I still fondly remember the first day of the press launch for the C63. It was held in Paradise Valley, Arizona, and I was in the car for the first time. After driving a few miles, we came to a stoplight. What should pull up next to me but a Ferrari 355 Spyder. This guy literally defined the stereotype for the Ferrari driver: wearing a Ferrari polo shirt, two-tone Rolex Datejust, Persol sunglasses, and with a woman a third of his age in the passenger seat. He looked at the C63 and showed little or no interest, oblivious to the wider fenders and huge tires (let alone the exhaust note coming from our car). When the light changed, he took off with a lot of noise and wheel spin, but we were already about 50 yards ahead of him. When he met us at the next light he looked at our silver sedan in confusion. “What Mercedes is that anyway? I was really trying to catch you!”
“It’s the new C63 AMG,” I said.
He looked a bit sad, and the woman in his passenger seat turned her head and smiled at me. I gave them a wave and drove off. Mercedes-AMG for the win!
The C63 AMG is a car that was designed to compete directly with the BMW M5. For years, AMG cars had been fast in a straight line but were no match for the competition from Munich if the road got twisty. Mercedes hoped to combine the raw power of the AMG engine with better chassis dynamics. After driving that car for a week, I felt they were pretty close hitting the mark, closer than any other Mercedes had at the time.
Our Pick of the Day is one of these remarkable and capable sports sedans, a 2009 Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG located in Hope Mills, North Carolina.
The seller describes this C63 as a car for enthusiasts who crave a blend of luxury and exhilarating performance. With a 451-hp, 6.2-liter four-cam 32-valve V-8 somehow crammed under the hood of a C- Class sedan, it delivered 0-60 of 4 seconds, or half a second faster than our friend’s 355. It is also a car that handles great with epic brakes as well.
The seller states that this C63 has covered a total of 93,000 miles and, from the photos in the ad, looks like a car that has been well kept and in all original condition with no paint issues that I can identify.
The interior also looks great, with very little wear excepting a little on the driver-side seat bolster, which is quite common on many cars. Overall, the leather and trim on this car look great.
Under the hood also looks great, with everything dominated by the big 6.3-liter V8.
I already have done the homework for you and called the dealer asking about service history. He did not think there was any. I asked him to look in the back of the car’s service book and there he found a number of years’ worth of maintenance history, all dealer stamped. I would inquire at your local Mercedes dealer and see what they can offer as most keep many old records and can look up the car’s dealer service history by its VIN.
This is a car I would buy myself if for no other reason than to relive the time I spent on that press trip drag racing Ferraris. The asking price of only $20,995 make this C63 look like a tremendous value, but it likely will not last long.
Click here to view the listing for this Pick of the Day.
