Judo57

Hey guys i have been looking for a C63 for awhile now. It has been one of those cars that i have dreamed about owning and now i am finally able to afford one. The one i am looking at is a used 2009 with 100,872 miles for around 22,000 dollars. I am worried about how many miles the car has because i know this is a performance car and most people would like to drive this car hard. I am also worried about any mechanical issues the car would start having around these higher miles. So any information or suggestions you guys could give me would be great!

I am Jeff

My suggestion for you is to save a little more and buy an example with less miles. You are buying a car with no warranty and it appears you haven't really budgeted for the expenses that come with an AMG car. While the C63 is one of the more reliable AMG models, parts aren't necessarily cheap.

You will end up paying one way or another, so why not save up a little more to get one that wouldn't make you worry so much?

Kid Dynamite

iTrader: (1)

Check the engine number with the car vin !

Engine till 60658 had head bolt issuses

Look for a C63 amg with limited slip differential

CarHopper

^It's an 09... No need to check, its within the bad headbolt range.

Buying a c63 at $22k screams you're already stretching your dollar. One thing goes wrong and that bill would put you out of a car all together.

Save longer and buy something more reliable.

Judo57

Yeah I'm definitely still on the look out for one with lower mileage. The next best one I found has 50,000 miles and is listed at 34,000 and right now the most I'm willing to pay is 35,000 so that one is in my range still. I have done some research and have found that the C63 is one of the more reliable AMG products but that dosnt mean it isn't without its faults. So is there any mechanical issues they face later on? or is there anything I should specifically look for when I go to look at one at the dealership?

Judo57

Any mechanical issues besides the headbolts

papashango

2009 to early 2011 models were under the affected head bolt range. So if you're looking at these ones, find out if the head bolt's have already been replaced. If so, not issues. If not, perhaps steer clear as it'll be out of warranty as well. Besides these, there is nothing specifically wrong with them. Just your regular maintenance isn't cheap and the brakes are quite expensive to replace. Especially if it's a performance pack car.

jmueller

Buy whatever you want man, but keep in mind how much the operating expenses are on these cars.

My yearly fuel and tire bill is $3500 (only with this cheap gas). That's near-as-makes-no-difference 15% of the cost of that car. Tack on oil changes, brakes, tranny and differential services and you're likely looking at total of at least around 5k per year. Being able to afford an AMG because it has depreciated into your price range is not the ideal way to do it.

Edit: 35K will buy you a safer / more reliable example.

AMG6.3

If your budget is 35K, then I would absolutely buy the car that has 50,000 miles vs car that has 100,000 miles. Depending on the year you might be to negotiate a couple of thousand off. GL.

Judo57

Hey I definitely hear where you are coming from as far as the cost of ownership. I usually do all the maintenance to my cars myself so that generally makes the repairs cheaper. The only problem is that it eats up a lot of time especially with big repairs but even doing the repairs myself the cost of ownership is still high so I'll definitely factor that in when I consider the car.

PanzerLehr

You can also pickup a secondary warranty for the car which should be cheaper with lower the miles. But you may want to budget that into the initial cost. I don't think I am yet to see a C63 with 100k+ miles on it so I think the majority of us couldn't tell you about big ticket wear items you may need to be worried about. I know I drive mine like it begs to be driven and my C32 before I rung up 56k miles before it was totaled and aside from tires not making it a year the only thing needing to be replaced on either outside of wear and tear was the automatic steering wheel motor for moving it up and down died one winter.
One thing though is maintenance is expensive especially compared to something like a VW Jetta. So long as you aware of those costs and the headbolt issue was resolved I doubt there are any major known issues if maintained properly. Good luck with the purchase, no matter the miles it is a beast of a car.

Spearsba

Plus the cost of rear tires every 6 months or so..

ArmoE55

$35K range won't get you anything newer than 2011 and will probably have high miles (and probably not the cleanest 2011 either - also, bad headbolt range is until late build '11 cars) unless youre buying at wholesale/auction price or the car is crapbucket in miles, condition, mechanical or cosmetic. Do you know any dealers that are relatives? 2012s are going for low to mid $40s right now at the auction - these are CLEAN examples with less than 50K miles. If you can afford a bit more, or just wait it out a while more.

I am also in the market for a C63 (2012+) and don't really have a budget, but I'm very specific with options (LSD, Keyless Go, Lighting Package are an absolutely must). And I prefer Black , Gray or Red only exterior..although white has been growing on me, just can't imagine how often I'd have to wash her. That's why it'll take me a while to find exactly what I want, but I'm fine with that since prices are dropping.

OP-
Wait another year or so (Spring 2016) and even the 2014s will be in the mid $30s, and with FAR less miles.


And I agree with the above posters. Granted, if the headbolt issue was addressed, there aren't many major repairs on the M156s that I've read and talked to people about. But remember, some of these cars had original $80-90K price tags and the maintenance goes with that tag. Someone purchasing a car with a tag like that can afford to maintain the car(not all do, but can financially).

My .02

Judo57

Well from what I have read on here I feel like I can definitely afford the car and the maintenance but I might wait a little while so that I have a little bit of money saved up for any maintenance. I'm definitely glad I found out about the headbolts. I also like the suggestion of looking at an auction for the car instead of just limiting myself to just a dealership. Can you find good quality cars at the auctions or are they kinda beat up?

ArmoE55

Even auction cars you have to do research. Find out where the car has been, who has owned and where (e.g. New England/Chicago cars see A LOT of snow, salt etc.), how it has been maintained etc. This depends heavily if you know a dealer that goes or has access to the sites (e.g. Manheim).

FWIW, I have bought all my cars (4 cars to date) from the auction and they've all been 100% with no issues other than maintenance. I've put over 40K miles on all of them, too. I go with my cousin each time. Beforehand, I do a week's worth of researching the cars I'm interested in.

You just have to do your research and do it well ... good luck with whatever you decide.

Spearsba

If you are willing to be patient wait for a MB CPO deal. For example, I bought my 2011 in Jan 14 when they ran the CPO incentives. The original warranty expired in Oct 14, but the deal tacked on 24 more months of unlimited miles coverage. They had some small payment incentives and low APR, .9 to 1.9%. However AMG does not qualify for the free maintenance part. My car ended up with some engine issues that the CPO saved my butt.

the stiig

Some of you guys are really scared of miles huh?

Nothing wrong with buying a higher mileage car if everything checks out. Of course the gas tires maintenance blah blah blah on these cars costs above average, but that doesn't mean the OP is stretching his budget by looking at higher mileage cars.

A 2012 with 50k miles goes for at least $45k. In 2 years when it has 80k miles, it might be $30k or under, just like the 2009's are now. That's still a big depreciation hit IMO. Buying one between $25k to $30k is not a bad idea, considering when you sell it you should be able to fetch most of that back, maybe all but $5k if you're slightly lucky. At the least, you won't be out $20k when it comes time to sell like if you bought a 2012 now.

Unless I'm going to keep a car for 10 years, I let someone else pay all the depreciation and don't fret about the miles. I never understood why some people see 100,000 and think it's a magic number where all cars start to explode.

CarHopper

I didn't read all the posts after mine, but here it is less about miles and more about cost of maintenance.

alfaromeo3

buy mines for 34K, 09 CPO till July 2015 or could extend it upto 2 more years thru MB not 3rd party
45K miles: White with 2 tone gray/blk interior at 9/10 mint interior condition
selling it as im getting a GTR

Judo57

So you guys don't think that the first car with 100,000 miles isn't a bad choice. But that I should focus more on the cost of ownership

jkm322@gmail,co

I bought my 2009 in August 2012 with 28,000 miles on it. I've loved it for another 30k since then and have no plans to sell it. I usually hang on to my cars for 10-12 years and I can't see doing anything different with this one. It just gives me so much joy to drive and everyone else on the road lusts for the chance to know what the experience is about.

As for issues, I had to replace the accelerator pedal @ 34k. There was an electronics problem with it when you exceeded 100 mph that caused it to loose drive power from the motor. It was tied to the stability control system. I could work around it by turning off the car and restarting, but replacing the pedal fixed it and I've had no hint of the issue returning. I'm not the only person who had that experience.

I knew the gas mileage would be what it is. Replacing rear tires every 7-8,000 miles was a little unexpected. If you research more on the high mileage car, make sure the brake pads are not yet to 50% worn. If so, you should talk them down. Rear brakes were $1,200 service. I haven't had to do the fronts yet.

CarHopper

Exactly. 100,000 well maintained miles is good to go for 100,000 more.

But then you have to do the brakes.
And 9 quarts per oil change.
And filters here and there.
Plus the whole "what if" on 09 headbolts.
Plus rear tires each season.
On top of gas twice a week.

Adds up quick

Phorte

i'm here to do the compulsory post of how bloody cheap, or more precisely, how bloody expensive these cars are in Australia you guys have it easy!