New vs Used: Audi TT vs Audi R8
Sexy Golf, or junior supercar? You decide
It’s ridiculous. It’s hilarious. Pretty much sums up the C63, really.And I haven’t finished yet. Turn the traction control completely off and, in the C63 S, that right-hand clicky dial now morphs into a nine-stage traction control toggle, like the AMG GT R’s. Each click turns the assistance level up or down a bit. It’s like having a driving coach on board. Select setting 1, 2 or 3 for quite a lot of interference, when you’re nervous. Ratchet it round to 4, 5 or 6 when you’re getting confident. And to have a really extravagant, embarrassing accident on the way out of Cars’n’Coffee, dare you brave position 7, 8, or 9? Steady on, you hero. Now, you’re on your own. Phew. That’s a LOT of configurability. Still not done. Also new for C63 v2.1 is an electronic differential on all models – previously it was reserved just for the C63 S. Now, via the AMG Dynamics sub-sub-sub menu, you can choose four different characters of torque-vectoring and diff behaviour, which also talks to the stability control system. Depending on what mode you’re in (Slippery, Comfort, Sport, Sport + Race), AMG Dynamics offers four extra settings to trim the car’s assistance. You can be, erm, Basic, or select Advanced mode, then there’s the Pro setting, and a really worrying ‘Master’ option. Are you an AMG Master? Thought so. Step right up. That’s literally the most German thing I’ve ever heard. Indeed. The C63 is now quite complicated. After the initial excitement of dropping into its firmly padded bucket seat and summoning the rumbling V8 to life, you don’t move for the next ten minutes. Manual gearchange or automatic? Which of the three suspension stiffnesses would you prefer? ‘Balanced’ exhaust note, or ‘Powerful’? And there’s the driver coach parameters to play with – and hone your abilities against. Happily, once you’ve committed your favourites to the Individual mode, selected first gear with a cool metal paddle and burbled out onto the road, a truly wonderful machine is waiting beneath you. Besides the more attentive gearbox, the new C63 doesn’t feel that different on the road. Steering remains reassuringly weighty without the sticky, doughiness of an M4’s or the airy nothingness of the RS5’s wheel. But the Audi has it licked as a GT. Suspension-wise, this is still on the taut side of firm, which means it gets away with the ride comfort in Germany, but will feel rigid in the UK. That’s becoming a bit of an AMG trait. See also: the current E63. Its brittle ride is pretty much the only chink in its armour. Wish AMG had given the C63’s Comfort ride setting a bit more… comfort. There’s still Sport and Sport + modes for troubling the trim mountings. So, all those modes, all that gadgetry, and it’s good new gearbox aside, not that much different from the old C63? Not until you get to a track. And what a track. The sadists at AMG decided to show off how confident they are in their new microchips by launching the new C63 at the Bilster Berg race resort in north-west Germany. Designed by F1 circuit architect and motorsport boredom enthusiast Hermann Tilke – during what must have been one hell of a night on the Weissbiers – Bilster Berg is a devilish, deceitful 2.6-mile ribbon of undulating bends, brows and not-quite straights modeled on the gnarlier bits of the Nürburgring. What you need here is a friendly chassis, and the C63’s always had that in spades. It’s a benevolent muscle car, with more depth of character in its indicator stalk than in a whole Audi RS5, and none of the vindictive spite of a turbocharged BMW M4. Handy, when the GT3 racing prodigy you’re following for your first ever laps – pacing you in an AMG GT R – tears off to the horizon. It’s like being asked to make the Kessel Run having never flown the Millennium Falcon. You’re a wuss. I’ll take that. Needn’t have worried, though. Despite being a bi-turbo V8 500bhp rear-drive uber coupe, the C63’s got some safety understeer built in (thank heavens for that), but after three laps I’ve finally remembered which way the track goes over the preposterous crests and been able to indulge the traction control ratchet. That’s how much confidence this car gives you. 503bhp, 516lb ft, and yet after eight miles of a totally new and completely sadistic track, I’m graduating AMG School. It’s time to be a Master. In Race mode, with traction control at Defcon 5, you’re left with enough to do – enough to catch, enough to enjoy – without feeling like you’re on a greased tightrope of ‘it’s-not-if-I-crash-but-when’. Over fast crests it sometimes feels a bit out of sorts, like the vertical movements are robbing the rear axle of the traction it craves, but it remains friendly even as the revs spike. The best thing is, you could have it like this on the road, and unlike the vast majority of modern fast cars, feel like you’re actually getting a good chunk of the car’s ability from it without an unmitigated risk of falling off, and – crucially – without going absurdly fast to unstick it. Of course it’s seriously quick – quick enough to peg a new Aston Martin Vantage – it sounds outrageous (the AMG Performance exhaust/artillery piece is no longer an optional extra, but standard-equipment), and yes, you could argue that the mere presence of a nine-stage traction control toggle is asking for trouble. You’re going to see these things pinballing into the scenery on Instagram before long. But it won’t be the car’s fault, because the car is affable, funny yet extremely clever. Like Stephen Fry. It’ll be the nut that holds the wheel getting way too cocky due the blame. You like this car, don’t you? Unremittingly. It’s fabulous. Not just because it has mega character and lots of toys and it looks plain wibble-tastic, but because it’s been set up to have fun no matter where your talent or fear threshold lies. As long as you’ve got the patience to set it up. It’s such a special piece of kit, the C63, only now it has a better gearbox and an ugly steering wheel with pound-shop jewellery affixed. Not to worry. Picking a single, quantifiable ‘best car in the world’ always seems a bit futile to me, but right now, this is undoubtedly my absolute favourite. 9/10
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