irisho

Hi all! I am pretty much clueless about anything involving cars. I'd like to learn more by asking a few questions and I'd appreciated it if anyone can answer.

1. I want to buy a used C63 AMG (W204). For someone who barely know anything about cars, is this a bad idea?
2. Does Mercedes still sell engine parts for this car? What about 5-10 years from now?
3. If I replace the m156 engine with a remanufactured engine will it be similar to owning a new car? Does Mercedes even sell a remanufactured m156? How practical/cost effective is this? Maybe this should be done later when I start to run into engine issues? But will they stop selling the engine in the future?
4. I've done some research on how to inspect used cars but apart from generic advice is there anything specific I should look for when buying this car?

Thank you! Any response will be greatly appreciated.

C63AMGeez

...I would highly suggest you abuse the search function on the forums and learn more about this car. Theres so many youtube videos out there that will give you a better understanding of not only vehicles in general but specifically the w204/m156. A 2012+ c63 is recommended as the common headbolts issue was resolved, but of course maintenance is key. There is no need replacing an engine unless you seriously screw up. Even if you did screw up replacing an engine would not make it “new” considering the rest of the parts still have ‘x’ amount of miles.

Do yourself a favor and start researching

Ninjadom

Hi. I’m a noob too. Not to driving, (Been driving over 20 years) but just to owning a C63. I’ve only had this car a month.

1. Yes it’s a bad idea, unfortunately. The C63 has a 6.2 V8 engine. Probably the most powerful engine you’ll ever drive. I mean, it’s no joke. For a new driver who hasn’t driven anything before, except the car you learned in, you’ll be asking for trouble.

This car is maybe 10 times more powerful than the standard cars people learn to drive in (UK). You’ll have no experience in how to control that power. The car is also pretty big in size for a first timer, especially in terms of parking.

Plus insurance. I doubt any insurer in the U.K. will insure you on this car as a young first time driver with no experience. If they did, it would cost thousands a year. I’m in my 40’s with lots of experience and my insurance is £700 a year on this car. My old insurer wouldn’t touch the car. They wanted nothing to do with a C63. I had to move insurance companies.

2. Yes Mercedes still sell parts for the car and should do for the next 5 years. The w204 was still being produced up to almost 5 years ago, so parts are readily available. Be aware that this is an AMG so some parts will be expensive.

3. Not practical or realistic. Huge, huge expense. Thousands of dollars/pounds. $/£. The engines aren’t readily available as complete units to drop into an existing car. There’s gonna be much more experienced people here than me on this topic.

4. As with all cars go for a car with as little mileage as possible. If you can afford it go for a 125 edition or even better, a 507 edition. Try and get a facelift version regardless (mid 2011 and onwards).

Due to the nature of this car, 6.2 V8 that sounds wonderful and goes very, very fast, a lot (maybe all) of these cars have been driven pretty hard by previous owners.

Beware that this car isn’t the best for fuel efficiency and runs only on Super Unleaded premium fuel. You need to factor that into your running costs. 17-22 mpg is the norm for this car.

irisho

Thank you for your response! I've been driving my C200 (W204) for the past 6 months and I believe the frame is almost identical, so parking won't be an issue. I specifically want to own this car because of its insane power, I love the feeling of stomping the pedal to the floor on my C200 and I've learned to become more responsible driving it over time. I've done some research and I think insurance will not be a problem (I live in Thailand), but I'm slightly concerned about the availability of the parts as I plan to own it for the next 5-10 years. I will obviously do more research on this.

Ninjadom

Oh okay, you’ve already been driving a C-Class, then yes you’ll be used to the size.

Same as me, I’m looking to keep mine for a long time but I’m not at all worried about the availability of parts.

irisho

Do you have any other tips/advice? Anything a complete car noob should know? What about reliability? Squeaks/noise issues? I have heard that is a common issue for some C63 owners. So many questions but I'm dying to get it lol.

markov77

I was also a noob until recently, I spent alot of time reading this forum. I would listen to the engine on a cold start and listen for cam adjuster ticking. The cam adjusters seem to be a common failure.

Ninjadom

When I got mine last month there was one main issue and one smaller issue.

The big issue was the Yellow Check Engine Light came on when I was driving it home after first buying up the car. The car wasn’t smooth at very low speeds and idling, but normal speeds were fine. I had it looked at and had a broken PCV valve. A fairly common fault. Cost me £200 GBP to fix.

The second was the air conditioning. It wasn’t cold on the passenger side. Re-gas and air conditioning motor recalibration fixed that. £100 GBP.

That’s it so far with my car. But only today, the parking brake was difficult to release. Not sure why that was.

Oh, there was also an intermittent noise the car made when I got it that sounded like a fan-belt noise in any other car. But after getting the PCV valve fixed that noise has gone away.

I guess some teething problems are expected when you buy a 9 year old car with 83,000 miles on the clock.

95gsrturbo

I'm 42, I've been driving since I was 15. I have tons of experience at high performance driving events.

I have logged over 300 hours of performance racing time in dry and wet weather at over 150mph speeds.

This happened at 37 mph bc of how much torque this car has

INS1GNIA

THE OFFICIAL W204 AMG FAQ (Including Stickies)

irisho

How did that happen?

Diabolis

Because the C63 is not a C200, and the driver (who in this case was experienced and knows how to both gently feather in the throttle and control the car when it gets loose) got on the pedal just a tiny little bit more that what the available friction coefficient of the tire-to-pavement interface at the time allowed. If you love the feeling of stomping the pedal to the floor, in this car you will *very* quickly end up without a car and quite possibly injured, maimed, dead and/or in prison.

I am 50 years old, have been (legally) driving for 34 of them, doing track events for the last 20, I hold a racing licence and have been racing in the dry, wet and on ice for the last 7, and have been instructing for the last 4. None of us here that are telling you that a C63 is not a good car for you to drive when you're a new driver are jealous or want you to not have a good time. We are telling you this because we want you to live long enough so that you can continue to enjoy the feeling of stomping on the pedal for many more years to come. You really don't need to worry about engine longevity or parts availability as chances are overwhelmingly that you're going to wreck it way before you experience any mechanical issues.

CyanideRide

Normal traction control or when I'm feeling abit daring, I'll use "sport" mode but is the goto move to disable the traction control when people buy these cars?

Ninjadom

Not for me. Traction control on at all times. I’ll try Sport and Sport + when I’m on the right roads. But day to day, Comfort mode with Traction Control on.

fpC63

Original owner on my 09 C63. Now has 98,000 miles. A joy to drive but it has been a money pit from the start. I've incurred over $22,000 in repairs and maintenance during my 11 years of ownership, much of which was tire replacement (24 tires replaced so far). As a plus, my Mercedes dealer always provides me with another MB loaner when the car is in for service. Seems like this is necessary a couple times per year.

irisho

Noted. Any recommendations on what to get thats more powerful than the C200 that I can handle?

Diabolis

Are you asking specifically about another Mercedes, or any car make / model that will allow you to have some fun but without trying to kill you in the process? And, what is your approximate budget?

CarHopper

Anybody remember DadsC63? And what happened to that car? The guy obviously knew the c63 inside and out, was an amazing contributor, had an incredible car, and just one morning where it wasn't even that slick, just mildly damp, and the smallest bit of extra input on that throttle cost this forum an amazing car as he spun out on the highway.

That said, accidents do happen. Anybody can handle a c63 and you shouldn't be afraid of the car because it is a drivers car. You just have to respect it and know when to and when not to give it hell. If you treat it well it will treat you well and vice versa. You just have to be real with yourself in the decision making process of whether or not to get one. It's why I don't have a motorcycle haha

Diabolis

For me, it's full TC on for daily commuting and sport TC (that allows a 30+ degree yaw angle and plenty of wheel slip) on the track and often in the snow. When you can drive the car on a greasy track in sport TC mode and not have the TC interfere at all - as in you can consistently correct and/or hold the drift when the back steps out - then you will have attained sufficient mastery to drive without TC... at which time you'll realize that it is not impeding your driving in any way and really only a safety feature for those occasions when enthusiasm exceeds ability or you hit an oil slick, and you will just continue to alternate between the two.

Jasonoff

Sport TC doesn't let you throttle steer when the front is pushing in tight corners. I have owned my C63 for 9 years as a daily driver. But now in its relatively new 600lb + race trim diet, it's a COMPLETELY different car. Slowly re-learning it at the track.

Diabolis

Sure it does - within reason. It won't allow you to drift at a 45 degree angle or drive it like a 911 when you are sawing the wheel to get it to make a tiny little correction, but you can most certainly throttle steer regardless of whether the front is understeering or planted. The TC in sport mode only looks at the yaw angle. And, I'd argue that if the car understeers on corner entry (on any RWD car at least), you're likely overdriving the car and carrying too much speed into the corner which is going to negatively affect your exit speed.

I'd love to drive one that has been put on a diet and well sorted for track use like yours or BLKROKT's... that would be a blast!

Jasonoff

It's an animal and loud AF inside. Completely raw, it's awesome!

I am still tuning the suspension but it's for sure when over driving a corner. TMP doesn't really like having the pizza cutters up front even with the car under 3400lbs.

Getting used to the braking threshold as well so blowing a corner entry because ABS makes an appearance was a frequent laugh. I wasn't able to throttle correct with TC in sport in those situations.

I've never had a track car with TC before. Curious how much affect the weight cut and suspension has on the TC algorithms.

irisho

I prefer a Mercedes but any other car make / model will do. Car prices here are drastically higher but I estimate it roughly translates to around $30-$40k in the US.

Diabolis

If you want a fast Mercedes, I'd be looking at a CLA45 or GLA45. They are smaller and wore wieldy, and are AWD (but FWD biased) so the rear end is not going to snap sideways if you're a little too aggressive on the throttle. They produce double the power of the C200, so the difference would be night and day.

A VW Golf R is another fast and very capable car (also AWD and FWD biased) that would be just as much fun to drive, and would likely cost even less money.

If you actually want a RWD car that will kick out the rear end when you get on the throttle and has even better handling, a BMW 135i is next to impossible to beat.

The CLA & GLA have been around for 5 years now, and the BMW 135i and Golf R for over 10. All of them had an initial purchase price about 2/3rds of that of a C63, so you could presumably get any one of these that will be in better shape than a C63 for the same amount of money. ALL OF THEM will put a much bigger smile on your face when you step on the throttle that what you are getting from the C200, and despite the fact that they go like a bat out of hell, none of them will try to kill you when you make a small mistake. The BMW is a RWD and the back can and will step out if you're not careful, but at least it won't shove you in the wall at the same rate that a C63 would so you actually might have a chance to gather it back up.

Heaven7

I've had my 2010 C63 for a couple of weeks now and had been mostly commuting with it on Comfort mode and ESP on, where it feels pretty tame, like a Corolla with very stiff suspension, good low end torque and a glorious soundtrack.

This weekend I took it out for a more spirited drive and enjoyed it in Sport mode (still with ESP on). When I was coming back home, back on Comfort mode, I stabbed the throttle a bit too hard on a roundabout and the rear end let go a bit. It came back mostly on its own (thank ESP) + a minor correction.

It was exhilarating and fun as I don't have any previous RWD experience, but also a reminder that this thing needs to be treated with respect even in Comfort mode with ESP on.

I'm 32 now and I wouldn't hand 20 year old me the keys to this car.