If the new Mercedes-AMG C43 Cabriolet announced last month didn’t excite you much with its 3.0-liter twin-turbocharged V6, leaving you wanting more, you will glad to know a V8 is indeed on the way. At the New York Auto Show, the 2017 Mercedes-AMG C63 Cabriolet made its debut.
Taking the C43 Cabriolet to its next logical and powerful step, the C63 has what you really spend up for in the AMG V8 engines that you can get in two different power levels either in the C63 or the harder edged C63S.
But before we get to all of those nuts and bolts, the C63 is also quite removed from the C43 in many ways visually and in its hardware. The new aluminum hood with heritage design power domes is some 2.4-inches longer.
A more aggressive front fascia features larger air intakes and a much more pronounced front splitter. A more athletic stance is also created with unique fenders at the front and quarter panels at the rear, over two-inches wider to house wider rolling stock.
These are staggered 18-inch alloys standard, 9-inches wide at the front, and 10.5-inches at the rear. Stepping up to the C63S gets you 19-inch alloys of the same widths. If that isn’t enough you can also option a variety of combinations up to 20-inch sizes.
The larger tires are there of course to keep all of its power at bay. This starts with a 469 horsepower 4.0 liter twin-turbocharged or bi-turbo AMG V8 very close to that of the AMG-GT super car. With 479 pound-feet of torque Mercedes says it will sprint from 0-60 in 4.1 seconds.
If that isn’t enough you step up to the C63 S which has a more aggressive tune to the same engine, with 503 horsepower and 516 pound-feet of torque. While that’s a considerable step up in power, the 0-60 time only comes down a tenth of a second Mercedes says, to 4.0 seconds flat.
One key difference between the two is that a higher top speed is allowed by the computer in the C63S at 174 mph, up from the 155 mph of the C63 – because you really want to go that fast in a car without a roof.
Both models come with a 7-speed AMG Speedshift transmission which offers up quick shifts via paddles or console lever and sends power exclusively to the rear-wheels. Notable is that here you aren’t forced to have 4MATIC all-wheel drive such as in the C43 Cabriolet.
Since all that power is going to only the rear-wheels, it features a mechanical limited-slip differential on C63 and an electronic limited slip unit on the C63 S. The latter features multiple modes for lighter or more aggressive locking, such as for the Cabriolet Club track day.
In either model you will be getting an ear full with a special exhaust system with flaps that enable a raspy sound when you punch on it, and a quiet tone when you aren’t – all managed by the drive mode you have selected.
And that drive mode also manages the the AMG Ride Control suspension. Choosing “Comfort,” “Sport” and “Sport +” on the center console will get you the flavor of the day for ride and handling. This means when you’re alone you can have your race car, and dial it down when the family is along.
There are a lot of technical details I’ve glossed over here, only really sharing the highlights. Suffice it to say this car has everything in terms of hardware Mercedes can offer up, and what you would expect at what this car will cost.
And that translates to the interior which comes with a soft wrapped dash with contrast stitching, a 200 mpg speedometer and an AMG specific steering wheel as well as unique trims. The top AMG sport seats however are still an option here.
The 2017 Mercedes-AMG C63 and C63S Cabriolets arrive this fall. What do they cost? Well you know what they say about that. If you have to ask. But in the meantime I can tell you that with options, you’ll well be able to get into the six-figure range.
