On this episode of Head 2 Head presented by Tire Rack
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MotorTranscript
00:00 (engine revving)
00:02 Hi there.
00:08 This is the Jaguar XE35T,
00:12 and it is the most underrated sports sedan on the market.
00:16 The last time we had it in an episode of Head to Head,
00:19 it beat the then current BMW 335i
00:23 with a whole bunch of M sports stuff.
00:25 It is a tremendous driver's car.
00:28 However, since then, Mercedes has introduced a new player,
00:32 the C43.
00:33 Oh, oh, oh, what is that?
00:37 (tires screeching)
00:40 (car beeping)
00:44 (coughing)
00:44 Let me guess, you're shoving another one of your cars
00:46 into our video to increase its value before you sell it.
00:49 Oh yeah, doing burnouts helps with its value.
00:51 No, I'm not selling it.
00:52 You asked me to bring a C43 AMG,
00:54 and that is a C43 AMG.
00:57 This episode is about new cars.
00:59 That is older than the intern.
01:01 I brought that new thing, but that is not an AMG.
01:04 That is a Mercedes-Benz
01:05 that some idiot slapped an AMG badge on.
01:08 That idiot is AMG.
01:09 (car engine revving)
01:13 (laughing)
01:26 (car honking)
01:29 (car engine revving)
01:34 (eerie music)
01:42 No, no, no, no, no, no.
01:55 - What?
01:56 - I'm not calling that a C43 AMG
01:58 because Mercedes didn't call it a C43 AMG.
02:01 Last year, that very car was a C450 4MATIC AMG Sport,
02:05 and that meant, very clearly, it wasn't a regular C-Class,
02:08 but it also wasn't an AMG.
02:10 - Yeah, but it was an AMG Sport for one year only.
02:13 Mercedes realized they made a mistake.
02:14 Now they want to expand the AMG brand,
02:16 and your argument is exactly the same
02:19 as the guys that were like,
02:20 wah, wah, wah, I'm gonna cry myself to death
02:22 because Porsche's building an SUV.
02:24 - I did.
02:24 (laughing)
02:25 - But my point is, they made the SUV,
02:29 they made the sedan, they made another SUV,
02:30 and they made so much money
02:32 that now the 911 is better than ever.
02:34 You wouldn't have a 911R without the Cayenne.
02:37 - And I would argue that you wouldn't have a 911 at all
02:39 if they had called the Cayenne a 911.
02:42 A badge is important.
02:43 What does AMG mean?
02:45 - Big engine, lots of power.
02:46 - And?
02:47 - I'm not gonna overthink it, big engine, lots of power.
02:49 - Okay, other people have overthought it.
02:50 It means the most expensive, the most exclusive,
02:54 the highest horsepower, best performing,
02:57 most loudest car in the city of--
02:59 - You just shot your argument in the foot.
03:01 By your logic, the S63 and the SL63 are illegitimate AMGs
03:05 because the S65 and the SL65,
03:09 more power, more exclusive, more expensive?
03:12 - The 63s and the 65s are the most expensive
03:15 in all those things, variants of it,
03:17 and by the way, the 63s are faster than the 65s,
03:19 so it all works fine.
03:20 More importantly, that is confused.
03:23 It is not an AMG.
03:24 It's sitting there all, oh, look at me, I'm butch,
03:25 I got an AMG badge on it,
03:27 and it's got Y-rated summer tires
03:28 and it does 130 miles an hour and that's it.
03:31 On an Audubon, a diesel Golf would just go right by it.
03:35 - Jason, I am done fighting with you about names.
03:38 - Oh, I've only just begun.
03:40 Have you seen the badge on the back of that Jaguar?
03:42 35T, what does that even mean?
03:45 - Totally, yeah, no, no, no, no, you're right,
03:47 because first of all, it's supercharged and there's a T.
03:50 So even Audi, the first people to say,
03:52 hey, let's put a T on a supercharged car
03:54 and then have the gall to say,
03:56 yeah, but supercharging is a mechanical form
03:58 of turbocharging, even they now have a T on the turbo car.
04:01 And then 35, that's a three liter V6, there's no five.
04:05 - I know.
04:06 - I think we're in agreement.
04:08 - Awkward.
04:11 Okay, okay, okay, I'm gonna stop horsing around
04:15 and time to start autocrossing.
04:18 Oh, right, we're basically always horsing around.
04:21 Alrighty then, stability off, sporty plus mode,
04:24 stiff springs, air conditioning off,
04:26 even though it's 800 degrees in here,
04:28 'cause I need all the help I can get.
04:30 And this car is lighter and has four wheel drive.
04:32 I don't see Johnny having much of a chance at all.
04:35 Don't tell him that I actually like this AMG.
04:38 All right, I'm gonna count you down from three.
04:40 - [Johnny] Ready, three.
04:42 - Two, one, go.
04:44 (car engine roaring)
04:50 (car engine roaring)
04:52 - Launch, hard shift on the brakes.
04:55 Ooh, yeah, just a little understeery,
04:58 but fixed ratio all wheel drive means
05:01 the car always does exactly the same thing,
05:04 which means rocket out of corners
05:05 in hideous terminal understeer.
05:08 - It is a poor carpenter who complains about his tools.
05:11 - His brakes are awesome.
05:14 Great, too bad about the understeer.
05:18 This Jaguar is gonna be so much more fun through here,
05:20 but I don't think it's gonna be any faster.
05:23 (car engine roaring)
05:26 - Woo, AC, can we come back in?
05:44 - Okay, Mr. Camisa.
05:46 That was a 53.40, 53.40.
05:51 - That is officially a record.
05:54 - That's very true, you're currently
05:55 the all time record holder for this course.
05:58 Woo, your turn.
05:59 (car engine roaring)
06:02 - All right, and the Jaguar, it's slower in a straight line,
06:06 but it's much more balanced.
06:07 It's almost 50/50, I think it's like 51/49,
06:09 whereas the Mercedes, all the weight,
06:11 or at least 56% of it, is on the front,
06:13 plus it's all wheel drive.
06:15 The Jaguar's rear wheel drive, that's better in autocross.
06:18 Also, I'm pretty good at autocross.
06:20 - Hey Johnny, you ready?
06:22 Okay, I'll count you down.
06:24 Three, two, one, go.
06:27 (upbeat music)
06:30 Okay, pretty good, now this is the tighter corner.
06:41 All right, not bad, not bad, forward momentum.
06:45 Pull up understeer, a little push, okay.
06:48 Slow, slow.
06:50 - Now the question is, do I lie about the time?
06:54 Do I tell him the truth?
06:55 - Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh,
07:02 oh, god, I hit a lot of cones.
07:05 Okay, maybe I should have practiced more.
07:07 Yeah, okay, oh yeah, dude.
07:09 - I'm not gonna have to lie about the time.
07:11 (car engine roaring)
07:14 (tires screeching)
07:17 - Got a little carried away there at the end.
07:28 I kind of blew the turn around.
07:30 I was trying to make up for lost time.
07:32 - You made up for lost time by adding a lot of time in cones.
07:35 So your actual time was 54.7,
07:38 but then we're gonna add two seconds per cone,
07:40 which means your total time is 42 minutes and 14 seconds.
07:45 - Okay, but what you're saying is virtually,
07:47 if we ignore the rules, I'm right there.
07:49 - Sure.
07:52 (car engine roaring)
07:55 - You comfy?
07:56 - Oh yeah, I won.
07:58 The winner of the autocross was very clearly not an AMG.
08:01 But no, look, we should talk about this car
08:05 and talk about what it is.
08:07 So it's a C450 with all-wheel drive, it's a 4Matic.
08:10 Same engine as last year, 362 horsepower,
08:13 twin turbocharged, three liter V6.
08:15 And the only difference is it went
08:16 from the old seven speed automatic
08:18 to the new nine speed automatic,
08:19 which is really good and geared short.
08:21 And that means it flies off the line.
08:23 The thing does 4.2 seconds there to 60.
08:26 - Yeah, so no matter where you land
08:28 on the real versus fake AMG debate, that's impressive.
08:31 4.2 seconds to 60 miles an hour is fast.
08:35 - Quick, quick, blisteringly quick.
08:37 But this is no slouch either.
08:38 I mean, this is 4.6 seconds to 60.
08:41 Rear wheel drive, not all-wheel drive,
08:42 and it makes less power.
08:43 340 horsepower versus 362.
08:45 And it's heavier.
08:47 - Right, it's heavier because it's made out of aluminum.
08:50 - Aluminum, so aluminum's aluminum,
08:52 very lightweight metal.
08:53 Aluminum is some British substance
08:55 that all Jags are made out of,
08:56 which must be the heaviest element on earth
08:58 'cause they all weigh-- - It's lead.
08:59 - Yeah, they weigh more-- - It's secret.
09:00 - Than everything else.
09:00 - Yeah, it's secretly lead. - Of course,
09:01 it's steinium or something, a really dense material.
09:03 - Also, that has a V8 under the hood
09:05 where they just didn't bother drilling out
09:06 the two last cylinders. - That's right.
09:08 - Also made out of aluminum, i.e. lead,
09:10 so that's why that car's so heavy.
09:11 And it's available with all-wheel drive,
09:13 even though we've never seen one,
09:15 but that could make it even quicker to 60.
09:17 - Yeah, or slower 'cause then it'd be even heavier,
09:19 probably to be sure of the two-ton barrier.
09:21 But I think this car is much better looking than that car.
09:25 Now, look-- - I disagree.
09:25 - I know you're gonna say that.
09:27 C-Class is great, and it's coming into its own,
09:29 but there's a sexiness to the Jag
09:31 that just isn't present here.
09:33 This is very business-like, very two-tonic.
09:35 - Isn't present.
09:36 - You know what isn't present on the front of this car?
09:38 - No. - That radar,
09:39 cruise control thing device. - Oh, the little mini
09:41 Charlie Chaplin stash? - Oh, my God, yes!
09:43 It's terrible! - Yeah, that is bad.
09:45 Look what Mercedes did, that giant star emblem.
09:47 That's the same stuff.
09:49 - Look, that's a beautiful car.
09:50 - Yeah.
09:51 - But this is better looking outside,
09:53 and I gotta say inside, too.
09:54 - Oh, wow, come on, inside.
09:56 Look, they took the S-Class interior and shrank it,
09:58 so not only is it the best in its class,
10:00 it's the best in the class above it.
10:01 - This could be the least quality-feeling interior
10:06 in the whole class.
10:07 - It's a big problem with Jaguar right now,
10:08 'cause they are like Jaguar Land Rover, I should say,
10:11 because Range Rover, they have these very fine,
10:15 very tony interiors. - Optimate interiors.
10:17 - And then they're cost-cutting the hell out of the Jags
10:19 because they're not selling any Jags.
10:21 - Yeah, and I'd argue they're not going to sell the Jags
10:23 when you get in this car and go, "Yeah, that's cheap."
10:25 Also, you get in the backseat of this car
10:27 and you go, "Poof, ow," 'cause there's no headroom.
10:29 - So part of this sexy styling is that it's slopes,
10:32 you have no headroom, and then there's no wheelbase,
10:34 so you have no legroom.
10:35 Now, this C-Class is four inches longer
10:38 than the last C-Class.
10:39 Most of it's all in the backseat.
10:40 In fact, this is the size of the old E-Class.
10:42 - Although I would argue that the Jaguar's probably
10:44 actually the right size of a vehicle for this class.
10:47 - Yeah, but look, we could stand here all day
10:49 and argue about what these cars should be.
10:51 What actually matters is they're here.
10:52 Which one of them is better to drive?
10:54 - Okay, so let's go drive them,
10:56 and I think we should switch.
10:57 - You're gonna drive this?
10:58 - Yep.
10:59 - Cool.
11:00 - You're agreeing with me?
11:01 - Yeah, I wanna drive that.
11:03 - Hmm.
11:04 (upbeat music)
11:06 (engine revving)
11:13 - Oh!
11:19 - Jaguar!
11:20 - Oh, lovely, it is Jaguar!
11:21 - Jaguar!
11:22 - It's 15 syllables, isn't it?
11:24 - But it's also, oh, Jaguar!
11:26 - That's the problem.
11:27 - That we don't have cigars?
11:29 - No, the problem is that people look at Jaguars
11:32 and think, oh, rich old man car.
11:34 But they're not.
11:35 I mean, these are the best driving cars in their class.
11:38 (engine revving)
11:39 If you think XE, best driving car in its class.
11:42 - Yeah, right off the bat.
11:43 - XF.
11:44 - Yeah, XJ.
11:45 - XJ's the only driving car in its class.
11:47 It's the only full-size luxury car
11:49 that I like driving on roads like this.
11:50 And if they're not the best in their class,
11:52 they're second place to Cadillac.
11:54 - Well, Cadillac or Lexus.
11:55 - I think the reason this particular car drives so well
11:58 is the rear suspension.
12:00 It is unique, and they call it the IntegraLink,
12:02 and it's like an A-arm that's split.
12:05 They separated part of it.
12:07 And what that does, well, you're the nerd,
12:09 I'll let you explain it.
12:10 - So, yes, this has multi-link rear suspension
12:13 with the Jaguar's funny name,
12:14 and their goal in engineering it was
12:16 to decouple vertical forces from longitudinal forces.
12:19 - Right, and what that means in English is
12:21 as you're going around a corner,
12:23 you can start putting power down earlier,
12:25 even though it's not all-wheel drive,
12:27 because the rubber is made to contact the road.
12:31 - Right. - Excellent wheel control.
12:32 - Right, the idea is that the wheel is controlled very well,
12:34 but then you still have the ability for vertical motions,
12:37 and the suspension up front, let's not forget,
12:39 is a double wishbone.
12:40 - Right, not a McPherson Strut.
12:42 - It's the Mac Daddy.
12:43 This is the best of the best.
12:44 - The chassis is really advanced.
12:46 The engine transmission, well, you know,
12:48 we've always said bad things about this,
12:51 the supercharged V6.
12:52 It's not bad, it's just middling.
12:54 You know, look, no turbos, no lag, at least, right?
12:57 - Yeah, but doesn't it sound great?
12:59 The power, I mean, this is 340.
13:01 If this was a few months from now, 2018 models
13:04 will have 362, so it'll be more power.
13:06 And then tied to this transmission,
13:08 the ZF 8-speed, best in the business.
13:11 - Except in other applications,
13:13 it's the best in the business, right?
13:14 Like Audi, (coughs)
13:17 - Right, and occasionally, you go for a shift,
13:19 and you think, did it actually shift,
13:20 or did I lose half the transmission?
13:22 I mean, it clunks really hard.
13:23 - Yeah, it's rough, it's rough.
13:24 Why do you think the same physical unit
13:26 feels so much different in the Jag than like a BMW?
13:31 - My suspicion is that Jaguar doesn't have
13:34 the resources and money to program this
13:36 the way that the other car companies do.
13:38 - I agree with you.
13:39 - Yeah, a lot of fine-tuning and finesse.
13:42 That said, it's still a good transmission.
13:44 - Yeah, and it's a great driving car,
13:45 despite a weakish powertrain.
13:48 I love the way this thing drives.
13:50 - It is, I'm on a mountain road.
13:52 I mean, come on, this thing is perfectly at home,
13:54 and that's because, look, the British tuned these cars
13:57 on really windy, bumpy, twisty, crazy British B roads.
14:01 This is a sports sedan in the traditional sense.
14:03 - Yeah, they've just done a good job.
14:04 Here's the problem, though.
14:06 Let's say you don't care about twisting back roads.
14:09 - Then I don't want to talk to you anymore.
14:11 Get out of my face.
14:12 - You have to always pretend, of course,
14:13 that all you care about is hammering at 11/10
14:15 on the bloody edge of the envelope.
14:16 - With a dab of a poo!
14:17 - Right, but let's say all you really care about
14:19 is just driving to work, right?
14:20 So you don't really care about the back road,
14:22 and you're not particularly enamored
14:24 with the way the XC looks.
14:26 I don't particularly like this person.
14:28 Doesn't like back roads
14:29 and doesn't think this beautiful car is beautiful.
14:30 And let's point out, by the way,
14:32 this is exactly the same size as a BMW 3 Series
14:35 on the outside, but its rear seat is a lot smaller,
14:37 so it's not like it's a smaller car.
14:39 And that's not excusing the rest of this interior,
14:42 which is suffering in quality a bit.
14:44 Let me put it in other terms.
14:46 A $25,000 Mazda 6 has a far nicer interior than this car.
14:50 - No, we're comparable.
14:51 - Comparable, and even if you're like me
14:53 and you can overlook the quality of an interior
14:56 if you like the way a car drives,
14:58 you are left with this navigation system.
15:00 And occasionally, I like to change radio stations.
15:04 - Not in this car, you don't.
15:05 - That's right!
15:06 And occasionally, I like to put an address
15:08 into the nav system so I can go somewhere.
15:09 - No, definitely not gonna happen here.
15:11 - And so the gulf, the vector between the best systems
15:15 in this segment and this one is huge.
15:18 - Huge.
15:19 - Yeah.
15:20 - Right, and you're stuck with it.
15:21 - Yeah, good point, good point.
15:22 - It's not like the old days where you had a singled in
15:23 or a doubled in and you can throw another head unit in.
15:26 This is there for the life of the car
15:28 and it's this bad now.
15:29 Imagine how archaic this is gonna seem in a couple years.
15:33 That's my problem with this car.
15:34 I think we're agreeing, it's a little bit one-dimensional.
15:36 Like, great performer.
15:38 - Yes.
15:39 - But as a sedan, it needs to be able
15:40 to do sedan-y kind of things.
15:41 - It needs to be more well-rounded, yeah, exactly.
15:44 So maybe we should just--
15:45 - Jump in the AMG.
15:47 - No.
15:48 - We don't have an AMG.
15:49 - Jump in the black car, see what's what.
15:51 - The Mercedes-Benz.
15:53 - Mercedes-AMG.
15:54 - No.
15:55 - So-so.
15:56 - No.
15:57 (upbeat music)
15:59 Let me make a confession to you, please.
16:01 - All right.
16:02 - And I wanna talk about trajectory.
16:03 - Like how fast we can go off this cliff?
16:05 - No.
16:06 - Another type of trajectory.
16:07 - Another type of trajectory.
16:08 I don't necessarily have a problem with the C43 existing,
16:12 but what I worry about is the trajectory of the brand.
16:16 My C43 went on sale 19 years ago
16:19 and it's the same price as this car.
16:21 So this car has become far cheaper
16:23 and that means it's gonna be less exclusive
16:25 and less special.
16:27 My C43 was also the first AMG product
16:30 that was built on a regular Mercedes production line.
16:33 - Yeah, well, you know where this one's built.
16:35 - Well, that's it, that's a slippery slope.
16:37 You make it a little bit less special,
16:38 a little bit less hand-built,
16:40 and that results in the Alabama Motor Group,
16:42 which is what AMG stands for.
16:44 And this car, this car is built in Tuscaloosa.
16:46 - It's true.
16:47 - And that's not what we've come to expect
16:49 from AMG products.
16:50 - You're approaching it like, you know,
16:51 as if you care about AMG.
16:53 - I do.
16:54 - Yeah, much to people's surprise, I really don't care.
16:56 All I care about is good products.
16:58 So in other words, in other words,
16:59 the new E63, awesome, what a machine, love it.
17:04 SL63, meh.
17:06 So just because this is AMG, I don't care.
17:08 Now, this happens to also say AMG
17:12 and kind of in the don't care that much.
17:17 - Okay, so funny enough, we were both on the press trips
17:20 for the launch of the Jag XE,
17:21 which we both agreed that we liked,
17:23 which kind of freaked us out,
17:24 'cause we were like, well, we never ran anything.
17:26 - Especially on those Dunlaps, which we don't get,
17:27 but go ahead.
17:28 - And then we went on the launch of the C300
17:31 and like, I lost my mind, you lost your mind.
17:34 - In a good way, in a good way.
17:34 - Right, and everyone was so freaked out
17:37 that we were in such perfect agreement about this
17:39 that even the Mercedes PR people are like,
17:41 what's going on, why do they agree?
17:42 - Well, because they shrunk the S-Class
17:45 and they stopped chasing BMW.
17:47 - Right, they did what Mercedes does best.
17:49 - Right, the S-Class,
17:50 and they just made it a little bit smaller
17:52 and it was a lovely car.
17:53 - And remember what happened when we drove the V6?
17:55 - Yeah, right, the C400, that's what they call it in Europe.
17:57 Not a great engine, but also remember the rear end
17:59 was like, yeah.
18:00 - Yeah, it had some weird rear suspension issues,
18:02 but this engine, which is the same,
18:04 I just want it to shut up.
18:06 It's just a terrible whiny noise.
18:09 - The forward thrust of this is so impressive.
18:11 I mean, there are some good points of driving this car.
18:14 - Oh, it's fast.
18:15 - It is just quick.
18:16 - And when you're beating on it,
18:17 this transmission's really good.
18:19 - Yeah, except that, you know,
18:20 Mercedes-Benz, of all companies,
18:22 seems to have lost the ability
18:24 to make a smooth gearbox at low speeds.
18:27 They only outbanged.
18:28 - Mercedes had a fleeting moment
18:30 where they made smooth transmissions.
18:32 In the '80s and '90s, they were terrible.
18:34 They were good for a little while,
18:35 and this one is not yet perfectly tuned.
18:37 - I keep driving all these Mercedes
18:38 where the engine's having a fight with the transmission.
18:41 Like, I just drove the G65, thump,
18:44 the GLS 63, thump, this thing, thump,
18:47 and it's like, just give me a dual clutch,
18:49 it'll be smoother, you know?
18:50 - Well, not Mercedes dual clutch in the CLA and GLA.
18:53 They're just not there, but you know what?
18:54 You said the engine's fighting with the transmission,
18:56 but you know what's also having a lot more contact
18:58 than it should are my moobs and my chin.
19:01 This thing rides like it's on pogo sticks.
19:03 - And it's funny because if you're on the freeway,
19:05 it actually rides fine.
19:07 - You know why this is happening?
19:08 I think they just put, like, way too stiff springs on it.
19:10 - They did, and you know why they did?
19:12 - To make it sportive.
19:13 - Yeah, because it says AMG on the back.
19:15 Wouldn't this car be so much better
19:17 if it just had base C-class suspension?
19:19 - It probably would. - Yeah.
19:21 - It probably would, it probably would.
19:22 - And, by the way, then I wouldn't mind that steering.
19:24 So here's the thing, if you like video games,
19:27 this is the car for you because it just doesn't weight up.
19:30 I mean, you talk about steering feel,
19:32 when you are pointed straight or when you're in a corner,
19:35 it's the same weighting.
19:36 That wouldn't be a problem if this car said C400 on the back
19:39 and wasn't pretending to be an AMG.
19:41 Here's my problem.
19:42 Like, I love, love these seats.
19:44 The seatbelts are cool.
19:45 But when you get into an AMG,
19:48 it is a comprehensive rework of the whole car.
19:51 The suspension, the engine, the transmission,
19:53 the personality, it can ride like it has sand in the dampers.
19:55 It can be loud enough to shatter your neighbor's windshield
19:58 because it's an AMG.
20:00 This is sort of half-baked.
20:01 This is, like, some of the compromises of an AMG,
20:04 but none of the payoff.
20:05 This isn't crazy loud, crazy fast, crazy expensive.
20:08 They did seem to make the tires extra squealing
20:10 to let you know what's happening,
20:11 but you can't put it in.
20:12 It's confused in its mission and it's halfway there.
20:15 And it's such a great luxury car.
20:17 I mean, look at this interior.
20:19 Right, so look, my hope is that it gets better.
20:22 In other words, when the next C-Class comes out,
20:24 the 206, right, that the C43 will be--
20:29 - A real AMG.
20:30 - A real, yeah, or a better AMG.
20:31 'Cause I mean, this is pretty good.
20:33 We're doing a lot of nitpicking.
20:35 You know, it's glass is half full or half empty.
20:37 I'm choosing to look at it half-filled
20:39 because the one thing I've seen with AMG
20:41 is they do continually improve the products.
20:45 But we are doing a head-to-head.
20:46 - Right.
20:47 - Okay, we have to pick which is the better
20:49 sports sedan here, the C43 or that Jag XE?
20:53 And I think it comes down to
20:55 which one do you wanna take home?
20:56 - So if I had to take this road home and to work
21:00 and drove this every day,
21:02 I would have the Jaguar in a second.
21:04 If I had to live with it in sort of normal circumstances,
21:07 commuting in town, there's no question
21:09 I would have the C-Class.
21:11 But I would pull that AMG badge off immediately
21:13 so I didn't look like a douche.
21:15 In the final summary, the Jaguar has been pushed
21:19 off its perch by the Mercedes AMG.
21:23 Annoyingly, while the XE is the sweeter driver's car,
21:27 it has too many flaws when it's not hammering away
21:29 on a canyon road to be the winner.
21:31 But man, the chassis is there.
21:34 As for the C43, let's call it Schrodinger's AMG
21:37 because it both is and isn't.
21:40 Its performance bona fides are real enough
21:42 to be worthy of the badge from Alfaltaba.
21:44 However, the car is lacking that ineffable
21:47 je ne sais quoi, that gut punch,
21:49 that know it when you see it X-factor
21:51 that has come to define the brand.
21:53 Still, and despite all that, the C43 is the new gold standard
21:58 as far as mid-grade sports sedans are concerned.
22:01 And maybe we shouldn't be summing up on labels.
22:03 After all, what's in a name?
22:05 Either way, the winner of this head-to-head
22:07 is the Mercedes AMG C43.
22:10 (dramatic music)
22:13 (engine revving)
22:19 (car engine roaring)
22:22 (car engine roaring)
22:25 (dramatic music)