News Source: topspeed.com

Just last week it was announced that Mercedes-AMG  was going to debut its new C43 4Matic Coupe  at the Geneva Auto Show  in March. Now, just a day before its official debut, Mercedes has announced the Mercedes-AMG C43 4Matic Cabriolet. Like the Coupe, the Cabriolet comes with a fairly powerful V-6 engine, AMG  performance 4Matic all-wheel drive, and a 9G-Tronic automatic transmission. Of course, the Cabriolet comes with one feature the coupe doesn’t – a retractable top.

We were expecting to see a C43 Cabriolet  soon, but we didn’t expect it to debut at the same time as the coupe version. Tobias Moers, the Chief Executive of Mercedes-AMG, said, “The AMG product portfolio will continue to grow rapidly this year, making the world of Driving Performance more diverse than ever. Our new product line continues to expand at a fast pace and, with the C 43 4Matic Cabriolet, we are offering a younger target group yet another alternative to discover the fascinating world of AMG.”

As you can see, the C43 Cabriolet shares a lot of the same exterior styling as the C43 Coupe. That same Front fascia is carried over with those distinctive corner vents and mesh-filled air dam. On the sides, the light-alloy wheels and finish are accented by chrome trim that wraps around the waistline of the cabriolet and gets thicker as it wraps around to the back of the drop top roof. The “BITURBO-4MATIC” badge has also been added to the front fenders, just like we saw on the C43 Coupe.

Around back there are certain changes that had to be made to incorporate the drop top. The deck lid is significantly shorter to accommodate the door and storage space for the top. This design will surely cut down on cargo room storage in the rear, but I think that is a fair price to pay if you enjoy soaking up some sun as you drive. Outside of the different decklid, the rear is the same. The horizontal, corner vents on the rear fascia are the same, and that grey-colored rear diffuser that accents the chrome exhaust outlets was also carried over from the Coupe. Mercedes  did a good job keeping the Cabriolet just as sporty as the coupe. It’s nice to see it didn’t have to compromise exterior styling too much to accommodate the drop top.

An optional “Night” package is also available with the C43 Cabriolet that brings dark-tinted thermal insulation glass for all rear windows, a gloss-black front trim insert, black exterior mirror housings, high-gloss black beltline trim around the windows and the chrome plated exhaust outlets.

Inside, the C43 Coupe is upholstered in Artico man-made leather and Dinamica microfiber. The dash, beltlines, door panels, center console, and armrests are also wrapped in Artico to give the car a sportier ambiance inside. All that leather is held together with red contrast stitching. Like the C43 coupe, the Cabriolet also has design red seat belts and black floor mats that have red edging.

The instrument cluster has two tube-shaped round dials, and a 4.5-inch color display in the middle. The background of the instrument cluster is done in a checkered-flag design, and the speedometer reads up to 173 mph. Optional features specific to the Cabriolet include AirScarf neck-level heating, a fabric soft top that can be operated at up to 31 mph, and automatic closing of the boot separator. The soft top is available in black, brown, red, and dark blue.

Outside of these options, the interior is every bit the same as the interior we saw on the C43 coupe. It’s not a bad design, and does look to be rather comfortable, so I don’t see too many folks having a complaint about that.

The C43 Cabriolet is powered by a 3.0-liter, biturbo, V-6 that produces 367 horsepower and 383 pound-feet of torque. Power is sent to all four wheels via a 9G-Tronic automatic transmission. The 9G-Tronic has been specially tuned for use in the C43 models with shortened shift times and the ability to downshift more than one gear at once. The responsiveness of the engine and transmission is altered by each driving mode available. Sport and Sport Plus modes make for a more powerful and emotional shifting, while Eco, Comfort, and Sport modes experience faster shift times. In manual mode, the transmission is shifted via paddles on the steering wheel. Special tuning allows the transmission to remain in the selected gear even with the engine at the red line.

Just like the C63, the C43 Cabriolet has AMG’s ride control system with adaptive three-stage adjustable damping and a mode select button. The 4Matic all-wheel drive system is rear-biased with 69 percent of engine torque sent to the rear wheels and 31 percent going to the front wheels. This bias sets the C43 Cabriolet up for some fun cornering without the risk of understeer. All told, the C43 Cabriolet can hit 60 mph in 4.7 seconds and has an electronically limited speed of 155 mph. Not bad for a V-6 drop top.

The C43 Cabriolet comes standard with a three-stage electronic stability system, along with newly developed steering knuckles, spring link supporting joints, and elastokinematically adapted links, just like the Mercedes-AMG C63. The rear axle is also configured for higher driving dynamics. The sports suspension system has three-stage adjustable damping. This setup provides precise and direct suspension feedback from the road and increases the C43’s agility during cornering. Sport steering also helps to make the C43 more agile, and can be adjusted between “comfort,” “sport,” and “individual” mode. These adjustments are made automatically depending on what driving mode is selected, or can be customized in individual mode.

To help bring the C43 to a stop in a hurry, the car is equipped with internally ventilated compound brake discs that measure 14.17 inches in the front and 12.60 inches in the rear. In addition to these features, the C43 Cabriolet also has all of the standard safety features included in other C-class models.