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I actually thought the review was fair. They seemed to like different aspects of each car, but in the end they enjoyed the aggressive sound and shifts in the c43. From the review, if I want an aggressive car, and like the amg line up, but don't want to ante up for the c63 amg, I'd look closely at the c43. If I want a fast and sporty daily driver that's also well balanced and does everything well, I'd look at the bmw. If I enjoy being perpetually bored and generally hating life, I'd get the Audi (just joking....partially).
I think the c43 is more polarizing, in that it is designed to accentuate sporting characteristics that will appeal to those who like aggressive cars, and will feel rough and less refined to those who want a comfortable luxury car. As others have stated, Mercedes seems to be designing the c43 amg to truly be an "amg-light" type of car.
As much as people complain about bmw diluting the M brand, I think there is a bigger gap between the M-performance cars and actual M cars, than between a Mercedes c43 and c63 amg. Despite the M badging, the M performance cars like the M340i are intended to have more in common with the 330i than the m3. This is also represented by the different chassis codes, g20 for the 3 series, and g80 for the upcoming m3. Bmw wants us to think of the 3 series and m3 as being built on a different chassis. This is true to an extent. While the m3 chassis is fundamentally based on the 3er chassis, there are enough major differences to warrant a new chassis code.
The way I see it, in a nutshell, is the m340i is a more powerful 3 series that comes standard with more performance options. The c43 is more akin in character to a less powerful c63 amg, not merely a more powerful c-class. The c400 (or whatever designation Mercedes uses) is the more powerful c class.
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