2016 Mercedes-AMG GLC 43 Coupe first drive

The GLC Coupé is a niche within a niche within a niche. It’s the crossover version of the Mercedes-Benz GLC SUV, which itself is an off-road-orientated iteration of the Mercedes-Benz C-Class saloon. Its 3.0-litre twin-turbo V6, meanwhile, is part of the cod-AMG ‘43’ range of Affalterbach-lite powerplants engineered but not built at Mercedes’ in-house tuning division’s famous factory.

So depending on your perspective, you can see it as a car that neatly cherry-picks the juiciest components from all the conceptual forms it represents – the style of a coupé, the practicality of an estate, the all-terrain ability of an SUV and the response of a sports car – or just a collection of disparate ideas, all lobbed at the wall in the hope that at least some of them will stick.

In statistical terms, the GLC 43 Coupé is the same as the GLC 43 SUV from which it is derived: same 362bhp power output, same 4.9sec 0-62mph sprint, same MPG, same CO2, same weight, same everything, in fact. But Mercedes says it has worked hard on the all-round air suspension to give the car a feel of its own: firmer, more controlled and dynamic. More fun, in other words.

Those who loathe the idea of cars like this for all the compromises their designs seem to encompass will likely hate the GLC43 Coupé even more, because the truth is that they will find the way it drives infuriatingly hard to criticise.

You sit high but not perched in a cabin whose quality is now a clear cut above anything else you might feel tempted to call a rival. Huge progress has been made to bring more character to this engine, and while it’s still some distance from the twin turbo V8s in ‘proper’ AMGs, the V6 revs cleanly, snarls convincingly and even spits and bangs betwixt shifts in Sport Plus mode.