Driven! Mercedes' C63 AMG S E Performance Is Finally Coming to America—Worth the Wait?

I can’t begin to tell you how many DIY projects I’ve started without a full understanding of what I was getting myself into. The first time I tried rewiring an electric guitar ended in a rat’s nest of wires and solder. My first oil change was a mess. The first table I built was a rickety, splinter-filled disaster, featuring a prominent screw poking proudly through its top. But in making those mistakes, I learned. The next attempts at those projects all progressively got smoother and better. Mercedes-Benz went through similar growing pains getting the 2024 Mercedes-AMG C63 S E Performance, which we’ve now finally driven stateside two years after first sampling the car on a European racetrack. 

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Powering The New C63

“One man, one engine,” has defined Mercedes-AMG for years, but that’s before the plug-in hybrid C63 S E Performance joined the fray. Simply put, short of the AMG One hypercar, the new C63 might just be the most complicated performance car ever, melding two powerplants, two transmissions, all-wheel drive, and a slew of software-enabled functions into one mind-bendingly quick 671-hp sport sedan.

Working front to back, AMG’s latest C63 features a handbuilt version of the C43’s 2.0-liter electrically turbocharged I-4, good for an impressive 469 hp and 402 lb-ft of twist thanks to a switch to a larger turbo. It’s mated to a torque-converter-less wet-clutch 9-speed automatic that routes power toward the rear axle via Mercedes’ 4Matic all-wheel-drive system. It's there the driveline—once it passes under a fuel tank and 400-volt 6.1-kWh (4.8-kWh net) liquid-cooled battery pack that pokes into the trunk—meets Mercedes’ first homegrown motor. Packaged alongside a two-speed automatic and electronically controlled limited-slip differential, this new permanent-magnet motor represents the new philosophy for AMG’s performance cars, even if it isn’t handmade and autographed like the engine under the hood. Producing a peak output of 201 hp and 236 lb-ft of torque in Boost mode (nominal output ranges from about 50 to 160 ponies in other drive modes), this motor’s primary job is backfilling the engine’s torque curve under acceleration and providing sustained acceleration even while the 9-speed is mid-shift. It’s also capable of sending its power back to the front wheels, ensuring all four wheels are always on the move. Total system output is 671 hp with 752 lb-ft of twist.

The C63 S E Performance offers about 8 miles of all-electric range (EPA results are pending) and the battery pack takes about 2 hours to refill via its onboard 3.3 kW charger, although in practice the engine does much of the recharging—and far quicker—when driving hard.

Rounding out (and further complicating) things are a rear steer system, electro-hydraulic adaptive suspension, and a dizzying amount of software programming: The C63 has eight drive modes (Electric, Comfort, Battery Hold, Sport, Sport+, Race, Drift, and Slippery, plus Individual), four regenerative brake settings (levels 0–3), three suspension and steering settings to correspond to street-, sport-, and race-focused drive modes, five traction control settings (Basic, Advanced, Pro, Master, and Off), plus what AMG calls “Track Pace.” We covered that very cool last mode extensively in our 2022 First Drive; it provides on-track guidance for braking zones, suggested gears for corners, and when to (and not to) use full electric boost on the instrument cluster at 20 different AMG-mapped courses.

If you think that all sounds hideously complex, you’re right. According to AMG engineers, while the C43 provided a solid jumping-off point, getting the C63’s various systems and software to play nice with one another has been “a nightmare.” Federalization then compounded the delay to get the car into American garages.

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Was It Worth The Wait?

Thankfully, yes.

Those afraid they’ll miss the old C63’s V-8, fear not. The new powertrain is relentless. Launch control is the best way to get a sense of this PHEV’s performance advantage over the old V-8. The seatbelt’s automatic cinch is the first taste. The second is a forceful, unending shove as the rear motor and front engine come on nearly in tandem. Acceleration well into triple digits speeds is breathlessly linear; the rear motor keeps the AMG accelerating as the nine-speed rips off rapid-fire shifts, and the electric turbo ensures there’s no interruption of power during each gearchange. In fact, the only time the C63 notably lets up is at precisely 87 mph, when the rear two-speed slips into its high gear.

Despite porking on a few more pounds in its transition from V-8 to PHEV, the new C63 feels fantastic through the corners—especially impressive given the Malibu canyons Mercedes released us on typically favor Miatas or hot hatches due to their endless tight switchbacks, short straights, and small braking zones. That was probably an intentional choice by the AMG folk, as the narrow, hairpin-littered road highlighted just how well tuned the C63’s hardware and software is. The variable ratio steering is lightly weighted and carves hard into corners, while the four-wheel steering system teams with the rear diff and all-wheel-drive system to twist and pull the Mercedes out of the bends at speeds far greater than I typically see on these particular roads.

With its weight kept low and distributed nearly evenly over both axles, the C63’s body weight is well-controlled, while the adaptive dampers handled heaving pavement at high speeds without upsetting the 671-hp sedan. Just about the only time the AMG’s 4,850-pound curb weight reveals itself is under hard braking; you get gentle understeer after you’ve carried far too much speed into a corner, an easy mistake to make.

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Shut Up And Take My Money

The mind-numbing complexity of the 2024 Mercedes-AMG C63 S E Performance won’t appeal to enthusiasts hyperfocused on ‘just’ driving, but those who can appreciate the science experiment (or just plain ignore it—an easy task given the performance on tap) will find one of the most thrilling performance cars in its class. Although it won’t come cheap at $85,050 to start, we’re eagerly anticipating finding out just how Mercedes’ latest DIY project tackles the recently refreshed rivals from Audi and BMW.