2023 Mercedes-AMG C 43 Borrows F1 Tech to Push Out up to 415 HP

• Coming Mercedes-AMG C 43 offers power and comfort in one handy four-door package.

• High tech from the F1 car means more power from a 2.0-liter four.

• Look for it by the end of the year with prices announced closer to launch.

Now you and seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton can finally have something in common: electric turbocharging in your cars!

Hamilton’s F1 engine has a turbo in the valley of the vee of his V6 engine that is powered not just by blasts of exhaust gasses from the engine but by an electric motor located midway between the two spinning wind vanes on the ends of the turbo shaft. Mercedes took this technology and carried it directly over to the inline-four in the coming C 43, using it to help eliminate turbo lag, flatten the torque curve and increase peak output to 402 hp, or about 17 hp more than the previous V6 turbo in the previous C 43.

It's just one of many optimizations proving that there is, in fact, a substitute for cubic inches (at least until full-electric powertrains take over). The other optimization is a belt-driven 48-volt hybrid system that also helps with output. Hamilton’s F1 Mercedes has a hybrid, too, but it’s a little different. Still, never miss an opportunity to claim your street car benefits directly from your race car’s technology. The C 43’s second-gen belt-driven starter-generator can add 13 more hp for short bursts, making total output of the 2023 C 43 415 hp for drag racing purposes. And that’s good. The car’s official 0-60 mph time is 4.6 seconds.

Granted, that power is driven to all four wheels via Mercedes’ 4Matic all-wheel-drive system, with 69 percent of torque routed to the rear wheels for sporty feel. In between is an AMG Speedshift MCT nine-speed automatic. Had this been a simple rear-wheel-drive setup we were talking about, the concurrent lighter curb weight would have be even quicker to 60, and with a manual transmission maybe even more fun to drive, not to mention lighter, less complex, and less expensive. But we in the United States will get only the above powertrain.

We will also get our choice of 19- or 20-inch wheels; standard nice, comfortable, grippy race seats; and a 12.3-inch multi-configurable instrument panel and 11.9-inch central touchscreen more or less straight from the S-Class. The latter lets you access the newest-generation of Mercedes’ MBUX user interface that does pretty much everything for you.

With all this in mind we set out through the winding hills of Northeastern France in a C 43 for the day. After about a half hour behind large trucks and slow European-style motorhomes, we peeled off to the left on a road no one else was on and let loose. The C 43 is comfortably quick in all conditions and in any of its three driving modes. Immediately I thought of a comparable BMW/Audi product and agreed with Mercedes’ list of two competitors: the BMW M340i xDrive and Audi S4. The BMW gives a much more sporty feel, with immediate and accurate feedback that makes you want to drive all day and maybe even the rest of your life in any of its M cars. The Audi is similar but a little bit more muted. The AMG C 43 was yet more comfortable, but still very well controlled through the corners. Depending on how much aggressive sporty driving you had planned for your lease period, you would want to choose from those three accordingly. The Mercedes was the most comfortable of the three but managed to retain enough sporty feel that no one would really complain.

What they could complain about, and what I have complained about with AMGs since first driving them, was the linearity of the brake and throttle pedals. While not exactly being an on/off switch, a little progression in pedal response would be appreciated. Likewise, the steering was, not numb, but not as communicative as its competitors.

Again, that may be what AMG’s customers want—the comfort, at least. I don’t think they want such sudden response from the pedals.

The C 43 is an excellent daily driver, especially if your daily drive involves a twisty mountain road. If you commuted from Santa Cruz, California, to Silicon Valley along Highway 9 and there was miraculously never any traffic on it, for instance. Likewise Angeles Forest Highway to Angeles Crest Highway into Los Angeles would be fine in a C 43. You know your favorite road.

At this point we don’t know anything about pricing. The current model starts in the low $60,000s, so it ain’t cheap, even for an entry-level performance sedan. But it covers all corners of the market, perhaps the comfort corner most capably. Look for it in dealers in “late-2022.”

Of the major players in the compact performance sedan field, where do your tastes stand? Share your thoughts in the comments below.