The BMW M3 and Mercedes AMG C63 are both household names to performance car enthusiasts.
The formula is simple.
Two practical sedans with supercar bothering levels of power.
In the hands of a normal driver, both are capable of cross-country adventures or I don’t
know the daily school run but what we want to know is which is better in circuit driving?
And to find out, we’ve got a guy that knows his way around Winton better than most.
Okay, look before we get to the nitty-gritty what do you say?
Traffic like Grand Prix?
Well you know me, mate.
I do live my life a quarter-mile at a time.
You supercar drivers are all the same.
So the M3 wins the drag race by the smallest of margins but the BMW was a decisive overall
victor the last time that these two met.
However that was M4 versus C63 Coupe and it was two years ago.
Since that time Benz has updated the C63 with a new nine-speed automatic gearbox, a tweaked
chassis, and softer suspension aimed at broadening its skillset.
And purely from a technology and presentation point of view, it is the standout of these
two cars.
The headline figures here remain the same.
375 kilowatts and 700 newton metres but there have been some important underbody changes.
Probably the biggest one, this car’s electronic suite is said to be a little bit smarter for
mugs like myself behind the wheel.
However today we’re going to let the professional do the talking.
Luke.
Over to you.
Well what the C63 really battles with is its weight and that’s where I am changing direction
doesn’t really respond and you really squeal on those tires.
One thing Mercedes do really well is engines.
Twin turbo V8 power and it doesn’t disappoint.
It really rockets up these straights.
There’s two things really surprising me about this car and it’s got nothing to do
with the dynamics at all.
The display on the tire temperature.
When the tire temperature’s get really high you lose lots of grip and that’s great for
a road car to really see where that is.
And this little traction control knob, you can actually turn the traction all the way
off and actually vary it in about 11 different positions.
I find that surprising for a road car but something I really love.
The scales say just as much.
The C63 S weighs in at about 1800 kilograms and adding to its lethargy is a lack of regrip
around Winton.
Weight is no such issue in the M3 CS however which comes in at about 250 kilograms lighter
than the Merc at just over one point five tons.
Now the M3 is no slouch in regular form but this CS model really steps things up a notch.
Priced at $180,000 plus on road costs, it adds aero tweaks.
It’s 30 kilograms lighter than the donor car and the biggest thing is that it rides
on Michelin pilot sport cup 2 rubber.
It does ask a lot for the privilege though.
It’s about $50,000 more than the regular M3 Pure.
Under the bonnet you’re getting an additional seven kilowatts and 50 newton metres more
than the M3 competition.
But thanks to some clever tweaking of the electronic aids, BMW said the M3 CS is slightly
more meated with its responses.
That’s just as well because from a tech and presentation point of view, you could
argue the CS is overpriced.
In any case, Luke over to you.
What I really love about this car is its lightweight.
It really is responsive and the mid-corner grip it has is just sensational.
What really surprises me the most about this car is just how angry it is.
It’s really, really responsive out of those corners.
It’s got less power.
But it feels like it’s got 100 horsepower more.
I guess the one thing is you can really tell it has a lot less tech than the C63.
Much more track focused and you can really feel that in its ride so if there’s any
negatives it may be a bit harsh.
It may be a bit track focused.
But I’m a race driver so that’s no negative.
Unsurprisingly Luke’s suspicions are verified by the stopwatch.
The M3 CS comes in a whole four seconds quicker than the C63 S posting one of our fastest
production car lap times around Winton to date.
In an ordinary test you could easily justify the C63 as our winner but in a strict track
comparison the stop watch doesn’t lie.
All right Luke that was a fun day, wasn’t it?
Oh absolutely.
When you get a chance to drive cars like this around a track like that, far out.
It doesn’t get much better.
Now my initial observations.
We’ll get to yours in a second.
C63 makes all the right noise.
In isolation it’s a really good car but when you’ve got these two together it feels
heavier.
It feels a little bit more sluggish.
And even the engine it’s probably not as instant in those middling revs, is it?
Totally agree.
If we didn’t have the M3 to reference it off it’s a great car.
Heaps of tech.
Sounds awesome.
Plenty of grunt.
But I tell you what when you put it up against that, that really does just change the benchmark
doesn’t it?
Four second lap faster.
Wow.
That’s a mammoth time.
Now how much of that do you think is tires and how much of it is weight?
Look a lot of it is tire.
Obviously it’s on Michelin Sport Club 2 which is a phenomenal tire but 250 kilos,
I tell you what a passenger is worth a second lap.
So that’s roughly three seconds a lap just in weight alone.
So we agree then.
M3’s a winner?
By a country mile.
{Sam Charlwood} {Luke Youlden}