Road test – Mercedes-AMG C63

Just like the car I drove in Germany, my test car was the 2012 model, hitting the market with a collection of small but significant upgrades designed to make it not only a bit more sociable than the car that made its debut here in March, 2008, but also a bit more of a driver's car.

The visuals have sharpened the package. The radiator grille, for example, is a new design that ties the car to the earth-shaking SLS coupe and roadster pair. It finishes off with a new front apron and lower front splitter, AMG daytime running lights and revised side air outlets.

There are new clear lens headlights and the ''power domes'' on the alloy bonnet have lost their rounded style and are now hard-edged with sharply-creased peaks. Revised five-spoke alloy wheels and a new rear apron design and a distinctive black, three-fin diffuser with a huge exhaust outlet either side finish the package.

Possibly of more interest are the changes wrought beneath the skin. This time around the car gets AMG's Speedshift MCT-7 automatic transmission sporting a multi-plate clutch pack in place of a torque converter to both speed shift times (and it is seriously quick and maximise power delivery to the rear wheels. And it does a nifty double de-clutch on the downshifts.

Sporting a green side (well, sort of, the gearbox has a ''controlled efficiency'' mode that works hand in glove with a new power steering pump to pull down fuel consumption by around 10per cent to a combined 12.1litres/100km on the official combined cycle.

To counter that though – and show it still has proper blood rather than the ethanol-spliced variety running through its veins – The Glory also has a dial on the centre console with four settings as well as the ''controlled efficiency'' slot which, loosely translated, equate to ''that's fun'', ''a bit crazy'', ''yee-hah!'' and ''we have lift-off''. Put another way, the first setting, Sport, is akin to being launched from the deck of an aircraft carrier by steam catapult and the last, Race Start, is probably like strapping on a Saturn rocket and pressing the red button marked ''Do Not Press''.

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