Mercedes C63 AMG Black Series: PH Heroes
AMG's regular W204 was memorable; its Black Series version was unforgettable
If there is an Affalterbach origin story to tell, and an ethos to elucidate, it begins and ends with the Hammer. For a start, no car was ever more adroitly named. AMG had been tuning and modifying Mercedes products for all the years preceding 1986, but had produced nothing in the same league as its bruising W124. The formula, of course, like the name, was elemental. Squeezed into the engine bay was Daimler's own 5.6-litre V8, except with the stock cylinder head contemptuously jettisoned in favour of a custom-made twin camshaft, four-valve-per-cylinder alternative that helped deliver 355hp and 388lb ft of torque - more, if you had AMG round capacity out to 6.0-litres.
I mention this because there's more than a little Hammer about the Black Series. True enough, the spirit of '86 lives on in virtually everything AMG has done since - but with the wilfully extreme Black variants (there have been just five models since 2006: the SLK55, CLK63, SL65, C63 and SLS) it tends to feel like Affalterbach has steadied itself for the most almighty swing. Nowhere is this more true than with the W204 C63 AMG, launched in 2011. Where its predecessors wavered between hit and miss, the low volume coupe went sailing over the boundary; in no small part because it was the first (and second to last) Black to possess the stupendous M156 engine.
Nevertheless, that hardly describes the net effect, which - less than a decade later - is pinch-me good. Modern enough to be voracious without feeling profligate or inefficient, the M156 gurgles, burrs and bellows (in that order) to 7,200rpm with such unhindered fury that it's all you can do not to pull over and embrace the bonnet. Officially, 62mph appears in 4.2 seconds, but really it's the throttle response and the hulking progressiveness of the delivery which has you marvelling at each and every input. No fuel-preserving pause, no bagginess, no blower swell or stricture - just euphoric, tank-emptying headway made the atmospheric way.
Sure, its heft ultimately stifles the kind of delicacy that made the 997 911 GT3 justly famous - and the bullish secondary ride seems all the more unsparing in 2018 - but it has edge and guts and grip in spades; and because the V8's collaboration is so palpably on tap and the limited-slip differential standard, it is precisely as adjustable as you want it to be. Better still, while AMG aimed the Black specifically at track use, its enhancements don't tend to hinder it on the road; save for the huge noise and occasionally abrupt wheel control, the coupe is comparatively well mannered - and it's no less thrilling to steer when the chassis loading is at a more modest level.
SPECIFICATION - MERCEDES C63 AMG BLACK SERIES
Engine: 6,208cc, V8
Transmission: 7-speed AMG MCT automatic, rear-wheel drive
Power (hp): 517@6,800rpm
Torque (lb ft): 457@5,200rpm
0-62mph: 4.2secs
Top speed: 186mph
Weight: 1,710kg
MPG: 23.2 (NEDC combined)
CO2: 286g/km
On sale: 2012 - 2013
Price new: £138,514.61
Price now: £85,000 - £105,000
Inspired? Buy a Mercedes C63 AMG here
A really good read, I enjoyed that, thanks! And fantastically moody photographs :-)
They are very cool, but I can't help feeling that for that sort of money I'd personally head for something designed as a sports car, rather than heavily modified from what was originally a small executive saloon. Hearing an M156 on the road always puts a smile on my face, though !
In the meantime I’ll have to make do with my M113K 5.4 which is a beast anyhow.
I wonder how the two will compare when it comes to it!
There is a massive fan club for both the M156 and the M113K
Consumer info - the C63 was by & large reliable, the SLK55 seems very reliable and the RS6 extremely unreliable. He used to have a 360 (Ferrari, not an Xbox) and says that was cheaper to run than the Audi.
Harrismonkey has one and agreed with that and - apparently - spent rather a lot of money having it made less st.
What sort of money? Quite a lot BUT the beauty is, now it's been done it can be done again so - there's a fix for that!
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff