Mercedes-AMG C43 4MATIC Review - Black Mirror

Meet the Mercedes-Benz C43 AMG and straight off I'll tell you, at the Stuttgart firm they are really taking their rivalries with BMW and Audi seriously.

Now I know you're thinking; "Wait, they always have?" and you'd be right - but the C43 AMG is taking the fight to the S5 and M340i specifically. Despite having very little by way of visual embellishments apart from those intimidating alloys - lightweight 18-inch items no less - and thanks in part perhaps to the fact that our test car is as black as the bowels of hell, the C43 is an absolute glutton for attention (and 95 octane) and is satiated each time I roll her off the driveway.

A gangster whip with a VIP disposition and with the under-the-hood credentials to match its bark. And what a bark. Your DSG merely farts at the upshift dear boy, this thing swirls napalm in its throat then lights it with a match. It isn't all just pyrotechnics either, the C43 seduces the enthusiast on every level.

Well endowed

From its biturbo 3.0-litre V6, it puts out 287kW and 520Nm - good for a blistering 4.7 second charge to 100kph and it will continue on this trajectory till it hits a wall of electronic nannies at 250kph.

It comes with a variety of driving modes to change its demeanour from brawny cruiser to rabid attack animal with a soundtrack you can amplify thanks to a button on the console. I refused to drive it without that button engaged because when it's active, hell-fire ensues. There's everything from Slippery (as in snowy and rainy climbs, it isn't a euphemism for drift mode sadly) to Comfort, Sport and Sport Plus. They all do exactly what you expect them to do - so for 90% of the time I set it to the customisable Individual mode where I've got the engine behaving in its best attempt at efficiency, the suspension set to firm and everything else set to 'fine, just fine'.

The best way to appreciate Mercedes-Benz’s luxury cabin space, a comfortable ambience with choice materials and a host of connectivity options.

But I came here to drive.

I conduct a six-cylinder orchestra, rhythmic and hypnotic as the hammer, now a scythe, slices up apex after apex - Calvin Fisher

When the asphalt ahead is clear…

Right, after dropping my bum into its sumptuous leathery driver's pew, selecting the most ferocious of its settings including that soundtrack enhancing knob, I'm ready to extract that upper bracket of the C43 AMG's performance.

It's intimidating. I'm intimidated. It’s big and black and firstly there's that R1million price tag to consider, then the fact that I have just under 300kW and just over 500Nm to contend with in a car that draws a world of attention no matter how tentatively you drive it. And I was about to the do the opposite.

I meander to one of my favourite sections of tarmac, as winding (very) as it is empty (totally) eking out, nay - teasing forth from its twin-turbo loins more and more until I can really begin leaning on the throttle. The AMG feels taut out here, not stiff but certainly tighter - its chassis firmer and ditto the helm, like an athlete going from trot to sprint. The throttle response too now feels razor edged, with very little articulation required to make it pounce and leap.

With modern sports cars I often leave the car to do my shifting for me but the raspy noise of the C43 goads me into tugging at the column mounted shift paddles. It quickly becomes a musical instrument, I oblige by conducting a six-cylinder orchestra, rhythmic and hypnotic as the hammer, now a scythe, slices up apex after apex.

There’s no shortage of grip here as AMG insists more often on packaging their high-performance models with all-wheel 4MATIC drive, not that I’m complaining at these speeds.

Okay, let’s wrap this up

Mercedes-Benz have made it clear – this is a new animal, but not a newbie to the art of speed. And there isn’t even the barest of whiffs of stodgy old Merc V6 about it either, this is a twin turbocharged performance bent six that revs like the devil with matching audio pops, bangs and crackles.

It isn’t the V8, doesn’t try to be, and if we’re honest is quite a tame steer thanks to the marque’s 4MATIC all-wheel drive system. Ultimately, it becomes the high-performance saloon choice for a cooler head and loses very little to its fiercer elder sibling. I’ll say it again. I can see myself in this.

Mercedes-AMG C43 4MATIC Specs: