Hilharmonic

The Mercedes-AMG C43, a set of twisties, and a beautiful sound track. Nothing could go wrong

For a change, I’ve been delighted with the way the roads have turned out on this trip. I’m not used to typing something like that. I’m certainly not used to driving on those kind of roads, either, but Tamil Nadu seems to always nail it, honestly. It’s a network of finely-constructed, beautifully maintained, gorgeously-lined roads that criss cross into every town and village along its way, and I was just about to get into one of its biggest highlights.

You see, I’d made a special trip down to Bangalore (and later on to a very special place in Tamil Nadu, but more on that later) from Mumbai. Roughly 1200 km separated me from what is possibly one of the most breathtaking hill-climbs this country has to offer, and I was particularly chuffed about this because thanks to Mercedes-AMG, I had a delightfully quick and agile C43 to do this in. Fantastic roads, surreal car, and state-hopping. I don’t need to spell out what that means to someone who loves a bit of travel, do I?

A little bit about the car: think of the C43 as the easy-entry into the fantastic world of AMG. It’s based on the C-Class but everything’s turned up to 11, so it’s pretty great, to be honest. There’s a 362 bhp V6 that’s helping move things along, and the biggest help here is the 9-speed auto ‘box that’s as smooth and efficient as can be. I hate bringing up the topic of efficiency in a car like the C43, but the fact of the matter is that the 66-litre fuel tank and the way the gearbox has been set up in terms of ratios enables the car to be a pretty capable long-distance machine. Not used to hearing that about AMGs, are you?