The Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG is the most potent version of the German automaker's C-Class sedan.The car delivers a whopping 451 horsepower in standard form, putting it comfortably ahead of the BMW M3. With that amount of performance on tap, and a price to match the M3, Mercedes looks to steal at least a few sales away from its cross-country rival.There are very few AMG concoctions we haven’t enjoyed, and the C63 is perhaps our current favorite. Its carrying forward of the M156 naturally aspirated 6.2-liter V-8 when the rest of the Affalterbach clan — bar the SLS AMG GT — is being downsized and turbo’d reminds us just how special the hot C really is. The only way we envision the C63 getting any better is by giving it more power. And that’s just what Benz’s skunk works team has done with the advent of the new 2014 Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG Edition 507.
You might think it's just a hopped-up version of the already-angry C63 AMG, but it's not. When you drill down into the spec sheet, you find it owes more to its big brother, the AMG SLS, than to its sister car. At 517bhp, it produces 60bhp more than the regular C63 AMG and just 46bhp less than the gullwinged one. The only things I can think of that aren't ecstatic about those numbers are the rear tyres.The Development Package also includes a variable intake manifold painted in titanium grey under the hood, an AMG high-performance braking system with two-piece front discs and red painted brake calipers at all four corners, a carbon-fiber spoiler lip on the trunk lid and an AMG performance steering wheel wrapped in premium leather with a unique grip area.The C63 Edition 507 raises output to—surprise!—precisely 507 horsepower, delivered at 6800 rpm. Maximum torque is capped at 450 lb-ft and arrives at 5200 rpm.
Thus emboldened, the Edition 507 surpasses not only the standard C63’s 451 horsepower (481 with the optional development package), but also that of every other vehicle in this class—keeping in mind the 510-hp C63 AMG Black Series was available just for 2012. Mercedes claims a 0-to-60-mph time of 4.1 seconds—three-tenths quicker than the standard C63, and two-tenths up on C63s fitted with the development package—but our most recent test in a C63 with the development package saw us run the sprint to 60 in 3.7 seconds, so expect the 507’s time to be somewhere closer to 3.6. Top speed is electronically limited to 174 mph, up from 155. Fuel consumption likely will remain identical to the standard C63’s EPA estimates of 13 mpg in the city and 19 highway.To advertise all this mechanical change - and keep it channelled down into the track or road - the CBS's exterior styling has also been on the angry sauce. Mercedes would like you to think it looks a teensy bit like the SLS AMG GT3 car, which Mika Häkkinen is campaigning next year, but, of course, it doesn't. The rear diffusers of both cars do sprout proudly out of the back of both cars, and they both have unfeasibly large front- and rear-wheel blisters and sills. But that's about it.
Not that it's any problem. With huge air intakes and lightweight gunmetal wheels (11kg lighter a set than standard), the CBS looks just like what it is: a well-heeled hooligan with a season ticket to the track. It can be made to look even harder if you opt for the Aerodynamics Package, which adds a carbon-fibre front splitter, carbon-fibre adjustable rear spoiler and carbon-fibre flics on the side pods. Or, if you want to keep it subtle, the Track Package, which adds super-sticky Dunlop tyres and a rear-axle transmission radiator. The sensible thing to do is spec both. It would be like buying a horse without a saddle if you didn't.Mercedes-Benz has long been known for its safety features, and the C63 AMG will only add to that reputation. In addition to ABS and ESP stability control, the car boasts nine supplemental restraints including two-stage front air bags, a knee air bag for the driver and pelvic air bags which work together with curtain and side air bags to provide extra protection for front occupants in dangerous side-impact collisions.
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