MERCEDES-BENZ C63 AMG ESTATE
evo’s Sam Jenkins is just 22 years old and remarkably this 6.2-litre 480bhp superestate is the first car he’s actually owned
THIS CAR GOES BACK TO THE VERY ROOTS OF MY automotive obsession. Of course, mid-engined exotics were always hard to ignore, but the W204 Mercedes-benz C63 AMG was where my passion for cars truly began. Its arch rival, BMW’S E92 M3, was similarly appealing to the pre-teenage me, but the combination of the AMG’S thunderous soundtrack and the fact that it was related to the SLS supercar fired my imagination like nothing else.
The W204 took the hot saloon/wagon formula to the next level, its gargantuan powerplant significantly more potent than that of any of its rivals – for some perspective, with the Performance Pack Plus (PPP) option, the 480bhp produced by its 6.2-litre V8 is more than even today’s G80 M3.
Granted, it lacks some of the dynamic ability of its Munich rival and suffers from Mercedes’ lacklustre interior design of the time. Its modern-day counterpart is undoubtedly capable, too, but as the other two cars in this feature suggest, it’s rather hard to resist the pull of a naturally aspirated V8.
Thanks to an incredibly fortunate set of circumstances, just over a month ago I was able to scratch my decade-long itch with the purchase of a C63 Estate. Though I had been set on a facelift car, the combination of a low 45,000-mile odometer reading, those glorious silver 19-inch multi-spoke wheels and the desirable PPP option meant I just couldn’t let this Palladium silver 2010 example go.
The facelift interior is much more modern and the switch from a seven-speed torque converter to a sharper MCT also plays to the advantage of more recent cars. That said, the C63’s highly addictive downshift barks are most definitely still present, while manual upshifts are more than brisk enough. The exterior design is significantly more aggressive on pre-facelift cars, too, and the bumper design has also proven to be more effective at providing cool air for the V8 – the more restrictive facelift bumper has caused some owners temperature issues.
Just shy of £23,000 is what I paid, but the £50,753 list price makes scary repair bills a real possibility. Noisy lifters and rattly camshaft adjusters are some of the most common issues, with head bolt failure also experienced in early cars. Fortunately my late prefacelift example received revised items from the factory and has run without any major problems so far. Though a non-issue to some, the ability to play music through anything other than the radio is currently unavailable – even endless forum searches have offered no solution. In exchange for a healthy quantity of fuel, though, the throttle pedal offers plenty of auditory stimulation…
But why on earth – and how on earth, you may be wondering –
‘WHEN I WAS QUOTED £700 FOR INSURANCE, I REALISED MY DREAM CAR WAS WITHIN REACH!’
did I purchase a C63 as what is technically my very first car (yes, really). Covid-induced working from home and a move back to the family abode eliminated the cost of living in London, and with little to spend money on during lockdown I was able to scrape together the funds. I did spend months pondering whether it would be more appropriate to use this sum for something a little more sensible. Any 22-year-old of sound mind would jump at the opportunity to get on the housing ladder, and rightfully so, but that can be done at any time… The ability to run a 6.2-litre V8 estate emitting the same amount of carbon as a Laferrari probably has numbered days.
The other question I’m always asked is how I manage to insure it. Perhaps I’m odd, but even in my teens I spent hours on comparison websites in the hope of one day finding a reasonable quote for my dream car. For quite some time the figures exceeded the value of the car, before dropping to a few thousand once I reached my 20s. It wasn’t until I turned 22 and received a mind-boggling reasonable quote of just over £700 that I realised a C63 was within reach.
As for running costs, access to a steady stream of test cars allows me to use it purely as a weekend car, keeping mileage and fuel bills to a minimum. Predictably, though, resisting the urge to drive it daily during the first month of ownership proved harder than I’d imagined. I can’t deny that the C63’s value plays its part, too. Though it’s impossible to predict future values, prices do appear to be trending upwards, perhaps due to the rarity of what it represents. BMW dropped its glorious, naturally aspirated S65 V8 with the launch of the F80 M3 in 2014, with Audi and Mercedes following suit in 2015 – Germany hasn’t offered a single road-going NA V8 in over half a decade.
Of course, other super-estates are available, but the W204 C63 has something very special up its sleeve. The M156 V8. Unlike its Mercedes-built predecessor, the M113K, the M156 was the first V8 built from the ground up by AMG. Despite its 6208cc displacement, the 63 name pays homage to Mercedes’ very first production V8, the 6.3-litre M100. AMG opted for a naturally aspirated set-up, ditching the supercharger of the M113K to create one of the world’s most powerful NA V8s at the time of the C63’s launch.
Lift the double-ridged bonnet to its unique vertical position and you’ll find a rather attractive engine bay, itself a rarity today. What made this particular car so desirable to me was its darkened intake manifold, representing the use of the forged pistons from the SLS’S M159 unit, new connecting rods and a lightweight crankshaft, all courtesy of the aforementioned PPP option. Combined with an ECU tweak, these changes liberated an additional 30bhp for a total of 480bhp at 6800rpm.
Peak torque of 443lb ft comes at a refreshingly high 5000rpm too, encouraging frequent climbs to the 7200rpm red line. With a slight increase in weight, 0-62mph comes a tenth later in the estate than the saloon at 4.5sec, with top speed lifted to 174mph through the PPP option.
A helping of Alcantara on the steering wheel also comes as part of the package, while red calipers signify the use of an uprated 360mm, six
piston front brake set-up with aluminium hubs designed to improve heat management. Though less impressive than some of today’s mammoth brake packages, the C63’s large drilled and slotted discs have drawn more comments than just about anything.
So good is the M156 that Mercedes-amg still uses a derivative of it more than a decade after its launch, swapping the road-going AMG GT’S 4-litre twin-turbocharged eight for the naturally aspirated, dry-sump M159 in its GT3 racers. With a 2-litre four-cylinder C63 looming on the horizon, the M156 might just go down as one of the finest road car engines ever produced. Well, in my mind at least.
Purchasing a near-500bhp rear-drive AMG as my first car could be considered ludicrous. Running costs and the potential for a surprise bill are a scary thought, but the potential for missing the window to own my dream car was far scarier.