We had our first go in the new MercedesAMG C63 in December 2022. It's taken until midsummer '24 to meet it again, and the resulting information vacuum has been gleefully filled by the internet, awash with rumours that Mercedes is panicking. That not a single person in Germany has strolled into a Merc dealership and asked to buy the new 2.0-litre hybrid C63. The Chinese market cannot reconcile how the 4cyl C63 is superior to the cheaper 6cyl C43. Someone confidently asserted it's being quietly euthanised, while engineers desperately lube thump great V8s with Lurpak and attempt to shoehorn them beneath the C63's twin domed bonnet.
We're assured none of these things are true. The internet is officially wrong, nothing to see here. Apparently the C63 just needed some software updates, which were downloaded via dial-up. But would you be surprised to see the svelte CLE coupe (basically a two-door C-Class) offered with a V8 to appease the faithful before long? I wouldn't.
This is 2023's sorry, I mean 2024's most controversial car. It was always going to be tough to replace the old C63 - TG regulars should leaf back to 2017's issue 300, when the V8 coupe nuked the new Audi RS5, Lexus RCF and BMW's mighty M4. We called it "one of the very best cars on sale today". Replacing it with an engine half the size, inspired by one of the most lambasted hypercar launches in history? Baby and bathwater, binned.
This story is from the September 2024 edition of BBC Top Gear UK.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the September 2024 edition of BBC Top Gear UK.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
HEAD TO HEAD VANTAGE vs 911 TURBO
For as long as we can remember the Porsche 911 has been the default best sports car money can buy. Does the new Aston Vantage represent a changing of the guard?
BOSS LEVEL:PART TWO
In a world exclusive, three makers of the world's most powerful hypercars are cordially invited... to drive each other's creations
THE THEORY 0F EVOLUTION
Ridged bladder seats, an inflating steering wheel and an AI track day coach... has Lotus hit on the supercar's future, or gone mad?
Koenigsegg Jesko Attack
The Jesko Attack drives like a conventional supercar. Brakes like one, turns like one, grips like one. But it doesn't accelerate like one.
STIC LAPS are back!
It's a 1.75-mile figure of eight on an old Canadian Air Force base just south of Guildford. Hardly Monza, or the Mulsanne straight, and never in a million years - you'd think a place that would become one of the most sought after performance benchmarks in the motoring world.
URBAN OUTWITTERS
Does the solution to city motoring lie in designs from the past with powertrains from the future? TopGear goes in search of answers... at rush hour
FUTURE FERRARIS
If you thought Ferrar's past was colourful, wait until you see what it's cooking up next. The future's bright, the future's rosso
DIRTY DOZEN
Ferrari's new super GT makes no secrets about what's under the bonnet, but can it swallow five countries in just a few hours? Better get on with it...
MYTH BUSTER
\"ADAPTIVE DAMPERS ALWAYS NEED TO ADAPT\"
The S2000 from a parallel universe
Meet Evasive Motorsports’ Honda S2000R, the car the Japanese firm should have built itself
