Rose tinted
Complicated one this but we shall attempt to boil things down a little This is the new MercedesAMG C Matic the less flash baby brother to an as yet undisclosed C with rumoured
bhp and comes in saloon or estate guises And a lot has changed from the previous generation So out goes the old biturbo V bhp/ lb ft and in comes a litre fourpot bolstered by a V mild hybrid system Which sounds a little anaemic until you realise that this system chucks out just over bhp and lb ft so up on power down a bit on torque Performance figures are very respectable weighing in at seconds to
mph for the saloon and for the slightly heavier estate with a mph top end or if you option the extra dynamic pack
What’s interesting here is the electric exhaust gas turbocharger which is essentially a traditional turbo unit with an integrated electric motor which can support the turbine at low revs when there’s not enough exhaust gas to spool it Thus you get the cheap and cheerful effect of a turbo with the crutch of electric support where you’d usually get turbo lag Add to that a bhp uplift from the hybrid system when the engine needs the extra response and you’ve got a very technical solution versus AMG’s more usual throw capacityatit approach
Does it work? In a word yes This is a car that absolutely nails a twisty road and can fling itself about with abandon A short stretch of autobahn was dispatched with
mph ease the lack of fuss the most notable thing There’s Matic allwheel drive with a permanent and AMGspecific / front to rear torque split rear wheel steer for agility and stability the strange feeling that this is an A AMG in grownup clothes
But all is not gravy The steering is numb the noise it makes always sounds synthetic and the spd box is brilliant at times and then gets a bit clunky at low speed especially from first to second where the wet clutch necessary for the ‘Race Start’ launch control feature abdicates duties to the rest of the ratios There’s also way too much neon chintz going on inside it’s all TFT screens and too much functionality for comfort even if the seats are some of the best in the business It’s a car that does well as a sportified Mercedes Benz but it’s an AMGlite We’d also go for the subjectively better looking estate if offered the choice but this is still a good car rather than a great one