Mercedes-Benz C 450 AMG 4Matic debuts – sportier chassis, 3.0 litre twin-turbo V6 with 362 hp and 518 Nm

We’ve heard strong rumours and our spy photographers have even snapped a prototype running around with exposed badges, but now it’s official – this is the new Mercedes-Benz C 450 AMG 4Matic, the second AMG Sport model launched in the range, available in both sedan and estate bodies.

Mercedes-Benz’s new AMG Sport range are meant to bridge the gap between regular Mercedes-Benz models and the newly-renamed proper hardcore Mercedes-AMG models. The first AMG Sport model to be launched was the GLE 450 Coupe, which was the king of the GLE Coupe range for a short while until the Mercedes-AMG GLE 63 S Coupe was unveiled today.

Today’s C 450 shares the same engine as the GLE 450 – a 3.0 litre twin-turbo V6 that does 362 hp at 5,500 rpm and 518 Nm of torque from 2,000-4,200 rpm. It’s available with 4Matic all-wheel drive only, sending power to all wheels via a 7G-Tronic gearbox.

As a comparison, the C 400 which is on the next rung below also has a 3.0 litre twin-turbo V6 but it outputs 333 hp. This sounds like only a minor improvement in power over the C 400. That’s reflected in the 100 km/h sprint time, which improves from 5.2 seconds for the C 400 to 4.9 seconds for the C 450.

But the difference is in the chassis – it has various tweaks like updated front pull rods, three-stage adjustable dampers, tweaked steering knuckles, higher negative camber, firmer springs and new load bearing joints.

The 4Matic system defaults to a more rear-biased 33:67 split instead of the usual 45:55. The gearbox also has a bespoke shift mapping. Finally, the AMG Sport styling on the exterior gets a quad tailpipe layout.

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