BMW M4 v AMG C63 S track test and performance review
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TechTranscript
00:00Hey guys, Atko here, and we're at Queensland Raceway, our test track.
00:03Today we've got an iconic rivalry between BMW and Mercedes.
00:08We've got the C63 AMG S and the BMW M4 Competition.
00:13Both these cars are rear-wheel drive monsters with 375 kilowatts of power, 700 newton metres
00:18of torque in the AMG and 650 in the BMW.
00:21This is a chance for the final V8 version of the C63 to take it to the new M4, until
00:27the changes that happen next year, with this going hybrid power, come into effect.
00:31I expect this to be a close battle, but let's get on the track and see how quick they are.
00:36Alright, we already know the C63 is a rear-wheel drive monster, and it doesn't take much to
00:48show that.
00:49This thing is crazy.
00:52Alright, initial impressions, the seating position is actually really good, I really
00:59like it.
01:00Nicely placed in the car, pretty good support, and it's comfortable for everyday use as well,
01:04so I don't think there's any issues there.
01:06Absolutely love the wheel, the Alcantara finish with the carbon, paddles are in a good position.
01:14I don't mind the dash, I'd probably like something a little bit more racy, like for track work.
01:21It's fine, you can see the rev needle very easily, and I like the shift light's nice
01:25and subtle, but you can really clearly see it when you need to shift.
01:41Now the engine's the key part of this car, that V8 twin-turbo, 375 kilowatts, and 700
01:50Nm of torque, so it's just power, as soon as you ask for it, it's there.
01:59It's almost too easy to slide, it's ridiculous.
02:03It's just got power the whole way, super drivable, you can basically be in any gear and just
02:09put the power down and she goes.
02:11And it's almost smart to be up a gear it seems, if you're in too low a gear it'll just snap
02:17on you like that, where pick the gear, get the traction and go, so it seems a smart play
02:24with this engine.
02:25And I feel like I'm so traction limited, like that's going to be the killer for this car,
02:30that I'm just chasing that rear the whole time.
02:33So the gearbox actually feels pretty good, no real complaints, and the differential just
02:39comes together nicely, like I don't feel any steps there, it grabs the slip nice and early,
02:44you really don't get any inside wheel slip, you just pretty much lock the wheels straight
02:48together, so that's fine.
02:51It's a 9-speed multi-clutch transmission, which is somewhere between a dual-clutch and
02:56a normal automatic, but it feels super quick.
03:00Suspension, I've messed around between the Sports Plus and Sport setting, and on this
03:08track which has a few bumps, I think the quicker setting will be the Sport, but I don't think
03:13there's a lot in it, I really feel like I want the car to squat a little bit more in
03:17the rear, and even in the Sport setting to be honest, it doesn't really squat that much,
03:21and I think that's why it's so easy to drift, like you can drift it no worries at all, but
03:25I'm worried that I'm not going to be able to get the power down quick enough off the
03:30corners, and really fire forward, I feel like I'm just sitting a little bit up high in the
03:37rear and not squatting and shooting off the corners.
03:42Now the brakes, it's got the carbon brakes on it, let's test them out.
03:46Stops okay, for carbon brakes I'd probably expect a little more, and I guess my main
03:51complaint there is that the pedal's just a little bit long, I want a firmer pedal so
03:56that I can really modulate it, and I feel like when I push hard, I'm not getting the
04:01ABS affecting it really too much at all, but I just, I don't have complete confidence,
04:06so maybe a little negative there.
04:08The tyres are the Michelin Pilot Super Sports, and just laterally are going to miss out to
04:16the Cup 2s on the M4, it's just inevitable that that's going to happen, so the AMG is
04:21going to have its work cut out to match it, it's got to do everything else impeccable
04:25to probably keep up, and I'd say it's going to be one of the first couple of laps, because
04:30I think the tyres will just drop away after a few laps, and you'll be just missing that
04:36outright grip, the performance.
04:39Alright, we know, we know it oversteers, that's no worries, so good, it's just so easy to
04:48slide, it's like 20% throttle and it'll slide, that's so cool, well, it ticks that box, if
04:59you want to drift it, no worries at all, I love this traction control option in this
05:03car as well, I've got it completely off now, but for the lap time, I reckon I'll run it
05:09around 7 or 6 position, so some help, but not restricting me at all, let's try and slide
05:16it in that position, see if it makes any real difference, whether it cuts in, that's cool,
05:26so I'm hard into the throttle, I'm slightly yawed, but I can continue to hold the slide,
05:31yeah, so that seems spot on, let's go up to 8, see what we can get away with in 8,
05:40okay, so it just gets away with a little bit more in 8, but to be fair, that 6 position
05:45feels pretty good and it's probably where I'll hit the laps at.
05:50Alright, it's time to get serious and see what sort of lap time we can get out of this
05:54C63, I've gone race mode everything, except the suspension, I'm going just in sport mode,
06:02manual transmission, master dynamics and then traction control on level 6, but ESP completely
06:08off, so it'll catch some slide, but only on throttle.
06:13Alright, let's start this hot lap and see what time she does.
07:25Ha ha ha, this thing is fun, alright, so first impressions of the M4 and wow, this is just
07:37a completely different interior to the C63, it's crazy the difference, but in a good way
07:42for the track and first, these seats, they are absolutely unreal, they are maybe my favourite
07:47seats I've ever been in a road car on a track, they're comfortable, I feel like I'm down
07:51low and angled back and the support, like I just don't move, it's just completely locked
07:56in and you really feel connected to the car in a way.
07:59I also like the fact that you've got the headrest that you can remove the piece so the helmet
08:03can go right back, so there's no restriction, my helmet's not hitting anything there and
08:07obviously put that pad back in when you go back out on the road, so you can see they've
08:11thought about this car being on the track.
08:13Now the wheel, the wheel's maybe my least favourite part of the interior, it's just
08:17a little bit chunkier than I like on the track and also the fact that it's leather, not Alcantara,
08:21so after a few laps and I start to sweat on the palms, which is my own issue anyway,
08:26but they just slip around a little bit and some people like it, some people don't, I
08:31prefer the Alcantara, but the paddle shifts are great, the big carbon paddles, really
08:35long, really clear and textured on the back as well, so you can grab them, feel exactly
08:40where they are, you don't even really think about it, they're just easy to grab and flick
08:43and perfect, no issues there at all.
08:46I really like the dash as well, super clear, the shift lights when you're in M modes, then
08:52it pops up at the top, the shift lights come together at the top, you know exactly when
08:56to shift and like I mentioned, the M modes, that's one of my favourite things as well,
09:00is that you can preset everything, M1 and M2 and then go on the track and choose between
09:04the two settings.
09:07So now I'll pick up the pace a little bit, see how it feels, the engine, the transmission.
09:11It's twitchy as well, almost as reactive as that C63, the engine's identical power numbers,
09:23slightly different torque numbers, this feels just a bit peakier, a little bit sharper and
09:28just revs out a little bit more, still very drivable, I can just feed in the power how
09:33I want, if I wanted to slide, I just up the power and she comes round, this thing is quick.
09:42Now the transmission, they've actually gone back to a normal sports automatic and got
09:57rid of the dual clutch out of the previous generation M4 and it might be great on the
10:03road, through the car parks, things like that, but it just feels a little bit sluggish on
10:09the track compared to a dual clutch, just like you'd expect more, more urgency, more
10:14of a bang and I'd say the C63 wins in that stake, even though it's not a dual clutch,
10:20the gearbox just feels that little bit more responsive, that little quicker and just a
10:24little bit more engaging, so I'd give the transmission to the C63, but this is not a
10:29huge negative with this car, it's still very usable and very useful on the track.
10:33The rear differential, I like the feel of it, I feel like it's got really subtle control
10:40over the locking, you can just take it to the edge and you can feel the locking coming
10:44and it doesn't slam shut, it just softens, softens a slip and then if you ask more then
10:49it grabs it, so it's really nice how it can just manage, manage that power, manage the
10:55torque and you can just stay there on a slight angle, straighten up and go and I think for
10:59doing a lap time, that fine detail, that slow subtle catching of the power and torque
11:07is what makes the difference between a super quick car and a quick car.
11:11Now the handling of this M4 is, I'd have to say my initial feelings is incredible, it's
11:18such an amazing package, it's so well connected, absolutely love the dampers, the way they
11:23work, the support and the subtleness and what I can get away with as well, I can really
11:29ride the kerbs, it doesn't react too much where the C63 is a little bit more reactive
11:34on the kerbs, still got to be controlling on the throttle, you can't just step on it
11:38but if you nail that throttle delivery, it just settles nicely and shoots off the corner
11:44where the C63 just sits a little bit firmer in the rear, makes it easy to drift but then
11:49makes it a little bit harder to control at the same time and that's where this maybe
11:53gains a fraction of the time off the corner.
11:55Now you think with them both being carbon ceramic brakes that it would be a close call
11:59between the two but the M4 absolutely blows the C63 away in braking terms, it's so much
12:06more consistent and the stopping control and modulation is incredible, you can just slam
12:13on the brakes pretty much as hard as you want there and I can just off the brakes nicely
12:17into the corner without any issue, the C63 with that extra bit of travel, I just can't
12:24modulate the brake as well and you just can't quite trust it, this I feel like I'm basically
12:29in a race car with a slightly assisted brake, it's insane how good these brakes are on the
12:34track.
12:35Now as I mentioned, this car's got the Michelin Cup 2's which basically gives us nearly a
12:41second advantage straight off the bat over the C63, that's the way it is, there's nothing
12:46that beats grip and the lateral grip from these tyres is excellent as well as the consistency
12:51with the C63, you just feel like after a lap they just drop away a little bit where
12:56these Cup 2's hang on a lot longer and you also notice with the Cup 2's that you've got
13:02to warm them up a little bit more as well so it takes a good out lap to get that feeling
13:06of the grip coming up, building up the temperature so you know those tyres are thought of as
13:11a track tyre in a way and does give an upper hand to the M4 that's for sure.
13:17Alright now let's take it to the limit and see how it feels there, we know the C63 loves
13:22to oversteer, so does this by the looks of it, a little bit harder to hold a slide I
13:31would say, being a peak year engine it's not as easy but it still doesn't mind to oversteer,
13:40I'd say it's a little bit more balanced into the corner, it feels a little bit more connected,
13:44the front, the feedback is unreal, the steering's not great but the actual feedback from the
13:49chassis is unreal, I can just drive to the edge of the tyre, slight understeer and then
13:53slight bit of oversteer off the corner, man that is ideal, that is really well balanced
14:00for a road car, the fact that I can do both again, that's so critical on a track, you
14:05don't want it to be too biased one way and this although it's a slightly oversteery car
14:10you can still make it understeer if you want and then make it oversteer at the same time
14:15if that's what you're after.
14:18Alright time to get serious and see what actual lap time the M4 does, now I've gone with M2
14:26everything in sports mode, I didn't go full sports plus in the suspension, I've gone sports,
14:30I've gone traction control on level 4 and basically we are ready to race, this feels
14:37like a race car, I'm worried for the C63, this thing feels quick, feels sharp, alright
14:43let's start the lap.
15:37So there you go guys, I expected the M4 to win, especially with the tyres but not by
15:58that much, that was impressive, 55.55 seconds, that puts it third on the leaderboard just
16:04behind the GT3 RS and GT2 RS, that's crazy, the C63 actually wasn't that bad but the M4
16:11was just crazy fast out there, so precise, so connected, steering feeling I actually
16:16preferred the C63 but that's about it, everything else went to the M4, it was so impressive
16:22on the track but it is very track orientated where the C63 you can probably live with every
16:27day a little bit better, I feel like they're almost completely separate cars in terms of
16:31the demographic, you've got a car that's a cruiser, sounds amazing and the other cars
16:36are knife edge race cars, so as much as they're similar, there's so many differences in terms
16:41of what you're after in a car, for me personally the M4 is a car for me, it was amazing on
16:46the track, I really enjoyed it, it was mightily impressed but you wouldn't be upset with the
16:50C63 either.
16:52Thanks again for watching guys, hope you enjoyed the video, lots more content to come, don't
16:56forget to like it if you enjoyed the video and subscribe to the channel, let us know
16:59what else you'd like to see on the track and we'll catch you guys again soon.