Car appreciation... the aesthetics, the engineering, etc

Some thoughts on the C63, just in case anyone is interested.

First, context - I’ve had a 2006 C55 and a 2015 E63 previously, the C55 turned into a huge money pit (and I say that as someone who has made a neglected 996 era 911 drive better than they did fresh from the factory), the E63 less so but still sprang some painful surprises. I ran the C55 from 75,000 miles to just under 100k, and the E63 from 42k to 53k IIRC.

The C55 was (and I expect still is) a fantastic, very analogue car- 5.5 litre naturally aspirated V8 with a surprisingly cammy feel to it which rewarded revving it out. It was strong at low revs but that didn’t prepare you for the fury at higher engine speeds - it sounded very NASCAR when you pushed it, which was fun. But the gearbox sucked - it was from the previous generation of cars as none of the (then current) generation of automatics was strong enough to cope with the engines torque. Upshifts were ok, but slow, downshifts were both slow and made you wince - big clunk, no rev-match. Old school in a bad way.

Steering was great though - it felt barely assisted, just enough to make turning the wheel an enjoyable effort, rather than the E63 which with it’s electronic power steering sucked almost all the feel out.

The E63 had tremendous power and torque- almost all of the torque available from idle, which I don’t think actually suits a performance car. My van - yes, absolutely, but a performance car should reward revving it out I think, should make it clear that whilst there is laugh out loud power available you have to deliberately unlock it. The C55 engine gave away 200 horsepower to the E63, but was more fun.

The C63 has the gearbox from the E63, the steering from the C55, and a naturally aspirated V8 with power approaching that of the twin turbo E63.

So far (and I’ve only driven it once, and at that briefly) it’s combined my favourite parts from both previous AMG estates.