Sergey84

Hi fellas,

Recently I've seen few different cars i.e. R230 S600 and W204 C63. I like both and still can't decide which way to go, but this thread is all about C63.

I like facelifted 12+ models because of updated center console and fixed headbolt issues. Sedans only. Definitely not black though not sure which color I like more. Probably silver is my best. Black Series is only coupe I like, but it's way out of my budget.

I'd like to get a DD car and I never plan to take it to a track and also I don't plan to modify it. I did some aesthetic modding before and now I'd rather buy car which is modded from factory rather start another project...

I'm currently doing some price research and looking only at 2014 models though they are most expensive comparing to previous MY like 2013 and 2012. I also writing down packages and it's cost just to make sure I better understand how to estimate car's value. All that packages makes me feels like I'm back in school, because I have know idea what they mean in reality. Some are easy, some are not.

Update: Just found this guide:

https://mbgtown.files.wordpress.com/...rder-guide.pdf

It would be great to find same guide for 2013 and 2014 sedans. I'm searching now, but if you have it I'd appreciate it. Update: I think I got 2013 sedan too. So I need MY14 ordering guide for sedans. Can't find it...

I see there are 507 editions. Currently on 7-25-2017 there are only 5 sedans with 507 package and total 26 MY2014 sedans.

I don't see any 2014 cars with P31 package.

I see some cars have LSD.

Funny to me, but some C63 on market don't have lightning package. It's hard to imagine why owners saved money and didn't get bi-xenon headlights and opted to halogen... I'll probably never understand it.

I got 3 questions at this moment:

1) Both P31 and 507 both have "forged internals" and I wonder if I need that "forged internals" and when or why? I don't plan to race on a race track. Though I like to accelerate hard in the street. But I read that "M156 has forged rods, forged crankshaft, and cast pistons. The P31 has the M159 forged rods and crankshaft, as well as forged pistons". I think that P31/507 is more pricey in terms or repair costs if it ever occurs and regular M156 has lighter pistons, which probably helps to get to higher RPMs faster though I'm not sure.
2) Did they have P31 package available for MY2014 or they replaced it with P61 (507)?
3) There is a car in south FL which I'll probably check in a few days (if it's still there). It has more mileage than your grandma which in turn makes me wonder if the driver rented it out or maybe he/she lived in Tampa and her work was in Orlando or Miami? What do you think about this car? Yey or ney? Also if you have questions about this car I could try to find answers.

https://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-...ngId=459311554

FactoryFast

Forged is lighter and stronger and can handle more heat, but is affected by thermal load greater than a cast part. Whereas, forged will expand and contract more than a cast part. When discussing pistons, you can see how this is a major issue for a design engineer. Lucky for us piston ring technology has made forged pistons a reliable possibility for an everyday car....like my e60 M5.

This M156 motor definitely has a few engineering design issues which are documented to death on these forums. I have a 2014 base coupe with 13,000 miles and it makes all kinds of odd noises which technicians are telling me is "within specification". Its kind of disappointing. Build Quality is not what I expected.

I had AMR Performance dyno tune my motor, and I had a 507 Differential installed last week. I love having useable discretionary throttle on reserve.

Awesome you know about this before purchasing...i went into my AMG purchase experience thinking every AMG is super special and has a LSD and leather....I wound up with vinyl seats and an open diff. Salesman told me it had a diff...didnt realize there was anything more special than a C63....like the C63 P31/507....i had heard about the Black Series, but wasn't abreast of the details obviously.

You are braver than me. I paid $10K more for a base model with 2,700 miles on it with a full blown CPO warranty. Owning this car without a legit warranty is risky business. Especially given the build quality im experiencing. I forsee an unlimited amount of issues given that i see, feel and hear everything due to my profession. Unless you can get a serious aftermarket warranty that covers electrical and complete drivetrain, I say ney.

C63fora2w1

As I mentioned to you on Facebook run away from this high mileage car !! I bought my 2013 P31 CPO with 36,000 for 41k.

Alex.currie44

Your post is long so I didn't read it all but there is a 2014 507 Sedan with LSD, multi media etc in the classified of the Star magazine with 16000 km and warranty until October for $58000 so probably $55k.
Nice E63 AMG on the same page.

Ambystom01

I'm selling my 2013 C63, fully loaded, for under $50,000 CAD. Even with the recent surge in our dollar, that's still under $40,000 USD.

Sergey84

Though I agree that CPO is a piece of mind, but I think it's probably like a pill you eat, because you believe it should work perfectly. Let's say you baby your car and keep it preserved. Then one day a CPO expires and what you do now? Are you gonna buy a third-party warranty which has tons of limitations and requirements and you probably almost violate some of it and they will refuse to fix your car? I'd learn to DIY something, plus find a trusted buddy mechanic, who has tools and manuals describing how to do this or that. I think that going to MB dealership to repair something would require deep pockets? Why people do this? Because it will be reported to carfax and later they will be able to provide all that paperwork and say "hey, look how much I spend on my MB, only dealership, only OEM new parts...".

At the same time of course I feel nervous about that car with 75K miles on it. If it was Japanese I'd say it's nothing lol!

But here is what I almost forgot: I need to check it's driver's seat legroom and headroom. I had some issues in 2011 C63 which I checked a week ago. Felt like sitting inside a tank comparing to 2014 coupe.

Also there are only 2 CPO vehicles currently on Autotrader. I know that there may be some other websites like CarGurus, but I suppose Autotrader covers 90% of the whole dealer's inventory. So only 2 cars. Again, I don't look at coupes, only sedans and here is what I see:

1) https://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-...ngId=461627940

This one is Black which is not my preferable color though car has low mileage.

https://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-...ngId=462500956

This one seems to be Silver which is good. Though no pictures. And unfortunately Vindecoderz doesn't give me good info. It says it doesn't have 319 and 320 packages though in the description on Autotrader dealer says it has Lightning and Multimedia packages:
https://www.vindecoderz.com/EN/check...GF7HB5EG160150

Sergey84

Maybe I'm stupid, not brave, who knows... But I'll be pretty cautious with such car. I'll try to quickly check it, because I need to make sure I like the room around driver's seats. If not then Idk what to do...

Sergey84

Thank you for your offer. I'm looking at dealers now where I could also get a loan. I just found your thread here:

https://mbworld.org/forums/c63-amg-w...s-c63-amg.html

Car looks nice though I'd like to get 2014 model... Anyway GLWS!

Sergey84

Yea, I don't like long reads too.

Do you have a link to that car? In this section I only see 507 coupe, but maybe I didn't dig too deep... Also warranty ending in October this year it means we have pretty slim window to utilize it.

roadkillrob

Generally cars wear out with mileage not age (although if a car sits too much age can be an issue but we are talking sitting for a year or more at a time without proper storage). There are no real differences between a 12 and a 14 outside of the introduction of the 507. At 2012 with 35 or 40k miles is a much better car to buy than a 2014 with 87k miles on it. These cars are proven to be pretty reliable especially 2012+ so not much to worry about, but like any car when you get to 80k+ you have a lot of maintenance and wear items that start to go, so spending a lot of money on a high mileage 2014 that needs 5k in maintenance would not be the best decision in my book vs a 2012 low mileage that has years of driving left before it needs much.

realjones88

What warranty work have you had done in 13K miles? Even on this forum there are not many reported issues with post facelift cars. If you pay $5K more for a CPO car you "need" to have $5K in work done just to break even.

My 2012 has nearly 50K on it and has needed nothing beyond the recommended MB maintenance schedule.

HBC350

If I were you I would buy a 2014 C63 507 Coupe in Polar White with black wheels, LSD, lighting package, carbon fiber, illuminated sills and 16.5K miles on it.

Sergey84

I just checked regular 2014 coupe few days ago and I just can't fall in love with a coupe. I think I like W205 C63 coupe much more than W204, because for me it looks much balanced. I mean exterior. The one coupe I like is W204 C63 BS, but it's out of my budget. Anyway GLWS!

QWKSNKE

I have been quite surprised by this as well. I am also surprised at how many cars don't have the memory seats or real leather options.

Sergey84

Please could you tell me the leather option item #?

Also if anyone has MY14 C-Class Sedan Dealer Order Guide in PDF please share. Will be really appreciated!

So far I have only this: http://cdn.dealereprocess.com/cdn/br...014-cclass.pdf

Sergey84

Just in case if anyone needs 2014 Owner's manual:

https://www.mbusa.com/vcm/MB/Digital...14_C_Sedan.pdf

C63fora2w1

You've been lucky !! 5k could easily be one repair. My 2013 with 47k is at MB right now for an intermittent CEL that comes on for a few days and then goes out on its own. It was in for service 2 weeks ago and I mentioned the CEL to them but they said everything was ok... then it came on again. Today they tell me they can see several fault codes. If I did not have a CPO warranty I would be crapping bricks.

QWKSNKE

I believe it is code 221
From what I have seen so far in the cars I have looked at, if it has the faux suede inserts, then the rest of the seat is covered in MB tex which is a textured vinyl.

C63fora2w1

Just say no to fake leather... especially in a luxury sport sedan !!!

Sergey84

Yup, MB-tex is vinyl or I'd say rubber leather. Thanks for code. If we had Order Guide it could be there.

Here on the page 30/32 "Color and trim" there are 3 seats which ar 507 exclusive. I've seen few cars online with Porcelain/Black while I'd opt for the other Black which are Nappa with Dinamica inserts or just Nappa alone:

http://cdn.dealereprocess.com/cdn/br...014-cclass.pdf

Idk if that Black Nappa leather is 221 package or not.

Sergey84

I think first we need to get a code. I'd get a diagnostic tool just to read code and see the possible problem. I'd start to learn about proper tool here:

http://www.mercedesmedic.com/mercede...-need-to-know/

Also I found this website where they sell tools. I think it's Chinese company:

http://us.ecutool.com/Benz-Scanner_myclass_3571_1.html

Not sure if ^ website has any useful tools for 2014 C63. I think here on forum should be more knowledgeable people than me.

Also I have an SRS code on my Honda and dealer wanted me to pay $100 to read the code. I went to 3 other places. In first place they didn't scan SRS for hondas, in second they started singing about how expensive is their tool and subscription and the lowest price was $40 and in the third (which is a franchise business, not just mom and pop) they did it for free. Now I know the code and soon will know what exactly to do in order to fix it. I know all cars are different, but if you have CEL i'd try to check it by myself first. Anyway please let us know what did they find?

Also it's just 3K miles away from being out of warranty. Plus I guess you have another 2 years of CPO which is good obviously. But **** can happen next day after CPO expires or it may never happen. It's like roulette...

Alex.currie44

From my 2013 Build card Anthracite leather is 221A and the Designo Red/Black combo is X83.

There is no rubber in MB-Tex. The vinyl in their cars used to come from Hornschue which as a premium vinyl when compared to what Ford and GM wanted from us for seating when they offered an all vinyl seat. Of course they went to fabrics for the faces or leather both sewn into vinyl for the side bolsters etc.

Sergey84

I'm on a trip to South FL and today I found out that local Carmax dealer near me has 2014 C63 Sedan which you can see here:

https://www.carmax.com/car/14555021

So I paid them a visit. Overall this car seem to be in good condition with some small scratches outside (front bumper) and inside (steering wheel, plastic panels).

The good: It has carbon fiber trim pieces. It has lightning package. It has relatively low mileage (23K). Still under MB warranty which is 5years/50000 miles.

I forgot to test how it's comfortable for me to seat there, but let's just say it was just OK.

Now about bad. There are things that I rather don't like about this car:

1) Previously car was used as a fleet vehicle though it doesn't seem to be rental because of mileage.
2) It has few visible scratches including on interior carbon trim. I'm a perfectionist, thus I will always notice such things.
3) Leather on steering wheel shows some wear and small scratches too.
4) Probably driver's door doesn't close smoothly, but I'm not sure since I didn't checked it thoroughly.
5) It seems that leather is pretty basic. I don't know how they call it, maybe MB-tex. Let's say in 2005 SL600 it looked much better though has some signs of wear.
6) Inserts in seats looked like alcantara (faux suede), but it felt cheap.
7) Finally. The mother of all packages. The holy trim. The king's choice. The true weight saver. Manually adjustable front seats. Both. Idk which package includes electrically adjustable seats, but I couldn't expect C63 to have manually adjustable seats.
8) Almost $48K which I consider pretty high since in two years it will cost something like $32K. And who buys it with manual seats? With taxes and other fees it's about $54K.
9) And a small cherry on top! But pretty delicious! Mmmm... Are you ready? Car didn't even start when we arrived. When we came the front right led u-shaped element inside headlight was ON, left was turned off and car didn't start. To me it was the first red flag.

It seems it's not P31 since calipers are not red and I'm not sure about limited slip. They didn't have a window sticker and they couldn't provide me any details on the options/packages. Also test drive was pretty quick. I floored it once. Car sounds agressive, accelerates hard, but feels a bit heavy. I'm renting Corolla now and while it's way slower it feels pretty light and frisky. That C63 felt like a wild lion after having his meal. Though breaks were really good. My wife even screamed a bit when I floored it to check acceleration. I'm not going to compare C63 to Corolla. Never. But for some reason I was expecting it to be like a hungry hunting god which can't wait till her owner appoints a target.

You may check a few pics I made today and uploaded to my Dropbox:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/x4vhzj4my...mx4SRNb8a?dl=0

Also here is a quick video in parking lot after we did a test drive:


Verdict. Because of scratches, but mostly because of cheap leather and manually adjustable seats I will pass this car. I personally think that it's unacceptable to order this car new with such cheap looking leather and get manually adjustable seats instead of normal ones. I mean you have carbon trim which costed $2000+, but still have manual seats. I just can't get it.

Regarding that 75 000 mile C63 507 it's a bit far from me, because of traffic, though I didn't make a final decision if I go there to check it or now. At least Carmax provides 5 years warranty. And it works according to Doug DeMuro.

Ambystom01

I'm selling my 2013, with about 40,500 miles on it, for under $40,000. And it has all packages.

Sergey84

Do you have pics? And for me more important is where in US are you?