Hot Rod 2024 Mercedes-AMG GLC 43 Coupe Delivers Unexpected Practicality

The recent revival of hatchback cars (under the guise of “SUV coupe”) is a blessing for anyone who appreciates the flexible practicality of a vehicle with a large cargo hatch and folding rear seats for the kind of periodic chores we all find ourselves assigned.

In my case, I needed to move a desk and was surprised after a quick check with a tape measure to discover that even with the swept roofline of the 2024 Mercedes-AMG GLC 43 Coupe, the car would be able to carry it inside.

Of course, today’s hatchbacks aren’t the tiny, tinny economy cars of the past. Instead, we have tall, chunky machines like the AMG GLC 43, which Mercedes says is a coupe, despite its four doors and SUV legal classification.

The extra height that comes from being an SUV provides the benefit of an impressive amount of additional storage space beneath the rear cargo floor, where I was able to stow towels and bed linens for seven people from a week’s stay at a beach house. This bin is like the Mercedes version of the Stow’n’Go underfloor storage in my Chrysler Town & Country.

These deformable items were perfect for squeezing into this space, leaving the open cargo area for rigid items like boogie boards and beach chairs. The AMG GLC 43’s ability to handle a surprising variety of cargo-carrying tasks underscores what was lost when America abandoned hatchbacks in favor of less-useful sedans and why drivers quickly pivoted to SUVs to recover that lost practicality.

Related:2022 Mercedes-AMG C 43 Debuts the World’s First E-Turbo

At nearly $80,000 ($78,830, as tested), the GLC 43 is nobody’s idea of a value purchase. For that, drivers would want the non-AMG Mercedes-Benz GLC 300 4Matic Coupe, which is less expensive and more fuel efficient. What you get in this AMG hot rod is a high-tech electrically turbocharged 416-horsepower, 369-lb.-ft. 2.0-liter four-cylinder combustion engine driving all four wheels through a 9-speed automatic transmission.

The AMG GLC 43's electrically turbocharged engine delivers impressive power, but the four-cylinder engine's uncouth manners seem likely to disappoint luxury car buyers. MERCEDES-BENZ

Electric Turbocharger

You’ll recall that this electric turbocharger from Garrett Motion is the world’s first production version of a system that the Mercedes Formula 1 team used to win all of those races and world championships, as discussed in this article. The engine delivers instant power on request, without the lag of the turbocharger spinning up to speed using only exhaust gases to drive it.

The most absurdly unnecessary option available for the GLC 43 is the AMG Track Pace, which is a performance data logger for use on the racetrack. The system records more than 80 vehicle-specific data such as speed, acceleration, steering angle, and brake pedal operation ten times a second. It even includes a display of race track lap and sector times (imagine an overcaffeinated British race commentator shouting “He’s gone purple in sector two!!) plus additional training and analysis tools.

Related:How Garrett Motion's E-Turbos Leapt From the Race Track to the Showroom

This isn’t unnecessary because of any lack of performance by the GLC 43, which accelerates to 60 mph in 4.7 seconds and to an electronically limited top speed of 155 mph. I didn’t test the top speed, but I did find that the combination of the engine’s power delivery and the agility boost provided by the GLC’s rear-wheel steering renders the vehicle an unexpectedly good participant for twisty rural byway shredding.

But there’s a difference between appreciating the GLC’s nimbleness on a country road and actually taking a 4,500-lb. vehicle to a race track for timed laps and subsequent data analysis for optimized performance, which makes the Track Pace system a bit silly in this vehicle.

But…

It all sounds really great so far, but there are some frustrations that spoil the AMG GLC 43 driving experience. One issue is the automatic stop/start system. Mercedes has long since replaced its unrefined 12-volt starter system with the instant-start 48-volt belt alternator starter system, so engine restarts are imperceptible. The trouble is the stopping, which the GLC 43 does while the vehicle is still moving.

Related:Garrett E-Turbo Jumps from F1 to Mercedes-AMG Production

Lift off the gas pedal to coast to a stop behind stopped cars at a red light or while parking and the engine shuts off while the car is still rolling. With the sudden loss of the engine’s tug, the light amount of braking you’ve applied suddenly becomes more than is needed, and the GLC 43 lurches abruptly to a halt.

Attempt to correct by releasing the brake and touching the accelerator pedal and the car vaults forward in an apparent attempt to rear-end the car ahead, forcing a sharp jab on the brakes. The whole scene is absurd and plays out at every stop until you press the button to disable the stop/start system, which you have to do every time you drive the car because the setting is not persistent.

Multi-Clutch Transmission

Cruising around Bethany Beach, Delaware on my family’s annual vacation reminded me of my chance to drive my uncle’s shiny new 1983 Volkswagen GTI as a teen driver all those years ago. My manual transmission experience was primarily with work trucks like our 1972 International stake bed pickup, so I was anxious when provided what seemed like fine German engineering that I manage its delicate controls appropriately.

The good news is that I mostly succeeded, so there was no embarrassing myself. However, all these years later, the GLC 43 evened the score by making me look like a beginning driver learning to handle a clutch pedal thanks to the car’s stop/start system.

This is compounded by what Mercedes calls an MCT transmission. It isn’t a dual-clutch DCT, but a conventional planetary automatic transmission with a computer-controlled clutch pack in place of the traditional hydraulic torque converter.

Without the cushioning effect of the torque converter, the transmission’s sharp shifts are felt very intrusively, making the engine stoppage more apparent than it would otherwise be. This is exacerbated while decelerating by continuous herky-jerky downshifts through the gears, as the planetary transmission cannot skip gears and the calibration of the shifts is excessively hard.

Mazda has done a much better job calibrating the similar transmission in the CX-90 crossover SUV. It seems likely that the Mercedes-Benz GLC 300 probably avoids these issues because it has no performance pretensions, so it would likely be my preferred version of this model, though I haven’t driven one yet.

Nevertheless, these shortcomings are both self-inflicted and fixable, so maybe the AMG engineers will sort these problems in a future refresh so the AMG GLC 43 doesn’t annoy its driver while making them look like a beginner while delivering never-needed race track performance capability.

The bag of bedsheets and bath towels still has space next to it for beach towels in the surprisingly large under-floor cargo bin. DAN CARNEY

Don’t forget to unpack all those sheets and towels stowed beneath the rear floor!