ignomini

Be forewarned, I don't hold punches. My comparison vehicle is a 2012 Audi S4, in which I commuted 80 miles a day for five years, with about 85 percent being freeway miles. The MB will be used in the same way.

On balance, it is a better Mustang than the S4. This also means the S4 was a better car in certain key areas, like infotainment, dash layout/controls, and visibility. I'm 5'9" and can see nothing out the back of the C63. If the car had been delivered without a backup camera I would have flatly refused delivery. Frankly, the sides are so high I can barely see out, period. This is a problem on almost all current cars, even the ND Mazda Miata. I've got the seat cranked up as high as I can get it and still be able to ingress/egress without banging my head on the door frame.

The engine: Nothing but good here. It's a torquer, not a revver, but it has gobs of power and the turbo lag is hidden by downshifts. Just coming out of break in, but the car has been averaging 20.5 mpg from the start. Engine Start/Stop and transmission coast are far less hateful than I expected, although for the life of me I cannot find any logic for when and why the start/stop works. Coast mode can be induced as desired, but watch out rolling down hill, you'll pick up considerable speed. The transmission automatically reengages if you get near a car ahead of you.

Sport Exhaust: I'm so laughing about this. ordered the sport for resale. From reading on line, I expected the car to be loud. It's not. My MG Midget is loud. My Morgan is loud. My TR4 is loud. Modern cars are kittens. I'm not running full time with the flap open, but boy am I glad it's there.

Transmission: OK. Unlike the S4's DCT, this unit can handle all the power. Regardless of driving modes, the S4 would short shift on its own in 1st and 2nd gears, which was very annoying. Like all modern cars, the MB wants to be in 7th gear all the time. This means, in spite of the torque, it will want to downshift before it goes. The speed (slowness) of the shifts is just enough to cover the lag. Once it drops a couple cogs, we have liftoff.

Interior: Beautiful to look at, less so to live with. The PRNDL handle should not be where many other cars have their wiper controls. Horrible idea. Because the switch gear is all fiddly little chrome window switches, like a 1970s Jeep, you have to look at the console to make any changes. One should be able to make basic adjustments by muscle memory and feel, without taking eyes off the road. The touch pad is a joke, and it has no palm rejection, so when you use the rotary dial your palm is accidentally inputting randomly with each brush of the pad. Fortunately, it can be turned off. Too bad it can't be removed. The sale man suggested learning to love voice controls. I suspect he was right.

Seats: So far so good with the sports seats. I have back troubles. A little too much lumbar, but an hour in the seat is no problem. four hours, I suspect my legs would start to ache. These seats look so good, I can't imagine owning the car without them.

Telematics: A joke. The tacked on iPad, and display between the gauges are completely divorced. There are three separate back buttons in the interior. Two work with the center screen, the other with the gauge display. And that display is the most stupid, wasted effort layout imaginable. You can see your speed, but nothing else. Or, you can see an odometer, but nothing else. You can look at miles remaining till empty, but nothing else. Oh, and when you get low on fuel it will no longer display how many miles you have left. I'm not kidding. This car is a decided step back from my 2012 Audi. I would take Audi's 2012 telematics any day over the crap they foist on MB owners. The menus are a mess. When searching addresses, for example, if you make an input error, the back button takes you completely out of the search menu. No fixing the mistake, one must start over from the beginning.

The Speedo: I only mention the speedo because the speed scale changes in the middle of the gauge, with no indication. I got stopped doing 75 when I thought I was going 70. I'm very careful about knowing my speed. Had to study the gauge before realizing the increments change after 65 mph indicated. Very strange choice.

Suspension and steering: I'm coming from an AWD, so high marks for steering precision, and ride quality on good roads is quite good. Having said that, the steering is not as sharp as a BMW (fine with me, I think they're twitchy), and the car does not like rough roads. Drive diagonally through a drainage ditch and your head could literally be tossed off your shoulders from the shake. I consider that just an after effect of a really stiff chassis. I've had no unacceptable wind noise or rattles, as some others have reported. One can feel the mass of this machine. The steering feels very tossable, but you have to remember there's a lot of weight to catch at the other end of your maneuver.

Body: Me likes. Car looks great from most angles. It's subtler and more mature than an M4.

Worst aspect of the car: Dash and telematics by far. The center screen is so bright it outshines the headlights at night. Just terrible. Yes, I set the display permanently to night mode. Can't tell any difference.

Best aspect of the car: Loud pedal. The C63 is like an R8 V10 in as much as, to get the stuurm und drang, one must push the loud pedal, which in turn causes annoying spinning red lights on one's mirrors.

Yes, I'm very glad to own this car, but will not become an MB loyalist for it. Five years from today, I'll be back in the Audi dealer in hopes of finding something which is overall a little better. Cheers.




You can't turn a wheel around here without running over wine grapes.

DragonRR

Great review ignomini! I agree with almost all of it. Totally agree with your views on the infotainment system which I've complained about myself. It is close to useless and feels like it was created by several different designers who couldn't agree with each other. Why can't I make a call from the steering wheel? Why do I need to fiddle just to get the most recent calls list up? Why can't I change track from the steering wheel? Why on earth is the performance dial view on the "ipad" so deep in the menus? The gear stalk on the column is common to quite a few Mercs and many people seem to like it, I'm not one of them.

However, despite the above and my 1st world seat problem (mentioned in another thread) I love the car far more than any car I've had owned for many years. (Well.. excluding the 911 of course!)

Vagabondo

Thanks for the detailed review - much appreciated!
My c63s should be delivered in April so this helps manage some of my expectations.
The most worrisome thing is your feedback on visibility. This will likely be a daily drive car for me in the spring/summer months and much of my daily commute is in the city where I need to be more aware of my surroundings than usual. I owned a 350Z years ago that I loved but had a really hard time with in this area. I'm 5'10 so I worry I'll be seeing (or not seeing in this case) similar things.

Stupid question - does the UI always start from "home" at startup or can you set a preferred view as default? And where do you guys typically settle on as the best screen/view when driving normally?

dlefty

When you reference "sport seats" I assume you to be talking about the stick seats with the less bolstering and not the " AMG Performance Seats" that are +$2,500 ?

ignomini

Vagabondo - The UI does stay where you left it. I'm finding I scroll back and forth between the trip mileage screen and the instant mileage screen (which incorporates the miles remaining, which is what I really want. My commute takes me to the limit on range. I don't care about mileage beyond whether I can go ~340 miles on a tank. I'm getting used to the visibility, but drove my S4 home last night. The sills on the S4 aren't actually much lower, but visibility out the back is massively better. I didn't want the nanny state pack, so ordered option pack 2. You don't even get a backup beeper with Pack 2. I won't say in public what I think of that decision by MB.

dlefty - My bad. I have the Performance Seats. Sat in both before ordering. The visuals of the Performance Seat are so much better I took the chance. It will work out, but seating and the comfort of men's backs are highly individual. For me, even with the lumbar support fully deflated, it still presses in more than I like on my lower back. None the less, I'm glad I ordered the Performance Seats.

I'll also add, after driving my old car last night, in spite of the stuff I don't like, the C63 is one hell of a nice machine to drive. Wants a better transmission though. The S4 is almost 200 lb ft shy of the MB, but accelerates more easily at freeway speeds. I don't mean it's faster, but rather it will go without having to downshift. Unless you barely feather the gas, the C63 wants to downshift before it goes. This makes the car feel slower than it is. Yes, manual shifting, etc. I'm just thinking about how the car feels doing drudge work. Until the C63 get's going, the Audi feels lighter and quicker on it's feet.

Vagabondo

Thanks for the response and for your thoughtful feedback.
I'm certainly glad I ordered the 360 camera!
I'm in the "digital" business so there was little chance I'd like any UI/UX I didn't personally develop . Who knows, maybe I can get someone on my team to hack it and build my own..

Thanks again - enjoy your car in good health. It looks lovely where you are - it's been cold and rainy in Toronto so I will live vicariously through you until my car arrives in a couple of months

SupremePower

Stellar review. Covered all aspects of the car in great detail. This should be a template for all reviews of the future.

Bluetonic

100% on the nail with the dash information.
Its well presented but all over the place.
I find the heads up is more useful! It just needs a fuel and mileage indicator and I'll never look down.

I also find the auto downshifts a bit hesitant, so drove in manual for a few hours on back roads and found it much more rewarding. Just not as economical.

darkus

A harsh review.

​​​​​​​But one of the best I've ever read. Your honesty with the car is much appreciated by me and I'm sure many more in the future.

wassimagE.

Thanks for the honest review. I feel the same way.