Track test: New Mercedes-AMG C43 goes on sale in SA

The Mercedes-AMG C43 has become a popular car for its keen blend of performance and relative affordability. It offers considerably more power than regular C-Class models but costs a lot less than the fire-breathing C63.

The new generation C43 sedan, which is to go on sale in SA imminently and is built locally at Mercedes’ East London plant, has swapped its predecessor’s 3.0l V6 turbo engine for a 2.0l four-cylinder turbo. Though smaller, the new unit now pushes out an impressive 300kW and 500Nm — compared with 287kW and 520Nm for the outgoing V6 — while a 48-volt electrical mild hybrid system briefly provides an additional 10kW when needed.

Power is fed to the 4Matic all-wheel drive via a nine-speed AMG Speedshift transmission with five driving modes: Slippery, Comfort, Sport, Sport+ and Individual.

The C43 4Matic sedan is claimed to cover the 0-100km/h sprint in 4.6 seconds and reach an electronically governed 250km/h top speed. An optional AMG Driver’s Package unlocks 265km/h, while the factory-claimed fuel consumption is 8.7l/100km.

To manage the extra power, Mercedes-AMG has tweaked the chassis with rear-wheel steering and a rear-biased full-time all-wheel drive system that sends 31% of the torque to the front axle and 69% to the back. The car rides on AMG-tuned suspension called AMG Ride Control with adaptive dampers offers a choice of three different damping maps: Comfort, Sport and Sport+.

Mercedes invited us to experience the new C43 at the Zwartkops circuit near Pretoria on Sunday, an event where Springbok rugby players Makazole Mapimpi and Lukhanyo Am were announced as Mercedes-Benz brand ambassadors and both given the use of the C43 for a year.

A few laps around the circuit revealed Mercedes-AMG’s new mid-powered rocket to be a very dynamic and alive-feeling car. The days of fast but vague-feeling Mercedes are consigned to distant memory. This sedan has quick steering, agile handling and feels like a live wire around the racetrack. On its firm suspension setting the sedan feels satisfyingly planted, with minimal body roll.   

The rear-axle steering helps the car hug sharp turns and the electronic stability program (ESP) is able to make brief braking intervention at the inner rear wheel. It leads to a precise turn-in and allows the throttle to be thrust earlier out of corner exits, with no understeer to spoil the party.

The ESP has three settings: fully enabled, fully off, and an intermediate Sport setting which allows some drifting before saving your bacon.

Driving for three hot laps at a time followed by a couple of cool-down laps, the AMG sports braking system held up well without fading. The front brakes are 370mm discs with four-piston calipers and the rears are 320mm with single piston calipers.

The C43 is a finely balanced car that has enough power to thrill without being as angry (and sometimes scary) as a C63. Acceleration is instant, with little trace of turbo lag even at Gauteng altitude. This immediacy is partly thanks to a new electric turbocharger inherited from Mercedes’ Formula 1 car, which uses an electric motor to keep the turbo’s exhaust gas impeller spinning at high speed, making for less of a delay in power delivery than in typical turbos where the impeller is brought up to speed by exhaust energy alone.

The sound characteristics are controlled via an exhaust gas flap, but from the outside the four-cylinder engine sounds rather anodyne. A sportier sound can be piped into the cabin to provide some acoustic flair, with the optional AMG Real Performance Sound feature.

The C43 is visually perked up with an AMG radiator grille with vertical struts in chrome, AMG front apron with flics, sporty air intakes and chrome-plated trim elements, and a diffuser-look rear apron.

The C43 4Matic wears AMG light-alloy wheels and 18-inch tyres as standard, with 19- and 20-inch tyres available as options. The silver-painted brake calipers have black “AMG” lettering.

Athletic verve inside the cabin is provided by AMG sports pedals, AMG seats with a man-made leather/microfibre combination with red contrasting stitching and red seat belts, AMG Performance steering wheel in nappa leather with silver-coloured aluminium gearshift paddles.

The instrument panel and beltlines are upholstered in Artico man-made leather with red topstitching and the illuminated door sill trims have AMG lettering.

The MBUX infotainment system includes various AMG-specific displays and functions. A racetrack data logger records metrics including speed, acceleration, steering angle and brake pedal actuation, lap and sector times, as well as additional training and analysis tools.

The Mercedes-AMG C43 4Matic will arrive in local showrooms at the end of March at a price of R1,608,810 (excl. CO2), which includes a PremiumDrive 5-year/100,000km maintenance plan.

The Mercedes-AMG C63 S E, which packs a heady 500kW and 1,020Nm, is expected in SA late this year and will also be built locally.