The new Mercedes-AMG C63 hasn’t exactly won itself much of a fanbase. After several generations of tyre smoking, V8-powered AMG C-Classes, the switch to a hugely capable but emotionally lacking four-cylinder plug-in hybrid setup has undeniably been a disappointment.
Various rumours have hinted that Mercedes could be considering offering it, and its high-riding sibling, the GLC 63, with the 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 that powered the old C63 and still finds its way under the bonnet of plenty of AMG models today.
Someone, however, has beaten Merc to the punch. That someone would be Austrian AMG tuning specialist Vuk Manufaktur, which has taken the 4.0-litre V8 – codenamed M177 or M178, depending on the version – and crammed it into the engine bay of a current-gen C63.
We can’t imagine the swap was an easy one – Vuk has ditched the hybrid component of the C63’s powertrain, and replaced the combustion engine with a much larger one that the new C-Class was never designed to have. Not officially, at least.
Very few other details are available, and we don’t know what gearbox the engine’s been hooked up to – quite possibly the seven-speed auto from the old C63 – but Vuk does say that the swap has retained the current car’s 4Matic four-wheel drive system.
The lowest power made by any of the AMG versions of this family of V8s is 456bhp, so safe to say it’s producing at least that much. Even the more powerful iterations won’t match the combined 671bhp made by the new C63’s hybrid setup without any tuning, but as the reception to the new car has made clear, huge power isn’t necessarily what AMG customers are most interested in.
Vuk hasn’t said whether it plans to offer this swap to customers, but if nothing else, it proves that it can be done. Hopefully, Mercedes is taking notes.
