Small SUV’s V6 willing, but sound grates
INTERNATIONAL LAUNCH/ The Mercedes GLC 43 AMG is a fast and friendly SUV for small spaces, small roads and small families, writes Michael Taylor
The Mercedes GLC coupe has been an unsurprising hit wherever it has landed. Now the halfway step of a twin-turbo V6 gives it a swift, secure, surprisingly enjoyable top-end marker. It is fast, its powertrain sounds sophisticated, its in-car tech is nearly unmatched in the class and it is almost polite.
We have driven the GLC before, with many engine varieties. We have also driven the “43” engine, a biturbo modular V6. It is an engine that looks great on paper, with 270kW power and 520Nm torque, reasonable fuel efficiency for this level of performance and it is relatively light.
What it is not is a V8, and it replaced AMG’s old 6.2l V8 in the SLC without covering itself in glory. It was strong enough, sure, but not remotely in the old SLK 55’s ballpark for noise, emotion and theatre.
The good news is that AMG has figured a few things out about this engine since then and its note has gone from “errr, what?” in the SLC to “hey, that’s not bad” in the GLC.
This body shape, size and genre didn’t exist until BMW decided its X6 needed a little brother in the form of the X4, for the thousands who knew they really needed an X3 but felt compelled to trade practicality for popular derision and general finger pointing. Oh, sorry, and style.
So what you’ve got in the GLC 43 AMG is a small SUV, aligned roughly with the C-Class that will get to 100km/h in 4.9 sec, will reach a limited 250km/h top end and will be flexible and strong at all points in between.
The thing is pretty sharp in a straight line and its all-wheel drive system and electronic fizzery make it surprisingly useful when the roads aren’t straight anymore.
The direct-injection V6 is always smooth, willingly flexible and it’s also urgent when it’s in Sport or Sport+ modes. It’s a pretty fast little car, though it weighs 1,855kg, so it’s not like the engine is throwing a pebble up the street. It’s only “little” compared to the GLE or GLS.
The biggest issue with the SLC is the engine note and while it’s better here, and smoother, it still sounds a little bit like there’s some interesting noise going on somewhere that’s squeezed and compressed down a pipe before it gets to you. It’s the didgeridoo of exhaust notes. There’s depth to it, and sophistication, but there’s something vaguely artificial about it all by the time it reaches the cabin, kind of like it’s had a weird Instagram filter laid over it. That is just the noise, though, and only really on big throttle openings. Leave it in its default settings and it’s a nice enough sound.
Then there’s the other bit that has to battle 1.8 tonnes of steel, aluminium, leather, copper wiring and body fat: the suspension. Another variant of Benz’s air suspension system, the three-chamber setup also gives new steering knuckles and load-bearing joints to the fourlink front axle, more negative camber on the five-link rear end than the stock GLC and stiffer elastokinematics.
It’s geared up to go where you point it, and it whips around bends impressively, even if you sit a long way above the car’s roll centre. When you take full advantage of all the grip beneath you, it generates enough cornering force that it sometimes feels like you’re sitting on top of a pogo stick that’s leaning the wrong way. But the job still gets done, with grip, poise and little apparent effort. That’s helped a lot by the all-wheel drive system, which is active, clever and accurate. The only trouble with this combination of air suspension and all-wheel drive is that it can feel a bit foreign down there. There’s a lot going on, and even the most mechanically ignorant would know that subconsciously even if they ignore the sheer weight of the thing, and it can feel like it’s taking you out of the equation.
You point it where you want it to go and it works out a way to pull it all together for you. It’s not really handling. It’s more like a concierge service.
For a lot of people, that’s not necessarily a bad thing, but is that really why you come to the AMG badge?
It doesn’t matter whether the car is in Comfort, Sport or Sport+ modes, it just keeps giving the impression of overwhelming competence. The drive keeps moving around the car as you need it, the spring rates stiffen and soften as required, with the front ones even stiffening under brakes and softening under acceleration. If you eventually manage to outrun all of that, the skid control systems are clean, helpful and more or less invisible. And then there is the collection of driver assistance systems such as emergency braking and lane-keeping assistance. The brakes are big and strong, too, with 360mm front discs clamped by four-piston callipers, and it bites down on 235/55 ZR 19 front tyres and 255/30 ZR19s at the rear.
It’s got everything inside that the top end of the GLC family gets, so a 7.0-inch multimedia screen, full leather, thick carpet, Wi-Fi and two USB connectors.
For most people, if the 4,734mm length fits and you can live with the coupe’s reduction in versatility (bearing in mind it still has 461l of standard luggage capacity), the going, riding, gripping and handling package will be just fine.
So when it arrives here in March, the GLC 43 AMG will suit many perfectly, but for those who need even more, Merc is already putting the finishing touches to the 4.0l biturboequipped GLC 63 AMG that will be hot on its tail.