Top Car

24 TOPCAR.CO.ZA|January 2016FIRST DRIVES.## SHADES## OF SLAYToday’s four-seater sports coupes must be allthings to all people : poser, mile-muncher andtrack slayer. Nailed it! ByWayneBatty## SHOULDERSJUSTBELOWthe windowsills, yousit low on optional ‘performance’ seat s that lookmadder and hug harder, in a cabin coatedin Artico,aluminiumand carbon fibre. Grab the flat-bottomedpart-nappa-trimmed wheel, hit the starter, toggle toSport Plus on the AMG Dynamic Select switch, enga ge Driveon the column stalk and launch.A 375kW power station slingshots you forward like you’re amedieval boulder on a castle crushing mission. The differenceis the sound. Instead of a deathly quietwhooshas you cleavethe air, this 1725kg Stuttgartian boulder makes the sound ofmodern warfare in Dolby Surround 7.1. Through the wideopen exhaust flap it’s all artillery fire, mortars andbackground anger. Only one car sounds moreferocious, butwe won’t mention that British F-word here.Approaching the frontline, it’s time to pick sides so you easeoff the throttle pedal and call on the meaty 390mm diameterretarders (360mm at the rear) to trim off the exce ss. The7-speed MCT transmission blips the throttle twice as it dropstwo cogs and you turn in, the dynamic engine mounts inViagra mode taming the V8’s inertia. The steering’s a real al lyproviding all the intel and appropriate resistance to pick yourway accurately and confidently through the corner. With arear track – 50mm up over the sedan – now as wide as the oldBlack Series coupe and the electronically contro lled limited-slip differential sorting the traction for you like Hamiltonhimself you turn the power fully ba ck on like Eskom afteranother tariff hike.For once the ride’s not ro ck hard, but in this setting thethree-stage dampers have a shor t fast rebound action that atspeed is akin to the buffeting of a ski boat on choppy water.MERCEDES-AMG C63 S COUPE# 50