2014 Mercedes-Benz C-Class

Okay, so, crucify me. I pursued this steaming-hot Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG Edition 507 ever since the 2013 Geneva Motor Show, wanting – for all practical North American audience purposes – either the sedan or the coupe version. I assumed right up until the time of the drive near Stuttgart that such had been clearly understood. As they say, never assume; it can make a total dork out of me and only me. Three days prior, I checked to verify that either the coupe or sedan would be present and Stuttgart replied quickly that, yessir, they had the station wagon for me. At first, I sighed and whined; North America gets only the sedan and coupe versions, but not the wag. Then I was overjoyed. It swiftly turned into a lemonade-from-lemons thing. I have noticed that the most passionate admirers of premium German forbidden fruit are in that demographic of wingnuts who chatter incessantly about getting more sport wagons. Preferably with some boiling hot diesel motor and a notchy manual shifter, but anyway... The swan-song Edition 507 C63 of the W204 C-Class (launched back in 2007) only really stands out for me as the station wagon. It is this dimension of hot Mercedes that sings most to my sensibilities for truer sporting drive dynamics in actual curves and whatnot. Most all other larger Merc AMGs are straight-line megarods of the highway and damned good at that, but this 500-horsepower practical gear-toting hauler is the one for me. Driving Notes Of the many items that make the 2014 Mercedes C63 AMG Edition 507 so glowing hot, chief is its legendary and loved naturally aspirated 6.2-liter M156 V8, the very first AMG-specific engine built from scratch starting in 2006. It is formidable and true, and it still wrecks me emotionally. For the C63 AMG, the Edition 507 (option "'P61" in the catalog) replaces much of what the AMG Performance Pack and the Development Pack currently offer. You've gotta love, too, the lightweight hood pulled from the Black Series, especially when slapped on this stunning wagon in matte-finish gray-silver. This is, in almost every sense, the ultimate swan song edition for this C-Class. I say almost. Mercedes is a German company, and the Germans fully embraced the parallel universe of massive options lists years ago. What irks me most about the enduring options list is that the locking rear sport differential remains non-standard. I mean, c'mon, guys. Go ahead and bump the price up even a tick more, but why on Earth is this not included without having to tick a box? Effectively, the only thing on this whole 507 treatment – starting at around $69,000 in the sedan once deliveries begin here in late summer – that actually bends my nose the wrong way is the seven-speed AMG Speedshift automatic transmission. It irks me even on the Black Series C-Class, so this didn't surprise me much. Upshifts are great, but the mapping for the downshifts remains infuriating whenever pushing the beast hard. …
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