AMG’s take on the GLC Coupé wants nothing for presence. It’s marginally more extensive of footprint but lower in stature than a Porsche Macan Turbo and adorned with matt black skirts, wheel-arch extensions and a deep rear splitter.
There’s also a particularly conspicuous duck-tail spoiler, and unlike the lesser of the AMG-fettled GLC models – the twin-turbocharged V6-engined 43 – the 63 features Mercedes’ open-worked Panamericana grille, which has until now been seen on only the Mercedes-AMG GT.
Through it, you get a view of the vast radiator needed to meet the cooling requirements of a 4.0-litre V8 that, as we’re now used to seeing, houses a brace of sequential turbochargers within its vee. In the GLC63 S 4Matic+ Coupé, it develops 503bhp and 516lb ft, the latter from just 1750rpm. The non-S version makes do with 469bhp and 479lb ft.
Much of the car’s mechanical construction is recognisable from the E63 saloon – encouraging, because that’s a machine we rate highly. The nine-speed Speedshift transmission is one such element and it is neither a torque-converter nor uses dual clutches, instead relying on an entire pack of clutches with a single input shaft.
In theory, such a set-up shifts faster than a traditional automatic but can cope with more torque than a dual-clutch gearbox, and there’s also a ‘sailing’ function that shuts down the engine while you’re coasting.
