Mercedes-Benz GLC 63 AMG (2019-2022) Review and Prices

The Mercedes-AMG GLC 63 is one of the fastest SUVs you can buy. It’s powered by a 4.0-litre twin-turbocharged V8 and a grippy four-wheel-drive system that’ll help it leap from 0-60mph in less than four seconds.

This turn of pace means the GLC 63 will outsprint the likes of the BMW X3 M and has no trouble keeping some hardcore sports cars honest when storming away from a set of traffic lights.

It won’t just upstage some sports cars on the move, either – few cars will turn as many heads as the Mercedes-AMG GLC 63 when parked, thanks to its huge alloy wheels, colossal exhaust tips and gaping air intakes. These don’t just help passers-by tell it apart from the standard GLC, they also serve to funnel as much air to the car’s engine and radiators as possible.

This functional theme continues inside – well, mostly. Sure, you can probably do without the Mercedes-AMG GLC 63’s acres of suede-like Alcantara, contrasting stitching and flat-bottomed steering wheel, but the super-supportive sports seats are a real must-have.

Unfortunately, if its high-tech equipment you after, you might be a bit disappointed by the Mercedes-AMG GLC 63’s slightly low-rent infotainment system. The free-standing display and separate digital instrument cluster don’t have the same pizzazz as the slick widescreen unit you get in other Mercedes models.

The Mercedes-AMG GLC 63 is expensive to buy and costly to run, but few cars serve up such exciting sports-car performance in a practical SUV package.

What the Mercedes-AMG GLC 63 loses out in gizmos, it gains in practicality. There’s enough space for a couple of six-footers to get comfy in the back and there’s ample space in the boot for a week’s luggage if you fancy using it for a long road trip.

That being said, long motorway journeys aren’t exactly where the Mercedes-AMG GLC 63 excels. Sure, it’ll blast past slow-moving traffic without a second thought and it’s reasonably comfortable for such a performance-focused SUV, but you’ll hear a fair bit of noise from its large wheels and sporty low-profile tyres – especially at speed.

You’ll soon forget about these niggling issues on a twisty backroad, however. Sure, the Mercedes-AMG GLC 63 doesn’t quite have the lairy charisma of the supercharged Jaguar F-Pace SVR, but in Sport+ mode the GLC 63’s seriously fast, surefooted enough to cope with tight corners and impressively nimble for a high-riding SUV.

It’s not without fault, though. The steering feels artificially heavy at times – especially in the sportiest driving modes – but at least it gives you a good idea how much grip the front wheels have to play with before they start losing traction. The standard nine-speed automatic gearbox responds very quickly to the paddles on the steering wheel, too, and at no point on a tight, technical backroad does the AMG-tuned GLC 63 feel out of its depth.

For even more enthusiastic driving – such as on a track day – you might be better off with an Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio, but the Mercedes-AMG GLC 63 is still seriously good fun when you fancy taking the scenic route home from the golf club.

Things get even more exciting if you opt for a range-topping GLC 63 S model with 510hp in place of the standard car’s 476hp. As a result, it reaches 60mph a fifth of a second faster than the standard car and blasts to more than 170mph – on an unlimited stretch of autobahn, of course.

Even at much more sedate speeds, you’ll find yourself brimming the Mercedes-AMG GLC 63’s fuel tank very regularly on cross-continental jaunts. But if you can live with that – and can stomach the hefty price tag – it makes a fantastic high-performance SUV.