, with half the pots, but an enormous power of 500kW and 1 020Nm of torque. And because C20 AMG doesn't sound right, it still keeps the '63' number. The 0 to 100km/h time reduced from 4.1 to 3.4 seconds, compared to its predecessor.