Johnhav430

At the time, the 335i had a lot of good rolled into it. I had my car in 12/06, and it turned heads and got thumbs ups. Back then, of course, when a new 3 coupe was rolled out, there were zero for sale nationwide, had to be ordered. Times have changed.

When I saw the editor (then) of C&D had chosen the same car, only with 2 more doors, I had to feel like I was in good company....

Again, a different time. It listed for $40,600 base, and already had dumb stuff standard, like external engine oil cooler, adaptive xenon, 13 spk HK stereo blah blah blah. Then one day, BMW realized, we can increase the base price, take all that stuff out, and make them options!!

Stroock639

same exact non hand assembled nothing to do with AMG engine in both, which was ok when it was called the 450, but not now that it's called the 43

Johnhav430

Whether or not the C53 is real, I would take it. 48V electrical system, electric turbocharger, I would rather have an inline 6, newer gen car, and the "future," than the real AMG which is the C63....

If someone saw me at the Post Office and said, "You poseur! What makes you think you're driving a real AMG?!" I would reply, "I'm not, I didn't put the badges on, the factory did. It isn't a real AMG, but I have a 48V electrical system, you only got 12!"

p.s. I have only graduated to 20V power tools, 40 would be nice! But 20V really does well, with my impact wrench, weed trimmer (that was surprising, no more 2 cycle gas problems)

RNM GS3

I think MB has done a poor job with the naming.
AMG 43/53 is tuned by AMG but not fulll on AMG.
AMG 63/63S is the real one.

BMW is a little less confusing but also not great.
M240, M340, M550 are tuned by M but are not true “M” cars.
BMW also has different levels of M:
standard M
M Competition
M CS
M CSL

Obviously all this is done to generate more $$$.

jrmckinley

The number conventions of 43/53 ring a bell for certain models, but what about things like the S class and SL? Weren't (aren't) those S55, SL55, etc to represent the AMG models?

Stroock639

yes, anything ending in 55 had the engine built fully at the AMG factory



that engine was succeeded by the 63 (which was actually a 6.3 liter engine unlike the current ones)

Kense

Everybody is falling for the Marketing one man one engine scam. In reality who cares. I could care less if some man put the pistons in my engine or a robot did it. So what, that allows them to jack the price up. The reality is The C43 AMG is a damn good car and plenty fast. Stock they are doing 0-60 in 4.1 seconds. The C63 is too much for daily driving. You never use that power anyways. The C43 is plenty fast and with basic tunes you're putting down serious power. I have no problem with the naming of the C43 AMG, it's not like they are affordable to your average consumer anyways. They still cost nearly $70,000 loaded.

Stroock639

do you have one or are planning to get one in the near future?


believe me i don't really see any legitimate value in having the hand built engine, but at the same time i think it's pretty awesome that i can literally go on youtube and see a video of the actual guy who built the engine in my car building another one with jay leno lol... i also never claimed that the hand built thing results in better reliability, but AMG started out and has historically always been an engine designer and manufacturer, so without an AMG engine i don't think it should be called an AMG is all...

if anything the C43 also handles too well to be an AMG lol, it's too BMW when the great part of AMGs is that they've always been more like luxury muscle car hot rods which perform tremendously well as high speed cruisers, but never really a "sports car"... and idk why people seem to keep associating "not an AMG" with "not a good car" when the C43 is a fantastic value and looks great, it's just missing the key component that makes something an AMG and therefore should not be advertised as such

RNM GS3

Ppl in the know care - its not true AMG product period.
New M340i is crazy fast with 0-60 under 4sec with AWD but its not an M car.
The real M3 is coming next year.

For the average buyer- they will not know C43 or 63 or 93.
All they want is for it to say AMG.

Your argument about HP is not true - for you C43 is sufficient but performance minded shoppers can never have enough power. With modern tech, we have seen plenty of 500hp + cars as great for the street. Take the new M5 with 0-60 in under 3sec while still being an amazing luxury sedan.

Johnhav430

I have a new coworker, where I had to do a double take. He has two modded MBs that he drives to work, but they are debadged. Both black, with like < 20% tints all around lol Finally I figured one is a brand new C coupe, the other a CLS, both are loud. It would be interesting to get his take because I doubt either are AMG, but both are modded so who knows what's going on. Based on the license plate of the CLS, it may likely smoke an CLS 63 AMG, but my opinion would be still not an AMG. Or I could be wrong, it may be a debadged AMG--I noticed 285's in the rear.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

Stroock639, i know you're feeling slighted and believe the amg brand is being diluted but you're living in the past. the video you posted is 7 years old and your car i believe is twice as old. doesn't make it a bad car, of course your car is awesomely fast.

the whole 'hand built' thing is meaningless today, the 'ooh it only has 2 digits' thing is meaningless... amg 'packages' on top of regular models are a bit like lexus f-sport on steriods... mercedes did it to expand the appeal of their models and not have to come up with another branding, and people who are buying will know if it's the 'full' amg by the price, looks, and specs.

Stroock639

it's not that i feel slighted, it's other people who are falling prey to marketing tactics and thinking oooh nice now i have an AMG... and that video i posted is over 15 years old now too, but i like it since it's the engine in my car being made but i promise you go to reddit r/AMG and there's a whole influx of people who got a C43 and make a post saying finally got my first AMG!! (and of course many people comment saying fake AMG which makes the OP get very nasty and aggressive, almost like it's really important to them that their car be seen as an AMG) but that didn't happen when the exact same car was just called the 450

if i'm living in the past then i'm in like 2016 at the earliest, just when it was still called the C450, there's no reason to change it to 43 apart from marketing purposes (a money grab like hoovey said), the only reason a car has been called an AMG in the past is because you got an engine designed and built by AMG, which the C43 hasn't got in any way

Kense

I considered getting one but the lease prices weren't reasonable to me. I couldn't get one below 900 a month.

Kense

People in the know aka Snobs. I've done quite a bit of lurking on the MBWorld forum and most people don't care and most people there accept the C43 is an AMG with less HP. The people who do care seem to be arrogant ******. It's an AMG "Lite" but it's an AMG. Who are consumers to tell Mercedes what's an AMG when they are the ones who built and named the car? BMW was not trying to make the the M340 or M550 etc a true M car I don't see that as the same at all.

Regarding the performance shopper. There are plenty of people who actually have the C63 & C63s who say the car has too much power. They can't even put all that power to the ground or it's just unusable power and impractical for daily driving.

arentz07

Again, like I said I know it's not an AMG, but I'd still get a C43 "AMG". I think it would suit my needs better than an actual C63 AMG. If I had unlimited funds and perfect weather, yeah I'd go for the V8 every time. So, if nothing else, I wouldn't lump every C43 AMG owner into the same bucket. I think many know that what they're getting is just an upgraded Benz, not a traditional AMG.