2023 Mercedes-AMG C43 Review: Changing Sides

This car is here to let us know downsizing isn’t all bad.

When Mercedes revealed the current C-Class two years ago, it confirmed the rumors: the engine lineup would be all four-cylinders, all the time. Goodbye six- and eight-cylinder AMGs. The 2023 Mercedes-AMG C43—the “entry” level of the Affalterbach-fettled models—nonetheless boasts more power care of a clever electric turbo setup, plus a tweaked suspension promising more agility.

Despite all the tricks up its sleeves, the C43 ends up feeling muddled and confused. This car makes a statement in the ICE vs EV debate—just not the one we expected.

The C-Class was, last year. Thus, the cadence of new model releases continues apace, with this C43 returning to do battle against the likes of the BMW M340i and Audi S4. The slightly meaner look works well on the new shape: the vertical-slat grille, tasteful lip spoiler, and shiny quad-exhaust surround marks this out from regular Cs without drawing unnecessary attention. Bigger wheels are available, but the 19s found here are pretty and well-proportioned to the shrunken S-Class looks.

Mercedes long ago adopted the Whose Line is It Anyway approach to its numeric badging. So there could be anything under the hood—other than an engine with roughly 4.3 liters of displacement. This new generation of “entry” level AMG C-Class features a 2.0-liter turbo-four, similar to the one you’ll find in the regular C. This one boasts the first production electrically-assisted turbocharger, which promises reduced lag. The electric motor runs off a mild-hybrid system as well. It’s a fiendishly complicated setup, but big investments result in big results: a whole 402 horsepower and 369 pound-feet of torque. A nine-speed, wet-clutch automatic transmission shifts all that power to all four wheels.

I’d love to tell you how this powerhouse proves there are few down sides to downsizing. That an engine less than a third of the size of the V8 in a decade-old C63 can keep up.

It could, if it wasn’t shacked up with this miserable transmission.

When you’re working it, the C43’s four-pot is great: responsive, torquey at any engine speed, and even putting out a half-decent sound from those quad pipes. Every few seconds, however, the nine-speed interrupts proceedings, with the sort of one-two and two-three shifts you’d expect from a learner driver treating the clutch like an on/off switch. Despite that thick spread of electron-assisted torque, in higher gears the ‘box goes the other way, holding onto each ratio for longer than necessary, even in Comfort mode.

Mash the go-pedal for a pass and watch the C43 hem and haw—better to use the itty bitty paddles behind the wheel. Unfortunately, you’ll have to dive into the drive mode menu if you want to actually keep manual control active; otherwise, the C43 reverts back to its programming after a few seconds.

Not helping matters is the over-eager start-stop system. I’m generally a fan of such systems because living in a city as traffic-clogged as Toronto can result in significant savings. The mild-hybrid setup allows the engine to clock out a few clicks before a full stop, which is great for red lights but not so good for stop-and-go. The result is a vehicular coughing fit of progress.

Look past the bad transmission calibration and the C43 experience starts to improve. The ride is a bit bouncy around town, but body control is impressively tight once up to speed. There’s a wide range between the different drive modes and the respective adaptive damper settings, with Sport+ giving the compact sedan a welcome edge, making roundabouts and high-speed sweepers a blast. Standard rear-wheel steer tweaks the tail by up to 2.5 degrees, ensuring no parking garage is too tight. There’s very little wind noise, as well.

Feedback from the steering wheel is expectedly light, though the rack is quick and accurate. The C43’s brake pedal suffers from none of the weirdness of Merc’s EVs, with a firm, confident bite.

The C43’s cabin hits all the modern Merc notes: think S-Class, but less palatial out back. A quintet of nicely clicky air-con vents top the soft-touch dashboard, with a big swathe featuring a metallic pattern bridging dashboard and center console. Most bits feel suitably swanky, but Merc still has a bugbear in the unconvincing metallic-finished plastic it uses for the door armrests. Of course, there is an abundance of ambient lighting.

The artificial leather and suede of the seats is convincing and grippy. Should buyers want even more sporting pretensions there are more aggressive thrones available, but the stock units find a good balance between long-range support and curvy-road capability.

The infotainment system is easy to use, with big icons and speedy responses. The slight tilt towards the driver is welcome, too. I still rate Merc’s wheel-mounted twin touchpad controls high for the ability to access everything without taking hands off the wheel. The one problem is the tricky head-up display controls: they’re hidden in the instrument cluster, but if the HUD is off, the setting to turn it back on is not clear.

The basic tech suite is good, but this tester gets stingy beyond that. There is no wireless charger—an option, admittedly. There’s also nothing for back-seat passengers: no climate controls nor USB ports.

Those omissions would be acceptable if we weren’t talking about a very pricey car. The C43 starts at $61,050 including destination in the US, or $80,900 CAD before delivery in Canada. (Mercedes-Benz Canada allows each dealership to set its own delivery fee.)

From there, this tester ladles on thousands in options, including upgraded LED lighting, Merc’s robust (but still optional) driver safety suite, and the ironically named AMG Real Performance Sound (spoiler: it’s piped in). Our Can-spec tester is an eye-wincing $91,700 CAD before destination; the closest equivalent in the US is approaching $67,000.

The 2023 Mercedes-AMG C43 was meant to be the first shot in AMG’s downsized-but-still-gas-powered future. Proof that fun is still possible with fewer cylinders. Perhaps that will still come: the plug-in hybrid C63 sounds hot, and six- and eight-cylinder models will continue in the larger vehicles.

As is, the C43 is a pricey choice let down by an uncultured transmission. Unintentional or not, it makes the best argument yet that AMG’s lighter choices might be best served going full EV.

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