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prices, as I’m sure you’ve felt, are insane. I drive an almost 20 year-old Golf 2. It was a 1.6 until I killed it, so now it’s a 1.8 and about as economical as a Sherman tank.
Its 70 litres of anti-green gas will get me between 500 and 550 kilometres over a combined cycle, which, by my rather rudimentary mathematical skills, is somewhere in the region of 13 or 14 litres for every 100 kilometres I travel…I daren’t calculate the urban cycle for fear of mild cardiac arrest.
Which brings me rather neatly, I thought, to Mercedes’ new C 63 AMG.
Recently I was asked to take this little baby for a spin – something I’d been wanting to do since its much-anticipated release in Europe towards the end of last year. And I use the term ‘release’ rather than ‘launch’ because, the beast that it is, the C 63 clearly could not wait to get out and wreak havoc on the environment.
Making the world a better place
This creature, with its 336kW, 600Nm, 6.3 V8 engine, was not designed to please the likes of Al Gore. I doubt, though, that the German AMG design team spends much time worrying about the opinions of politicians. If they did, they wouldn’t bother with cars like the C 63. And the world would be far, far less fun.
The catalytic converters cleverly attached to the continuous dual-flow exhaust system do keep the emissions of the AMG V8 within EU 4 limits. The medium-sized oil well it takes to power each C 63 AMG produced, however, more than makes up for this.
Sublime but costly
Acceleration is nothing short of mind-blowing, blasting the 100km/h mark in 4.5 seconds (some even cite under 4 seconds). Top speed is governed at 250km/h and, having done close to that, trust me when I say this is a 300+km/h car. And, if you’re brave enough to take your eyes off the road at such speeds, you can watch the fuel gauge drop almost as fast as the speedo needle rises.
Mercedes says the C 63 has a combined cycle of 13.7 litres per 100km. When I received mine, it had about a quarter tank. When I returned it, after less than 50km, it was sucking up the last fumes. In confirmation, the dealership told me that the 66 litre tank (including 14 litres of reserve) had been filled at the beginning of that week and had done only about 150km. So on a full tank, the new AMG had driven in the region of 200km - that’s 33 litres per 100km… Take a moment to absorb that, ‘cause a moment is all the C 63 took.
Alright, fair enough, that’s with everyone testing the car at high speed. But who then, buys such a car and does not plan to drive it at high speed? Sure, even stationary, it will bolster your reputation to stardom; where men lean out of the windows of their Ford Focuses to pay homage to your motoring superiority; and where women cast you looks describable only in the likes of Penthouse Magazine. But once you’ve experienced the pure power of the 6.3 V8, you simply cannot drive it at sensible speeds.
Unless, of course, like me, you’re trying to make it back to the dealership without the humiliation of a phone call for a canister of fuel. It’s times like that when you realise the exclusivity of cars such as this. For now, I shall have to stick to my Sherman tank. |
