Does The Mercedes-Benz C450 AMG Live Up To The Badge?

Does The Mercedes-Benz C450 AMG Live Up To The Badge?

No matter what string of letters and numbers follows or precedes it, seeing the letters "AMG" on the back of a car conjures up images of hand-built, high performance engines, rumbling exhaust notes, smoking tires, and tail-happy torque monsters. Take the Mercedes-AMG C63 S, for instance. Its 4.0-liter, twin-turbo V8 makes 503 horsepower and 516 pound-feet of torque. But what if you put the AMG badge on a car that wasn't quite as extreme? Can a car really be considered a true AMG car if it isn't an exercise in excess? Mercedes is betting it can, replacing the mid-range C400 with the C450 AMG. It's part of Mercedes's now defunct "AMG Sport" line, which was a confusing way of saying that it's a sportier package but not a full AMG car. The C450 will soon become the Mercedes-AMG C43, same engine, same ethos, different name. The hope is people will understand that this is related to the AMG C63, but is a bit less aggressive. On paper, the C450 looks like all the car you could want in a daily driver.

A 3.0-liter, twin-turbo V6 takes the place of the C63's 4.0 liter, twin-turbo V8 and gives you 362 horsepower and 384 pound-feet of torque. To see whether or not the C450 lived up to its AMG badge, we took one for a quick road trip. Was it all we hoped it would be? It's hard not to be impressed with how good-looking the C450 is. Even the base C-Class is a stylish car that benefits strongly from all the cues it borrows from the much-more-expensive S-Class. The C450 gets those same good looks, just with an all-around sportier appearance. Inside, the comparisons to the S-Class continue, with the design and materials far outpacing your expectations for what was formerly Mercedes' entry-level sedan. 50,000-plus price bracket, even if the car actually starts in the high thirties. The result of that decision is an interior that deserves every bit of the praise it's received over the past couple years. It's when you start the car, however, that you get your first hint that the C450 has a bit of real AMG in its soul.

It's not quite as loud as the C63, but the exhaust delivers all the burble, crackle, and pop you could want out of a daily driver. You won't have to worry about waking the neighbors every time you start it up, but the C450 makes its sporting intentions known from the beginning, and it sounds incredible. But the bigger problem with the transmission was not that it was an automatic but that it just didn't feel like it belonged in the C450. With 362 horsepower and 384 lb.-ft .of torque, you would expect the car to be much quicker than it is. The problem is that it feels like the transmission just isn't matched to the character car. Sometimes shifts were delayed and other times it felt like it snatched the wrong gear. It feels like the programming is wrong. Despite its AMG badge, the C450 handles highway cruising like a champ. Set the suspension in Comfort or Eco mode, and your C-Class gladly plays the role of a luxury sedan.

It's quiet and composed at highway speeds, the seats are comfortable even after several hours behind the wheel, and you also get a handful of features that take the fatigue out of driving long distances. As much as we enjoyed driving in comfort, highway driving also showed that the C450 isn't really miserly when it comes to the fuel tank. The EPA numbers suggest that you can get 29 mpg on the highway, but we did not. Even in Eco mode, we only managed around 26 mpg. That may have been an issue specifically with our tester, but it's certainly worth looking into if you're considering buying one. If you want to hustle, the C450 will hustle. The chassis and the suspension work together well to hide the car's weight, even borrowing the adjustable dampers from the C63. The all-wheel drive C450 isn't nearly as tail happy as its big brother, but its more-neutral character makes it less intimidating to drive. Don't worry, there's still plenty of fun to be had.

Steering is direct and weighted well, providing a refreshing amount of feedback. The brakes are plenty strong, too, which gives you more confidence tossing it into a corner. The BMW 340i might have the edge on the overall "fun to drive" factor, but the C450 is no slouch. Thanks in part to its spectacular exhaust note, it encourages you to wring it out any time you have a chance. But where the C450 stumbled was that it never really felt like there was as much power available as you would expect from a car with an AMG badge and 384 pound-feet of torque. That brings us back to the transmission. It could be an issue of how it's tuned for the car, or it could be an inherent problem with the transmission itself, but it was the let down of a fantastic driving experience. The C450 certainly isn't slow. Anyone who complains about a daily driver hitting 60 mph in less than five seconds most likely spends more time comparing spec sheets on forums than actually driving cars.