A Fond Farewell

Why we didn’t want to give our C43 back

THE C43 is deserving of a Mercedes-AMG badge, but in the same way an A45 is – rather than a C63. While it has a boy-racer exhaust note, tightly-hugging sports seats and lashings of Dinamica microsuede, the C43 is the accountant who rides around on a Harley-Davidson on the weekend, complete with studded leather jacket and matte-black openface helmet.

This is our principal finding of the C43 after six months in the MOTOR stable: it’s very fast, and very loud, but beneath its shouty veneer, it’s actually quite sensible. Back at Month One, we wondered why a 270kW C43 had all-wheel drive, where a 375kW C63 was deemed okay with merely rear-wheel drive. With a 33/67 front-rear torque split, we hoped the C43 would offer the wet weather security of all-wheel drive, but still with that satisfying rear drive feeling when you wanted it.

It turns out its basic 4MATIC all wheel drive system is more a safety than performance feature, one that would greatly benefit from a rear limited-slip differential.