Autoblog

Click above for a high-res gallery of the M-B C63 AMG DTM safety car.

The Mercedes-Benz SL63 might have the honor of being picked as the official safety car for Formula One, but the equally badass, slightly more affordable and dangerously practical C63 AMG has been chosen to run ahead of the DTM racers, minus its 250 km/h speed limiter.

While the DTM safety car might look exactly like its production counterpart, save the roof-mounted lights and decals, the suspension, brakes, cooling system and exhaust have all been modified. To help keep the stock 457 hp, 6.2-liter V8 from running too hot while trying to avoid a DTM car-shaped enema, the radiator has been upgraded, along with a larger transmission oil cooler and two engine oil coolers mounted behind the front bumper's large air dams. Additionally, the rear axle cooling fins have been optimized to provide better airflow and benefits from a remote oil cooler.

The AMG C63 DTM safety car will make its official debut this weekend at the second race of the season in Oschersleben, Germany.

Hit the jump for the full press release.

Top Gear drives Germany's three small super saloons... well, in the M3's case, it's a coupe, but you get the picture The cars go against each other, as well as Emerson Fittipaldi's Lotus F1 racer that won the 1972 World Championship, and has the same horsepower as the sedans. There's also the Stig, a Stig-ette in a white bikini and helmet, Clarkson dining on an apple run over at the apex of a turn, a measurement device that we can't mention here, and lots of unkind things said of M3 drivers. But it's just in time for Christmas, and it's in three parts, which means you can make Top Gear Christmas cheer can last all day. Especially if you have a new M3 on order.

[Source: You Tube]

Click on the image above to view high-res gallery

Over at the Mercedes pavilion, Los Angeles played host to the North American premier of the acclaimed Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG. The hotrod sport sedan from the Stuttgart is the three-pointed star's eight-cylinder answer to the Audi RS4 and BMW M3, and Benz's stubborn obsession with the torque converter aside, it presents a compelling case for those on the market for a big ferocious 451-hp 6.3L V8 in a small German package.

Mercedes even brought out the head of AMG, all the way from Affalterbach, Germany, to unveil the car personally. The sheet was lifted to reveal a resplendent (that's right, resplendent!) C63 in a pearl white that'd make a First Lady's jewelry box jealous. Click on the images above and below to get a good look at the C63 AMG, because with over 450 horsepower, it may be the only chance you have to see it sitting still.

Click image for high-res gallery

Since the info was leaked over the weekend, there's not much new to report about the C 63 AMG wagon. There are, however, high-res shots of the warp drive-equipped station wagon available now, and they're in the attached gallery.
In case you missed it over the holiday weekend, here's a rundown on the essentials:

• AMG 6.2L V8 producing 457 horsepower/442 lb-ft
• Paddle-shift equipped 7-speed automatic
• 0-62 mph (100 km/h) in 4.6 seconds
• 155 mph top speed (electronically limited)
• Full AMG appearance package inside and out
• Up to 53 cubic ft of cargo space
• One-touch opening and closing tailgate
• European market launch in beginning of 2008
• Price (inc. VAT): €69,853

Hopefully it doesn't just stay in Europe, because this is one trick 'lil wagon. We'll get plenty of live shots and provide first-person impressions for you when it's unveiled next week in Frankfurt. Mercedes' full press release is included after the jump.

[Source: Mercedes-Benz]

Click image for photo gallery

Carscoop scooped everybody over the weekend by publishing the first official(ly leaked) shots of the Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG Estate. The sister to the recently-announced sedan, this is the flagship that will sit atop the C-Class wagon range. It sports AMG's 6.2L V8 tuned to produce 457 horsepower and 442 lb-ft of torque. That's enough to give the wagon a 4.6-second 0-62 time and an electro-nannied top end of 155 MPH. Outside, it gets all the AMG visual goodies, which make it look like quite the menacing little family truckster. Pretty awesome, kids, and it lets you bring up to 53 cubic feet of stuff along for the ride. Look for it later this month in Frankfurt, where it'll make its grand entrance along with the rest of the C-Class Estate lineup. We're looking forward to what the tuners like BRABUS do with this.

[Source: Carscoop]

A hand-built 6.3-liter V8 pumping 451 horsepower in a compact German sports sedan sounds pretty good, doesn't it? You should see it on video, where you get a better idea of the muscle beneath the skin of Mercedes' newest baby, the C63 AMG.

Sadly, yet again, the exhaust note, on which the Affalterbach engineers spent so much time tuning, is all but completely drowned out by the unfortunate soundtrack, and this time it's trashy trance music. It's still well worth watching, though; the video has some great angles, like the steering-wheel cam focused on the paddle shifter. Sweet.

[Source: vpod.tv via Le Blog Auto]

Click the photo for a high-res gallery of the new C63 AMG

Mercedes-Benz has announced the latest edition of its M3 challenger – the new C63 AMG. The new uber-C has an AMG hand-built 6.3L V-8 with 451 hp and 443 lb-ft of twisting force. As with other Germans from Audi and BMW, the C63 has it's terminal velocity electronically capped at 155 mph, although the acceleration is capped only by physics with 60mph available in 4.5 seconds.

All that twisting force is transferred from the crankshaft to the drive-shaft via AMG's Speedshift Plus 7G-TRONIC transmission, which can be manually manipulated by paddles on the back side of the steering wheel. The programming on this application adds the ability for the engine to automatically open up the throttle during downshifts to match revs and smooth things out. The electronic stability control also now provides the driver the ability to select the activation thresholds for the system to activate. More details from Stuttgart after the jump.

[Source: Mercedes-Benz]

Those octane junkies in Affalterbach never seem to tire of developing new, more powerful engines and shoehorning them into everything with four wheels and a three-pointed star. The Mercedes AMG website is featuring a cryptic bit of flash animation that shows the back end of an unknown new product speeding through a haze, accompanied by the caption that reads, "In July... the fog lifts." Hey, wait a minute... July... that's this month!

The indication that Benz' in-house tuning division is preparing, in short order, to release a new model naturally leads to speculation over just what that new model might be. One definite possibility could be the impending AMG version of the newly-released C-Class, on which spy shots and information have been trickling in of late. Aside from a C63 AMG, we can speculate based on AMG's current line-up of fire-snorting models, which places the division's latest 6.3-liter V8 in every Mercedes model except for three: the G-Class SUV, the outgoing C-Class wagon, and the SLK roadster, all of which still use the outgoing 5.5-liter engine.

Thanks for the tip everyone!

[Source: Mercedes AMG via eMercedes-Benz]

It looks like Mercedes is ready get serious about handling performance matching the impressive might of its AMG engines. Autocar reports that the C63 "has been designed from the ground up to make the best of the 6.3-liter engine." To do so, the C-Class Crusher will take elements from the CLK63 Black Series, including portions of the car's front subframe. It will also get the Advanced Agility Package, which creates a "Sport" mode and supposedly the kind of backroad manners that Mercedes hasn't been known for. An exact horsepower number for the car has been hard to come by -- Mercedes wants to demonstrably outdo the competition, without intruding on the E63. Or that's been the story up to now. We reported earlier that the hp number would be 450, but Autocar says, achtung!, 500 bhp. That's only 7 shy of the much more expensive E63. If that's true, Mercedes will have to do something grand with it's middle-rung monster, which mean good times ahead. As for the C, with the new M3 to be offered as a wagon, you'll also have the option to get a hauler-version C63. Still, it's too bad that all versions will only come in automatic.

Thanks for the tip, PD

[Source: Autocar]

Although it's certainly no secret, Car magazine is reporting that Audi engineers are hard at work developing the uber-5. Set to go head-to-head with its Teutonic rivals the M3 and C63; the new RS5 is expected to pack a 450 HP punch when it hits the market in the first half of 2008.

The 4.2-liter V8 currently employed in the RS4 will find a home under the hood of the "5," but with the addition of two small, quick spooling turbos. Max horsepower will obviously see a bump, but the real news is that the projected torque figures are likely to breach the 500 lb.-ft. mark.

Naturally, Quattro will be employed to send all that power to the ground, and with a reworking of the drivetrain, weight distribution is expected to come in around 55:45. Rolling stock will be comprised of 19-inches on all four corners, framing carbon ceramic brakes pulled from the R8. It's also expected that Audi will borrow some of the TT's tech and use magnetic dampers to limit roll.

With its rear-bias power delivery and neutral handling characteristics, the death match between the RS5's cross-country rivals is on. And with a price tag of about £50-large, well-to-do pistonheads will have a serious envious decision on their hands.

[Source: Car]