– Detroit, Michigan

This isn’t just a sporty, luxurious coupe, it’s a muscle car – and a freaking superb one, at that. This coupe constantly begs me to drive it faster and harder, a poof of tire smoke behind me accompanied by the lingering roar of one of the world’s finest eight-cylinder engines. The AMG C63 S Coupe does everything well – it looks fantastic and it will coddle you in what is, without question, one of the nicest interiors on the market today. Oh, and it goes like hell. And even that’s an understatement.

Pros

• Never have ratings of 503 horsepower and 516 pound-feet of torque felt so conservative. Power is always – always – available, and it comes on with a sort of force and immediacy you’d normally expect from a supercar. I can’t stress it enough: Mercedes-AMG’s biturbocharged 4.0-liter V8 is one of the best engines you can buy today, and its ferocity and urgency is fully apparent here in the C63.
• But it’s more than just a powerful engine in a luxury car. The C63 is tuned to be a driver’s tool, with sharp reflexes and a level of car-to-driver symbiosis that will let you hang the tail out and get a little silly before reining you back in. Where the BMW M4 lacks feedback, the C63 gives you exactly as much as you want. This car never, ever leaves me cold.
• It’s a sharp coupe, with great lines and a powerful stance. I like the wide, purposeful front fascia treatment on the AMG C63, and while I hate this rear spoiler on the Cabriolet, it nicely accents the hardtop...