Have now a GLA45, and the C63
Thread Starter
MBWorld Fanatic!
Joined: Sep 2016
Posts: 1,175
Likes: 130
From: NY
2010 C63 2019 GLA45
Have now a GLA45, and the C63
I used to have a 2002 WRX, at this point "made by me", as 80% of the parts on the car had been replaced with aftermarket, or upgraded.
The car got to 209 K miles.
I was attached to the car, owned it since 2004. I was dreading eventually loosing the battle with Inertia (wear, age, etc) and looking for a new beginning on that front.
The WRX, I did not intend to make into a drag race monster, a track *****, etc. It was going to be a reliability monster with uncharted handling improvements better than the factory in every respect, including power and spool.
I was dynoing it with a road dyno ap, which connected to the car via OBD2 and required accurate weight information (driver in the car, was going to truck weight stations). Anyway, got to the point where the new gearbox I had, in the 1:1 ratio (4th), would have required me to bring the car up to 130 MPH for a full accurate dyno session. Could not do that, so gave up on the idea. Prior to this happening, I had 320 WHP. I believe I managed to get to 340 WHP, which probably puts the car at 430 CHP.
So, as I started to "interview" cars for a replacement, I discovered that:
1. The new 2020 Sti had progressed way beyond what I was able to do with the handling and ride.
I believe that their aim was to match and beat the EVO, gold standard of the industry.
The way that the 2020 changed lanes stock was a one-piece lateral teleportation type deal.
The ride while precise was not crashing around in potholes like mine was. And that's where the good news ended.
The gearbox was exactly where I was, no improvement between the 2014 manufactured, 2007 year model gearbox, which I had in my car and this 2020 model.
And it gets worse:
The engine's stock tune was crap. I had a 2.0 JDM twinscroll engine and was expecting some..form.. of "there is no replacement for displacement" type deal feedback. Nope, they have to protect the engine against breaking those ringland of the pistons, so there's nothing there until 3500+, then there's a quick jolts before it throttles the boost again.
Can't do that. And no, I did not have more than one opportunity in all these years to drive the American market 2.5 Turbo dual AVCS engine.
2. The next suspect was the GLA45 AMG.
So this is going to be not a garage queen but a daily driver. So needs to do much better than my C63 11.5-13 MPG in commute.
The manual gearbox can quickly get you upset in the instances where you can't roll forward in a traffic jam and need to come to a complete stop every 10 seconds...
So I drove one and my WRX was faster with more torque than this. It did not press me into the seat hard enough.
The handling was ok, nothing to write home about, as compared with the new Sti, but not A LOT behind my modded WRX. At the same time, it did A LOT Better with the torque than the Sti.
I loved the shifts of the dual clutch, much better than the C63.
So I thought to myself that this car sat at the dealer for a few months and like any dealer, they can't bring themselves to fuel it 93 and probably put 87 in it, which also sat in the car since October last year.
So decided to take a chance..
I picked it up.
As Im driving it and it learns, it already is picking up torque.
I'm still on the first tankful, maybe tomorrow it'll finally be empty and I'll add a fresh load of 93 and lets see what she does, when she advances the timing based on that octane..
Sorry for the length, had to get all this out of my system.
The car got to 209 K miles.
I was attached to the car, owned it since 2004. I was dreading eventually loosing the battle with Inertia (wear, age, etc) and looking for a new beginning on that front.
The WRX, I did not intend to make into a drag race monster, a track *****, etc. It was going to be a reliability monster with uncharted handling improvements better than the factory in every respect, including power and spool.
I was dynoing it with a road dyno ap, which connected to the car via OBD2 and required accurate weight information (driver in the car, was going to truck weight stations). Anyway, got to the point where the new gearbox I had, in the 1:1 ratio (4th), would have required me to bring the car up to 130 MPH for a full accurate dyno session. Could not do that, so gave up on the idea. Prior to this happening, I had 320 WHP. I believe I managed to get to 340 WHP, which probably puts the car at 430 CHP.
So, as I started to "interview" cars for a replacement, I discovered that:
1. The new 2020 Sti had progressed way beyond what I was able to do with the handling and ride.
I believe that their aim was to match and beat the EVO, gold standard of the industry.
The way that the 2020 changed lanes stock was a one-piece lateral teleportation type deal.
The ride while precise was not crashing around in potholes like mine was. And that's where the good news ended.
The gearbox was exactly where I was, no improvement between the 2014 manufactured, 2007 year model gearbox, which I had in my car and this 2020 model.
And it gets worse:
The engine's stock tune was crap. I had a 2.0 JDM twinscroll engine and was expecting some..form.. of "there is no replacement for displacement" type deal feedback. Nope, they have to protect the engine against breaking those ringland of the pistons, so there's nothing there until 3500+, then there's a quick jolts before it throttles the boost again.
Can't do that. And no, I did not have more than one opportunity in all these years to drive the American market 2.5 Turbo dual AVCS engine.
2. The next suspect was the GLA45 AMG.
So this is going to be not a garage queen but a daily driver. So needs to do much better than my C63 11.5-13 MPG in commute.
The manual gearbox can quickly get you upset in the instances where you can't roll forward in a traffic jam and need to come to a complete stop every 10 seconds...
So I drove one and my WRX was faster with more torque than this. It did not press me into the seat hard enough.
The handling was ok, nothing to write home about, as compared with the new Sti, but not A LOT behind my modded WRX. At the same time, it did A LOT Better with the torque than the Sti.
I loved the shifts of the dual clutch, much better than the C63.
So I thought to myself that this car sat at the dealer for a few months and like any dealer, they can't bring themselves to fuel it 93 and probably put 87 in it, which also sat in the car since October last year.
So decided to take a chance..
I picked it up.
As Im driving it and it learns, it already is picking up torque.
I'm still on the first tankful, maybe tomorrow it'll finally be empty and I'll add a fresh load of 93 and lets see what she does, when she advances the timing based on that octane..
Sorry for the length, had to get all this out of my system.
Last edited by Vladds; Feb 13, 2021 at 09:03 AM.
Thread Starter
MBWorld Fanatic!
Joined: Sep 2016
Posts: 1,175
Likes: 130
From: NY
2010 C63 2019 GLA45
Yes, I will review.
The GLA forum is quiet, but I have a thread there.
Just dawned on me. There's a reset I can do in Xentry. The fuel low light is already on. I will really wait till it's really low. Then I will fill it with 93 then do the Xentry reset. Then will do couple race starts, hopefully I finally get allowed to do one. Couldn't so far.
The GLA forum is quiet, but I have a thread there.
Just dawned on me. There's a reset I can do in Xentry. The fuel low light is already on. I will really wait till it's really low. Then I will fill it with 93 then do the Xentry reset. Then will do couple race starts, hopefully I finally get allowed to do one. Couldn't so far.
