Mercedes-AMG C 63 S E Performance First Drive Review: Holy Nerdgasm!

I crossed the starting line at India’s fastest racetrack, the Buddh International Circuit, in a brand-new Mercedes-AMG C 63 S E Performance 4Matic+ F1 Edition (God, I hate that name). For simplicity, let’s call it the C 63 S E. By the time I would finish reading the car’s full name, I was already heading towards corner 1. I had just started my pace lap, so I shed more speed than I wanted to. No worries, though – I pushed hard up the climb to turn 3, and I braked way too late. So much so that our instructor, a German racer who was watching me, seemed to have given up all hope. It was as if he had accepted that, over the next few laps, the only thing matching the boost pressure would be his rising blood pressure.

I calmed myself down as I raced down the 1.06km back straight, speeds building – 120, 150, 180, 220, 250... 265km/h! The horizon blurred as my sensory receptors connected with the beast beneath me. As I approached corner 4, everything clicked into place. I hit the braking markers, turned in at the right moment, met the apex, and slammed the accelerator. The C 63 S E let its tail out. It never felt out of control; instead, it seemed to enjoy putting all 671bhp and 1020Nm of torque down on the tyres, which screamed in protest. It almost dared me to push harder, like the dynamic combination of two friends – one saying, ‘What’s the worst that can happen, bro?’ and the other replying, ‘I got you, bro.’ Not sure if it was a healthy friendship, but I definitely enjoyed it.

Apex after apex, the man and the machine were in sync. The C 63 S E had a smile plastered on my face, and adrenaline was pumping through my veins as I made my way through the Currybolica. By this time, the lovely German gentleman’s faith in me was restored, and he said, ‘Oh, the racing line!’ in excitement. If I may say so, he was either genuinely impressed – or far too kind. By the next set of chicanes, he was excited too, and everyone in the car was having a great time.

That’s when he dropped the best news of the day. He said, ‘The next time you cross the start-finish line, the car will give you a “Boost strategy.”’ He worked his magic on the vertically laid-out infotainment system, pressing a few buttons. The next thing I knew, live tracking of my car’s position appeared on the screen, with sections of the racetrack marked where I was supposed to nail the ‘Boost strategy.’ To do this, I had to use the car’s kickdown, which is, in simple terms, a button underneath the accelerator pedal that you activate by pressing the pedal all the way down. ‘Oh boy, here we go,’ I thought to myself.

This time, I scrubbed just enough speed for corner 1 and didn’t overshoot for corner 3, like before. But as I approached the back straight right after, there was ‘BOOST’ written on both sides of the instrument cluster in massive font – yes, in capital letters. It started to blink and light up as if shouting in my face not to mess up my corner exit. A glowing line bar appeared on the Head-Up Display (HUD), depleting as my boost time was used up. I did a good job using the kickdown, or so I hoped, as the screen displayed my sector 1 time. Reaching the next boost zone at C4, I overused the boost, bringing it on a bit too early, as my car made sure to let me know by going properly sideways, though still in full control.

I spent the next few laps dancing the dance, managing everything I knew about driving on the track while balancing this new element of Boost management. I’d done hundreds of laps around the circuit over the years, and while I had certainly gone faster around it, it had been a long time since I found a car this engaging to drive. Yes, it was heavy, and you could feel it while braking hard into a corner, as it was always ready for understeer if you didn’t time things right. Yes, the brake feel was atrocious, and I dearly missed the V8 growl associated with a C 63. Yes, the fake noise through the speakers was childish, and yes, there was a laundry list of onboard tech working magic under the skin to make it this fast. At a price tag of ₹1.95 crore (ex-showroom), it is eye-wateringly expensive, and it’s almost a certainty that someone would come to you and ask, ‘All that for a four-cylinder?’

But what I know is, after a long time, there’s been a car that’s made me want to go back to the track, scratch that itch to nail another sector, and get that apex just right, which I probably screwed up. At the end of the day, isn’t that what cars like this are all about?