a dyno might be a good bet but haven't had the time. We are working on these other options with a group of guys offline. If anyone wants to join that group pm me your email.

I did not request the exhaust update from the dealer. My car had a violent shift from 3-4 randomly. To fix it they updated my car with all available updates. Before the update I felt that the car was pretty damn responsive for a turbo car and throttle response was way better.

Tryijg to find a used c63s without the update near me is not an easy process. These cars are not all that common but I'm working on it. A dyno might give us some answers. Thanks for the reply!

Im in SE Pennsylvania if anyone wants to compare. I do Not have the update.

Ha, this is EXACTLY what I said, too. I had a 2007 335i and they did the wastegate rattle "fix" and completely ruined the car. I was also a pioneer there and had published complaints in magazines and worked hand in hand with my dealer (they were awesome about it) to fight BMW to issue a fix. It was right around the time that we got the beginnings of a class action suit together that they magically responded with a proper fix. I remember that the software that ruined the car was a mandatory recall but the fix was optional and you had to sign a waiver that the wastegates might make noise lol.

Anyway, while the situation is similar here, the issue is a) way less people have these AMGs than had 335's, and b) almost every 335 was ruined because they sent letters telling people to come get the new software. There was a huge contingent of impacted customers. Much smaller base, this time. Still, for the money we are paying for these cars, you'd think they would listen. So far it's fallen on deaf ears to MB USA and AMG.

I'm in West Chester. Any chance you're around there?

What year is yours? We are finding that the newer cars have come from the factory with this software version and are equally impacted, even if people didn't manually go get the update.

It's a November 2016 build. I'm about 45 mins north of Philly off the North East extension.

Holy hell - If I wasn't like 18 hours drive from you.....

Somebody take this guy up on his offer and get a video(s)!!!!!!

Better yet: We should make a video of the "G" force display in the AMG menu and test from throttle tip-in (e.g., floored) from a stand still and see what happens.

:-)

Thanks for the offer DP!!!

i would say my car still gets off the line as fast as before i have done 3 0-60s using my torque app so if anything its bluetooth so the 0-60 would be higher than it actually is and i got a 4.5 4.1 and then a 4.2 and thats just hitting the gas in sport + with traction control on

floored in 4th from around 1,500rpm. You can see "full" torque 506 is what it got up to doesn't come on until 2,500rpm. I know it takes time for the turbo but this gave it time. Full torque is supposed to be between 1,750-4,000. Significantly later in lower gears and slightly better in higher gears

Once again: The Soft-Turbo N54 from BMW takes nearly 5 seconds (!) at 1,500 rpm to deliver full boost. Our cars have significantly larger turbos - therefore it will take at least as long as in the BMW, in my opinion.

understood. It still feels different than before. The new cars feel the same. Not sure how some people can't tell the difference.

And once again, the car a) used to deliver snapping torque instantly off the line or on multi gear highway downshifts and now doesn't, b) is advertised to make full torque below 2k rpm, which it used to, and now doesn't and c) feels very obviously different now.

This is not something subtle. It's pretty blatant when the car used to try to get sideways on a 6->3 kickdown downshift and now just sort of bumps you along with some urgency.

I'm not sure why people keep trying to explain turbo spool up and lag to us... LOL

It's plainly simple: Car feels dramatically different, in a bad way, post update. Period.

This!

Adding more to what already is known is not helping, as Albert Einstein says. Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Did OP ever ask the MB service department to backout the firmware update to see if the car's performance returned? If for no other reason than proving or eliminating the firmware update as the cause of the problem. After all, they must have the ability to rollback software updates in the event the update degrades or changes performance in a negative way. Rudimentary stuff.

I believe we've all asked and been told it cannot be reverted to prior code....
I just had this conversation with dealer yesterday.

Dealer acknowledges car might be different, but says it feels normal to them.
As I drive it every day, I cannot agree.

That being said, they are looking to see if an update has been released.

Also, is there a way for me to check whether or not I have the update? I took delivery of a new car on June 12 and I'm guessing that it came with the update but I do not know for sure.

I tried to floor mine from a dead stop with ESP off and Sport+ and it doesn't spin its wheels until about 3k-3.5k RPM. However, it did seem a bit more more gradual in my car than in my examples above. I should have taken a video but sadly I didn't

Jeez someone just throw their car on a dyno, get some actual torque/hp readings, and put an end to this.

These slow-mo acceleration videos using in-dash boost gauge and estimated HP/TQ display is not going to provide any data of substance.

Dyno it in 5th gear (1:1 drive ratio) and let's see what the torque reading look like.

Here are some stock graphs for reference (these runs were all done before the new software was available)... I don't see any C63S's with old software making full torque at 2500 rpm or below:

Black lines are stock:



Blue lines are stock:



Light blue and light red lines are stock:



All lines are stock:

Ah, OK. So they are hiding behind that excuse. I guess the update must be also modifying something else in the vehicle, maybe emissions for fleet compliance purposes or something similar. So they are then obviously reluctant to do a software rollback even for diagnostic test purposes.

It's just that I worked on computer systems of all types, both hardware and software, for 30 years and virtually every system, whether it was for commercial or military use had a methodology to effectively rollback any software update installed to the prior version should the new code, for whatever reason, adversely impact the system's performance. So I just find it kind of hard to believe that a major worldwide auto manufacturer like MB doesn't have this capability in the event one of their updates alters the operational characteristics of the car to the point of causing numerous customer complaints.

Hopefully MB will issue another firmware update that at least partially returns your car to the performance levels it had when you originally bought it.

Yes, a rollback should theoretically be possible - there's no reason why not.
I'm essentially in Healthcare IT with a software/coding background.
What I believe occurs is that the package to update, makes setting and various database updates to the vehicle that may be region, country or otherwise specific.
They don't have the resources to then "untangle" those database, settings or updates back to the OLD version, for every new version they create.
In other words, if they change parameter positions in a database, or add functionality that has implications, a rollback version of the ECU code would require knowing which version you are going back to...
It would be resource intensive to create a rollback package for every car.
What they SHOULD do, however, is take a vehicle snapshot (golden master/image) of the code before each upgrade and keep, at the dealer, one prior version - just in case of issues like these.
So, before they upgrade your specific car, they store the current image in case of issue.
Simple.

Too hot to do this in Vegas right now, but I will tell you - when the ambient temp is <90d, I have done a few freeway pulls in 5th, post update.

My wife's GLC300 would pull away faster....
In fact, the freakin' 2017 E300 loaner I'm in with the T4 would.... and it's heavier!

There's something freakin' amiss in Denmark, here...

Yes simple and the proactive approach. From my understanding, when the service techs hook up the vehicle to their diagnostic and software download systems, the vehicle ECU performs a series of validation integrity tests. At that point, MB corporate knows what the build state of the ECU is and validates it against the VIN and last MB software update that was installed onto the ECU. So MB corporate does have a record in their automated database of what the last state of the ECU software build was prior to the update the service tech is about to install. After the update is performed, the corporate database should reflect the new current build data. Problem is apparently MB keeps all actual software and databases only at HQ. Thus the local techs can only do very limited things and only with the appropriate authorization from Germany. No local software images at the dealerships.

I would tend to agree. Probably more going on here than we know about. Something for wastegate or trans safety, or even driver protection to stop it from slipping so much so easily.

As others have said, they simply won't roll it back.

I'd be up for a dyno, but probably only concurrent with getting a tube that would hopefully mediate this issue.

Yes, they know version.
But with each version, parameter and setting location changes may occur.
In other words, data formats, variable names, etc.
Therefore a rollback package would need to be created for each future version, back to multiple prior versions.
Not technically feasible....
😀

I have read through this whole thread and I am intrigued by the findings. My car was delivered in November of 2017 its a the 2017 C63s coupe; I had the transmission software upgrade done to fix the hard shifts from 3rd to 4th. I am not aware if i had any other software updates but i am sure they did them all since the car needed the trans update. I have felt no difference in performance and if I stomp on the gas from a stop in sport or sport + with traction on sport the tires will definitely spin. Also if going around a corner at low speed and i goose the gas the rear end breaks free easily. What would cause some of our cars to loose performance from this upgrade to the ECU and not all of them?

So, there are ALWAYS multiple software versions for car xCU computers as a result of varying manufacturers for parts, locations, revisions of parts, etc.
In today's automotive space, computers make it easy to track the specifics of those requirements based on VIN back to what was put into the cars during manufacture, so they know what versions of software are appropriate.

In MY case, I wasn't necessarily complaining about hard shifting, but the exhaust note was different from the vehicle I test drove.
My car was also delivered in Nov2017 and is the same - a C63S coupe.
The issue for me is, the software didn't apply to my VIN.
I kinda sweet talked my way into getting it with the dealer....

I now regret, wholeheartedly, this decision.

I believe my problem is that the software doesn't apply.... Yes, my car had the "ruined" exhaust note from the factory, but they hadn't yet developed a version for my car, I suspect.
I don't know if they were even working on one for my vehicle, but alas, I'm now screwed....

That's just one theory.

The other theory is the this update helped to manifest an underlying problem in the vehicle through the changes it incorporates.