Gone are the days when you’d need to wriggle into a low supercar; the popularity of SUVs have that covered now. While the insides are too similar to the regular GLC, one feels the sportier inclination of this iteration through the AMG inscribed steering and the overall darker shades that have been emphasised by the bright red seat belts and matching seams all across. As expected, this well-crafted cabin has an extravagant air about it, which you can read about in our regular GLC review here. Notwithstanding, this being an AMG means a lot revolves around the driving experience, so I won’t digress. We’ll start with the chunky AMG steering with prominent paddle shifters. The enormous grip particularly aids as you reel it in rapidly around tight bends.

Ironically, I developed a strange affinity to the all-digital instrumentation. Not for being overly attractive, but for feeding you the infinite customisation options such as boost or g-force data which frankly won’t bore you for week’s altogether. Something far from impressive though, is the tiny rear windscreen that’s ridiculously raked which makes marking anything out of the rear quite demanding. So I’ll rub it in; relying solely on the rear or 360-degree cameras is the order of the day.

Being an SUV, you’d expect the GLC 43 AMG Coupe’s rear seat experience to be far more practical. But it isn’t. In fact, this also trickles down to the sloping boot-lid marginally restricting its boot space. And, while the stiff low-speed ride may not be to everyone’s liking, the same goes for its fuel efficiency.

There are plenty of perks though. Its addictive performance mated to the prodigious exhaust note will kindle one’s zeal to an inexplicable level. Moreover, one will thoroughly enjoy the well-crafted interiors with the tinge of understated sportiness that pampers in a rather subtle manner.

Then comes the price. With Mercedes-Benz now building AMGs in India, the GLC 43 AMG Coupe is the first one to roll out. With a price tag of just under Rs 91 lakh (OTR Mumbai), it’s around Rs 14 lakh more than the top-spec GLC Coupe.

But importantly, despite it hovering around the larger Mercedes-Benz GLE and BMW X5, we fiercely admit that this size of SUV is thoroughly usable, particularly in the AMG form. Sure, dishing out more dough can get you the Porsche Macan S or the BMW X3M.