First few days of ownership experience; some good, some bad
 

Morning All!


Well that's about 600 miles on the car since Thursday.


It's safe to say that I absolutely love it.


The good bits;


Seats. I went for the AMG performance seats and am delighted I did. I need a firm seat as I have a lower back injury from rugby and these seats are adjustable in every way imaginable. Brilliant seats, look great in the car and as the back is so think I suspect they may be better for rear legroom (happy to be corrected on this as I haven't seen the non-AMG seats).


Engine. Great powerplant. The 4ltr V8TT configuration is available from a few manufacturers but I think AMG have pipped the rest to the sound but also to the way the power is delivered. I had an Audi S7 before this and, whist still a powerful lump, it felt uninvolving and flat. The AMG feels alive and wanting more. It's an absolute stonker of an engine.


Exhaust. My car has the AMG performance exhaust too which, I must add, is a must-have item on these. The pops and bangs on the downshift or overrun are sublime. I toured about the forest roads in Aberdeenshire on Sunday with all the windows and the roof open, car on Sport + and just enjoyed the brilliant sounds the car was making.


Looks. I was at a breakfast car meet in Aberdeenshire on Sunday in my Alfa (it's a road legal race car) but my wife took the AMG. The guys who organise the meet do a good job of parking cars in groups depending on what they are so the Alfa was in a classics section and the AMG was in with other super-saloons. Being the dutiful wife that she is I had asked her to use Sport + for the journey so she arrived in chorus of downshift pops and bangs so the car's arrival was announced. Well, no word of a lie, it was like nobody had seen a C63 before. My wife was harassed for pics when parking and then shots of the interior etc. It was hilarious as she hates attention like that. She was parked next to a new M4, M5 and a W204 C63 and our car certainly drew more attention. I'm sure it had nothing to do with the fact it was absolutely spotless and the sun was out, making the pearlescent paint sparkle!


The not so good bits;


Rattles and squeaks. I'm an absolute perfectionist when it comes to sorting interior squeaks etc. I cannot stand them and will dismantle the interior of a car to sort them. I use a wiring loom tape (felt one side, sticky the other) to coat the edges of any panels touching and have sorted many a car this way. The AMG is no stranger to an interior squeak or rattle. Some will be an easy fix, others not so.
The passenger seat made an odd rattle on right hand bends only. It was an easy fix though as it appears the lower side trim wasn't correctly fitted so removing and refitting properly sorted that.
There is a very infuriating squeak that comes from the silver trim on the dash behind the Nav screen where the silver section meets the instrument cluster. Pushing the panel when it makes the noise stops it so it shou;d be simple enough to sort with loom tape.
A tricky one will be the only other noise I've been aware of. In Sport + the suspension is firmer and on certain types of tarmac I was getting a light rattle from the roof mechanism or the roller blind mechanism in the roof. Its impossible to pinpoint so may be a longer term trace!!
The car is by no means the worst in terms of rattles, that still lies firmly with 996 911 which must have been specced with rattles and squeaks such was the abundance of them!


Rear Seatbelt Warning. This is an odd one. Despite there being nothing on the rear bench and nobody sitting there the car still shows an image of the rear seats with the seatbelt sign. It stays on for about 30 secs and then goes away. Is this the case on every car or might it be a sensor triggered thinking there's someone sitting there?


Odd double beep. I've learned that the car will double beep (accompanied by red triangle with car in left hand dial) when it perceives you to be within range of the car ahead and it's warning you of that but twice, with no cars in sight, I've had a double beep sound but not seen a warning sign on the dash. It may be the car thinking for a fraction of a second that something is there, triggering the sound, but realizing there isn't so stopping the process before the visual display shows. Anyone any experience on this?


Check Engine Light. This one is quite infuriating. The car has been perfect since collection on Thurs but then this morning on my way to the office the CEL pinged up on the right hand dial. It was in orange rather than red so is a lesser alert nut nonetheless I called Mercedes Assist using the spanner button on the roof. They were very polite but couldn't help or even tell me what the issue was, just suggesting I see the Merc dealer local to me when possible. They said that if its orange and the car is driving fine then it's likely nothing but if it changes to red or I notice the engine drop into safe/get me home mode then I should call again. My local dealer can't see the car till Thurs so i'll see how the week goes and then get it into them then.




So, overall I'm still delighted with the car. Can't wait to get a good run over the Highlands in it in the coming weeks.

Great comments - have fun

Awesome! The red triangle is called Collision Prevention Assist system. I would Google it for your country since each country it has different operations. In short, it's a short range radar system to prevent a accident.

Thanks guys. I'm certainly out there enjoying it.






I'm aware of collision prevention system but it's when the CPS shouldn't be doing anything that i've had a couple of beeps.

It's a different system, but you'll also get the same beep if you put your blinker on when someone is in/near your blind spot.

Ah! Now that could be just what it is! Thanks, i'll keep an eye out for it doing that. In the RR it's not an audible warning, just a light on the wingmirror.

I got a check engine light last week and my car went into limp mode. Started having the shakes when approaching 40mph then it felt like it was running on 2 cylinders.

Needless to say I made an appointment and dropped it off. The idiots who did the troubleshooting said they just reset the light. Boy was I furious. Not going there anymore for service.

I had the non-critical check engine light a few weeks after delivery of my car. It turned out that the initial engine management calibration had the car running too rich. My dealer did not have a clue, but after a call to the factory, they get updated firmware which has solved the problem.

Perhaps that is the problem here as well.

I have the collision avoidance warning ping on an uphill curve near my home. I think the system is getting confused either with the road or a nearby tree.

As noted, the blind sport warning system will also ping if you activate your turn signal when the warning light is illuminated on the outside mirror.

Thanks for that. That could very well be the issue on both counts. Car still driving fine and can't be too rich as mpg seems fair enough. Let's see what Thursday brings.

Thoroughly enjoyed your review... thanks for sharing that. I'm with you as far as the perfectionist stuff, good idea with the tape (I'm going to look into that). I hope you can iron out the "not so good" stuff.

You had better be careful, or your wife is not going to relinquish control of the C63 :D

I too have had a few squeaks in this car.

I solved the door squeak against the door frame with si spray on the felts.

Now I have this rather loud deep squeak when the car goes over deeper undulating dips on the high-way...... it's like something in the dash is loose and the mount is rubbing against the car frame. I had a clk55 that made a sim noise when the mm's were going bad..... the engine would rub against the firewall...... I'll keep my eyes on it... hopefully what ever is rubbing will self-wear.... or it will get worse so much so that I can diagnose.

Thanks for the review. Luckily, I haven't run into any of the problems you have. I even specifically tried to listen for rattles and noise next time I got in my car and couldn't detect any.

I've yet to face any annoyances, but I'm only at 150 miles. Will write my review when I get a few more miles.

to add to my post above.... this is the only car I've ever owned that has squeaks and rattles that seem to come and go with each drive/day/week....... it's quite strange.

I keep thinking this will work in my favor when I trade-in for a GTS (if oil price ever comes back ) :) :O)

No word of a lie... I have / had the exact same problems with my Edition 1! Except for the check engine light and rear seat belt warning.

I keep the sunroof closed cause I can't handle the rattle... let me know if you get a fix for that one.

I found it really odd that the passenger side lower seat panel was almost completely off, but this was an easy one to fix.

Also, I can not stand the collision warning systems! Also, for those of you that plan on tracking your car, go in and disable it in the system settings... otherwise it will start to slam the brakes on you while you approach a car ahead of you too fast, this is not good for the track. That and the seat belts tighten up real hard when you approach a vehicle to quickly and it takes almost a full lap before they stop squeezing your guts out!

I'm always happy to share my experiences with the car for others as I've been a forum member of some pretty rare cars and the better the knowledge sharing, the better the ownership experience for all.


When my car goes in on Thursday I have a few jobs for the Merc techs;


Investigate Check Engine Light
Check clips on passenger seat lower cover as it's come loose again
Adjust bootlid catch as the panel gap isn't quite right
Carry out differential oil change as car will be at 1800 miles
Check rear bench sensors for seatbelt warning on dash


Nothing too major there.

Good and clear review. Thanks for sharing. I was laughing when I read that you had put 600 miles on it in a matter of 3 days.

Pfft, that's nothing. The dealer is 148 miles from me!

Well I found out what the issue is with the CEL.


The car began running rough this morning so I called Mercedes Breakdown (who were absolutely brilliant by the way). They diagnosed the issue to be a misfire on Cyl 6 relating to the injector. I suspect the injector isn't working correctly and has an intermittent fault as the misfire wasn't present when the tech was with the car. Anyway, it's nothing that can be sorted at the roadside so its gone to the dealer today and I'm rolling around in an E-class for a wee while until its fixed.


They're going to look at the other items I wanted looked at while its in with them.

My car is back at the dealer today for the second time for the same problem.

I was on my way to work when the car started running rough then the check engine light came on. Anything over 40 mph was a struggle. We'll see if they address anything this time. The first visit they just reset the light and sent me on my way.

I'm sorry to hear that.


Mine is clearly not a quick fix either as they had the car on diagnostic all day and its still not done. Hopefully I can have it back for the weekend anyway.


If I hear what the fix is i'll post it up.

Got my car on Tuesday. Still early days but have to say I've had the rear seat belt thing come up just like you.

Not sure if it is a fault or it's just supposed to do that? Is there a sensor for it to know if anyone is in the rear or it just comes up regardless?

Have to see if it does it everytime or not. Not sure yet.

Actually Mercedes called me today to say that the rear seat belt thing is something all C-classes do.

Can anyone else confirm that is the case? I've had the "oh they all do that Sir" chat before from dealerships only to find mine was more unique!!!!

Car coming back to me today.


The CEL issue has been cured by a factory software update (possibly the same one as mentioned earlier in the thread) which I was told had all been done prior to collection. Not a big issue.


They are replacing the lower seat cover as it appears to have some broken/missing clips which is why its rattling loose.


They have adjusted the bootlid catch so it pulls the lid down a mm or 2 further and closes the panel gap to match the doors.


Looking forward to getting it back. The E-class is a pleasant car but is dull as ditchwater!