Hey all, so my dad recently retired and is getting up there in age and wanted to lease one more "fun" car. He's a huge Mercedes guy and recently picked up a new SLC 43 AMG. He had one of the first new era SL550s in matte grey when they debuted in 2012/13 and always regretted getting rid of it, but didn't want force leasing one, being retired, so he went for the next best thing: a fully loaded (minus the AMG Night pack) SLC.
Having had my M3 since 2015, and being a loyal BMW "fanboi," I honestly kinda hate how much I like the car, despite it being a "fake" or "baby" AMG (i still don't like the fact that BMW has this whole new M40i division and Mercedes names their 43 and 53 models AMG without the hand built engines...)
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PROS
-Exhaust sound!!!
-side and front profile are gorgeous and aggressive
-quick car for what it is.
CONS
-OLD technology inside (pretty much has the same tech, probably less than the old 2013 SL550)
-the rear end is outdated
-still a "baby AMG"
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Coming from driving my M3, the SLC is noticeably slower and seems to gasp for air at higher speeds - and the 9-speed transmission, while quick on up and downshifts, isn't as smooth as the DCT on downshifts and the short rev band has had be hitting the limiter and almost stalling a couple of times thinking the car can rev a bit more.
The above said, minus the old-style rear end, the car is gorgeous (in my opinion) and definitely has road presence, especially with the designo magna matte grey. It is definitely quick and the hardtop convertible roof works flawlessly and since it's a 2-seater, there is actually a lot more room in the car than meets the eye and the car is comfortable on long drives. Putting the car in dynamic sport+ and in manual shifting mode, the car sounds aggressive and incredible (I'll have a video soon of some of the pops and burbles - it sounds better than the stock M3... and that honestly upsets me a bit
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That's all I have for now, as I'm writing on the go, but i'll add more later, and if anyone has any questions or thoughts on the car, let me know! I'll try and get some driving videos soon as well!
Here are a few photos in the meantime!