Supposed to be an improved car and better than pre facelift, but since the beginning I´ve heard many complaints about the sound (my friend sold his with 3000 miles because of this) and in the last weeks I have seen many posts about problems with the car, transmission, steering wheel, cylinder misfire...which is more kind of problems you can get with a new model but you do not expect in a fecelift.

At the end it seems the only great improvement has been the digital cluster? Maybe the car just needed that update?

Just some thoughts I wanted to share, I was about to get one when released but not sure I would do it now.

I agree but the bottom line is that German cars will never be as reliable as Japanese cars (others might not agree with me). It took me nearly 12 months to take the plunge with my C63s. Unfortunately with exception of Nissan GTR (including having experienced lackluster performance of LC500), there's currently nothing Japanese manufacturers offer that come remotely close to performance and luxury of C63s.

I am sure my C63s will give me headaches (even if its minor issues) and will depreciate like crazy however I can guarantee each time I am behind that wheel, it will bring a smile to my face every time so its worth whatever headache it might throw my way.

If I had it to do all over again, I would skip this car. Mine has been a pain in my @$$. With under a thousand miles it died at a light and the dealer couldn't diagnose the problem.

Mercedes claims the facelift cars have about 6500 new parts over the pre-facelift, I think they screwed the pooch with at least one of those 6500 parts. I'm pretty much just waiting for something else that I actually want to come out and I plan to dump this car.

gotta admit...i'm starting to get ansy that my upcoming car will have a bunch of issues too. i, too, had a Nissan GTR (and it had literally zero issues). Even my current M4 convertible, which is almost 4 years old now, has pretty much had zero issues. I thought all cars (german and japanese alike) had closed the gap a bit in terms of build quality/basic reliability, but all these posts on the '19 are starting to put a scare in me. there's nothing worse than having your car in the shop all the time...

It is an improved car, all around. Phenomenal car quite frankly. The sound thing is way overblown, IMHO, and let's not start another thread whining about the sound. Car sounds phenomenal. It sounds different, but not worse. I personally quite like it. The issues some have reported are just that. A few teething problems. There might have been a bad batch of coil packs. It's no different from what I've seen with other performance cars. My previous car (I still own it) is a facelifted Audi RS5 and it was beset by a bad batch of fuel pumps. I had two go out. Some early cars were also sitting in the shop for a long time waiting for replacement pumps. By the time mine went out, they were in stock. Others had major issues with the OEM brakes. These are high strung cars and full of complicated electronics. The only issue I have so far are intermittent false oil level warnings. Annoying, but didn't stop me from driving the car. I so far have ~6200 miles on it driven in only 8 weeks and all in Europe. Lots of high speed German Autobahn driving and a couple of visits to the Nurburgring. Currently awaiting to be reunited with the car here in the USA and looking forward to lots of canyon runs.

leave it to swiss to provide the counterpoint

i truly hope any issues i experience will be minimal. oil sensor issues, no problem. sound issue? non-issue. but a misfire? not being a technical car geek, i would freak out if my engine stopped working while driving and i had to pull off on the side of the road. that is baaaaad.

downside of this forum is that it sometimes provides TOO much info...i hope i'm overblowing things. i just don't want any issues with my car. i used to only choose japanese cars for this reason. the bimmer gave me hope, but i'm getting gun shy from reading all these '19 issues...please oh please oh please let my car be perfect.

I haven't had any issues with mine. About 2600 miles so far.

I echo superswiss; I've got about 2K miles on my '19 C63S. I think it sounds great. A friend has a new Mustand GT350 - his car is louder and sounds good to me, but I wouldn't want that sound all day, everyday. The guy on autovlog modified his older C63S to sound like a kid's car. No thanks. I'm very happy with the car! I expect to spend for maintenance - like I have with every car I've owned. I had one of the RS5's with fuel pump problems - like superswiss. That car is now someone else's problem.

I think I'll see if my wife needs something from the store. I'd love an excuse to take a quick drive...

I've heard of bad coilpack issues with almost every year German car over the last 10 years I've been following these cars, be it Audi, BMW, Merc or even Porsche. I agree though that it sucks if you are affected by engine misfire issues.

I've also not had any issues with the exhaust sound. I agree that it tends to be a personal difference/preference issue to some part and to some extent the sound related changes done to the 2019. Is it as loud as pre-facelifts, most likely no. Is it still loud and intoxicating, definitely yes as per my personal preference.

Transmission and Steering wheel issues - I haven't seen much mention of this in the posts I've read, may be I missed these. Any particular details here? The 9-speed MCT is new with the facelift, but hasn't it been in use in the 2018 E63 and few other cars as well?

You have to bear in mind that the majority of posts you find in forums will be people asking for help with problems they encounter, rather than outright praise. That's just the nature of online forums - if people don't have problems, they tend not to post. People who do however, go online to try to find help with their problems.

So trying to deduce how frequent problems occur based on the amount of problems you see on a forum will be very skewed.

I have not read anything about Steering issues, either. Yes, the 9-speed transmission has been around for a while and is used across the model lineup now. There are different variants and each model has a unique programming. The core of the transmission is the same across all models, but the 63s use a wet clutch instead of a torque converter. Seems like there is an issue with the C43's programming mostly. Lengthy thread over there about the car's jerking etc. In case of the C63, the transmission is programmed clearly on the aggressive side, but that's the nature of the car. It's not meant to be an S-Class smooth experience. It can be a bit raw at times at slow speeds, but on the other hand it bangs gears like few automatics do. I wouldn't trade in this transmission for another automatic, except a dual-clutch. Compared to its competitors, one thing that stands out with the C63 is that it is ready to jump even in Comfort mode and it's not a car to be driven mindless. It takes modulated throttle inputs to be driven properly, but that's part of the fun. Over on the Audi forums lots of owners are complaining about the lethargic response of recent Audis in the normal modes and people driving them in full attack mode, because the other modes are frustrating. I take the C63 with all its potential issues over any current Audi for example. That's after all why I'm over here now.

+1....Nobody goes to car forums starting "My car has no issues" threads. It seems that only a handful of folks are having actual issues compared to how many have already taken delivery, aside from the very personal sound complaints.

I challenge anyone who has OWNED BOTH pre facelift and facelift to say that the facelift sounds better. If you had a prefacelift and you bought a facelift, that is because you loved your pre. Otherwise you would have got something else. That said facelift compare to pre sounds aweful! It may sound great on its own but not in comparison. All of these are people’s biased opinions, including myself, but to say facelift sound has improved puts you in a small tiny tiny minority.

I would take what and how often you see things online with a grain of salt. No one post to say that their car ran great for the 649th day in a row. Forums like this are overwhelmingly filled with people posting problems because that is what people need help with.

With that said, the fact the facelift models have fake exhaust noise piped in, and apparently the exhaust doesn't sound as good, make me glad that I got a 2017. Although I understand that the facelifts have a bit softer suspension setup across the modes, and wouldn't mind a little of that.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't the pre-facelift also suffer from lack of exhaust sounds prior to a software update? What does that version of the pre-facelift c63 sound like compared to the current facelift c63?

Agree

I am one of very few people who have a actually owned both cars.

The sound issue needs clarification in that it’s mainly to do with how the ECU has been
programmed on the facelift.

Facelift sounds LOUDER in comfort
Pre facelift sounds BETTER in sport + and race

Also where the pre facelift will blip the throttle during downshifts at just about any speed in sport +
the facelift (at least mine, will not do so ) , likewise coming of the gas will not blip throttle.


An example is coming off the motorway In race mode, my car stayed in 5th without dropping gears until my speed dropped to around 30mph before dropping gears with no blips either.
My 2017 would blip the throttle and drop gears with a SINGLE rifle crack shot each time.

This is where the “sound” Issue which is more of an ECU programme is mistaken.

All together the facelift does sound very good, it’s just the ECU program that has been altered for whatever
reason.

It it is similar to the ECU issues some earlier models of the pre facelift had addressed in 2017.

I'm also one of those people that came from a 2017 into my current 2019 and can concur with everything above. It can be reduced to something real simple - if you liked the 'artificial' cracks/bangs before you'll miss them now. If you didn't, then you won't I'm pretty firmly in the first camp.

MrGuitar - remember we attract what we present, so keep positive, and be happy for your car, and it "WILL BE" :-) lol
(being funny and serious at same time)

AMG cars are special, and there will always be issues on anything NEW, FACELIFT, etc... but they do get thru them quickly.

I have 2 friends that have 19's and they run the crap out of them, and not a single problem with it.

Can not wait to see your pics :-)

You have to remember also the forum posts exaggerate any issue and overblow it since most of the people with properly working cars don't post anything about it.

YUP..and its the internet

Best car I ever owned no question!!! I absolutely LOVE my 2019.. only issue is a tiny tiny peel of the clear on my carbon fiber rear diffuser around both sensors. They are replacing it under warranty. Other than that the car has been rock solid. I get the shotgun pops and bangs hard over 5k in gear. One thing I find that’s funny is this car is soo improved over the pre facelift in the suspension, trans, drivers zone and other exterior and interior improvements and people talk about the sound. There is soooo much more to this car than the sound. My car still sounds awesome I just wish it popped and banged hard at 3k like it does at or above 5k rpms. I get sooo many people saying “damn” or “holy ****” when I drive by and let off throttle above 5k rpms. I make car alarms go off on the street and my car is still bone stock.

Agree with you purplewidow.

Bangs at 5k plus is not ideal all the time hence the
desire for them at lower down the rpm range.
I enjoy the low speed V8 burbling, which the facelift has in abundance. The icing on the cake would be the low rpm pops from the pre facelift.

agreed...the power of positive thinking FLC63s!! lol

my dad way back in the day had the 1st gen 600SEL and i remember as a high-schooler what a nightmare it was. it was in the shop ALL. THE. TIME. i was like "i'm never getting a mercedes..." look at me now...

haha jk, i'm sure the car will be driveable at some level, so i'm just not going to not worry.

yes i agree with this obviously, but it makes me wonder how many similar "problem" posts have come out each new model year? for example, '18 and '17, etc.? i'm too lazy to search and i've only been on this forum for about 10 months so i have no idea.

for those long-timers, are there *more* "issue" posts this '19 model year than in past years, or is it about the same?

could always be worse :