Has anyone noticed in their FL models the sound improving over time?

When i first picked up my 2020 coupe, i was like most people complaining about the sound when compared to the pre facelift. I am currently at 4,300 miles on the odometer and i have definitely been driving it much harder throughout this pandemic due to the fact that up until about 2-3 weeks ago, roads in NYC were nowhere near as congested as they usually are.

long story short, my car is popping and crackling like crazy when I’m driving hard. It almost seems like the car has completely woken up and turned into a completely different car then when i had picked it up. Very satisfied at the moment..

Has anyone noticed this?

 

I've almost reached the 2,000 mile mark. I've been driving in S+ mode since the break-in period ended, and for the first time last week when downshifting on the freeway past 5k rpm I heard 2 loud bangs in succession. My first thought was "WTF was that" before realizing that AMGs are supposed to do this. The small crackles do appear to be happening more frequently as well so hopefully that continues to improve.

 

yesterday i drove out to east Long Island, throughout the drive i was pushing the car and the car was just responding really well plus pops and crackles galore. The best drive i have had since i picked the car up in December without question. I’m hoping it stays this way also.

 

I have absolutely noticed this. I have a 2019 - just broke the 5k mile mark and am due for my A Service and the car is absolutely louder. I installed the ASR module about 3 months ago which undoubtedly helped but the time and mileage have unquestionably made the car louder.

I drive it almost exclusively in manual mode and in 2nd and 3rd gear over 3,500rpm and let off the gas I get consistent pops and bangs. Every time. I had to zip past a group of bicyclists this morning in 2nd and as soon as I passed them I let off and I must have let out 3 or 4 whip cracks (along with a bunch of grumbles) and I hope I scared the **** outta them.

 

I’ve definitely noticed this in 2nd and 3rd gear as well, and yesterday it also started happening even in 4th gear. 4th gear was giving me consistent crackles and LOUD pops.. man is it intoxicating when the car is In a good mood and wants to play...

 

Yep. I’ve mentioned this in few threads that after 5k or so miles, my car started popping and just sounding more aggressive overall. It was very quiet when it was new.

Maybe this is how they are getting around the sound restrictions. it’ll be funny is this is going to be the new Soundgate.... 😂

 

Same thing here, after the break in period i immediately switched to sport plus and man i was disappointed, the car follow GCC regulations (no OPF) and i had to go hard on the car to just hear 1 pop (like above 5500 rpm) i can hear lots of rumble or like very smaaall mini rapid pops.

Anyways im on 4800 KM and the car changed greatly, 4 successive pops on 4-5 rpm, the harded you go and spool the turbos (max boost) the harder the pop and bang the car will produce, oh and the upshift is sooooo satisfying, i used to have a edition 1 c63s and the sound is different from start up to upshifts, the FL is just better. The longer you go hard with the vehicle = hotter exhaust= louder pops, oh i have a funny theory that after every refuel its pops more.

The car learns from you, since i always put it on sport plus (because race mode puts amg dynamics into master) the pops on sport plus is louder than race mode.

at first i said i would need a downpipe but the more i drove the car the less im thinking about a tune... JUST DRIVE THE CAR BEFORE COMPLAINIG....

rev limiter sucks though but who cares anyways.

 

FYI...Race mode only puts AMG DYNAMICS in Master if ESP is in Sport Handling mode or Off. Otherwise it's in Pro like S+. It helps to have the AMG Performance Display up in the Instrument cluster, so you can see what mode each component is actually in.

My 2019 has definitely woken up somewhere in the last 5-10k miles. I'm at 14k miles now. It is more responsive and seems faster as well. Now the latter may to some extent be a function of my new tires. The PS4S just develops more longitudinal grip than the stock PSS, so I can actually put the power to the ground instead of having wheel spin all the way to third gear. I'm not really sure if the car got louder, or if it's simply a function of me driving it progressively harder after the break in period. I was driving in S a lot during the first ~6500 miles in Europe, because that was just more comfortable on the German Autobahn at high speeds, but now I drive in S+ or in I* with everything in S+ settings except for the suspension in Sport and transmission in M. It definitely pops&bangs a lot in the canyons these days and the longer and harder I'm on it, the more it does it. At the beginning of the canyons it's usually more street quiet as I like to call it, but by the time I reach the end it goes crazy. Definitely feels like it totally adapts to your current driving style on prolonged drives. A few spurts here and there combined with mostly moderate street driving quiets it down, but if you are on it for a while it definitely wakes up. I do like this trait a lot. The perfect GT really. Quiet for normal driving or on long trips and leaving my neighborhood, but if I go hooning around, the theatrics will be there. This is totally in line with the intent of the noise regulations in Europe. Their main goal is to quiet the cars down in city and residential environments, because there were unfortunately just too many childish individuals driving around cities like London, Hamburg etc. popping & banging their exhausts.

 

i always put it in sport handling mode so the power doesnt cut down on me while trying to make it pop.

My display is on Supersport (cuz it flashes to when near redline fancy huh) and i put the power, torque , and turbo boost on left... while the tire and car parts temperature on the right (the right front tire is always higher due to downpipe being close, dont idle it for too long on sport plus mode or the tire turns red)

Also the new AMG Dynamics really changed the traction control of the vehicle, i can make huge skids on this one more than the Pre Facelift...(not burnouts though)

 

That's not so much AMG DYNAMICS, but the new 9-stage traction control. AMG DYNAMICS influences the level it automatically selects in combination with the ESP mode (unless you turn ESP fully off and manually choose the TC level), but the main difference is that this new traction control is part of the engine torque management and finely controls the torque sent to the wheels based on available traction to maintain the desired wheel spin as opposed to the old traction control system, which was reactive and more like brute force trying to regain traction using the brakes once traction was lost. The 9-stage TC is essentially capable of maintaining desired wheel spin in increments of about 10%. So it's very precise and much faster acting than traditional TC. IMO, it's one of the best things about the FL. The TC in the PFL was a fun killer, whereas the new 9-stage TC enhances fun and works with the driver to get most out of the car.

 

Swiss thanks for your input . Do you plan to stay stock

 

Yes

 

I'm at just over $7,500 miles in 12 months of ownership and the car has definitely woken up. I drive in Individual or S+ most of the time and I'll use manual about 50% of the time depending on DC area traffic. The springs have settled and the seats have softened. Too often people judge cars by the initial feel, not realizing that the car will settle after some use. The car is a hoot to drive. You can definitely feel the weight of the car, but it's pretty nimble and in my mind, a cut above the competition in fit and finish and as a total package. I wish we had the full AMG sound, but it is still enjoyable. For me, the sound was a driving factor for the purchase.

 

I can fully agree with this. I always have trouble understanding folks who buy cars and then rarely drive them. These cars adapt and settle over time, so the full potential and character only comes out once you have a few thousand miles on them. In addition the man-machine connection needs time to establish and one has to become comfortable with the car and its limits. This all takes time. As much as I like doing European Delivery, one of the things that has always bothered me is the fact that the car is so new at the time that the experience isn't as great as it could be with a car that I've totally become one with. Even this time after staying for two months and driving over 6000 miles, the car still didn't feel like a glove and clearly hadn't fully settled by the end. I've always wished I could ship the car back after 10-15k miles and do it all over again. That would be a true hoot!

 

GLC63 owner here and wondering if you found the ASR module to be worth the price? I'm looking at picking up Renntech's EVM but there aren't any videos of the 2020's with the EVM installed and not sure how it will sound.

 

I have the ASR and can say its good..i bought the renntech one as well..is it worth 600? Probably not but i dont regret it

 

7k miles in with deleted honeycombs. still as quiet as day 1. sigh

 

*****Do you take your car in for servicing at your local Benz dealer? I *think* there was some kind of update, depending upon build date, etc.. that kind of squelched most of those popping sounds for whatever reason. One of my friends has a face lift C63s that used to pop nicely like mine (I have a PFL 2018 C63s) but after servicing they updated the ECU with whatever they had to do and his exhaust became noticeably quieter with almost no pops anymore. He is still under warranty and I guess when he went in for his servicing there was some kind of software update that perhaps quieted things down. He *does* have the performance exhaust with electronic valves.

He was pretty bummed actually.

 

I had an issue with the flaps on my 2018 and they replaced them and changed the software with the ECU/TCU update. It essentially babies the downshifts which results in less pops and bangs.
Totally killed the sound until I got downpipes and stage 2 tune.

 

omg that was exactly what happened. i took it in for service A and then it went quieter right after that i had my suspicion but wasnt sure cuz mine never opened up a lot like others after 5k. think i can tell them to revert it?

 

was this recent?

 

last summer

 

*****I don't think they can revert it as it is an "update". Sometimes the updates are done for emissions reasons or to correct problems unrelated to the exhaust per se, but other drive ability issues, etc.. The system is quite complex.
You can have a "tuner" put cracks and pops back in though if you ever get a tune on the car. Several offer the service if you do a search. Not cheap, but a good tuner can do a lot without ever even seeing your actual car, and by you using some kind of flash tuner (Genius, etc..). It can always be converted back to "stock"

Anyway, good luck whatever you decide.

 

lmao welcome to the club. I tried to get 3 dealerships to roll back the software (forget what yr, check my old posts). No dice. Just….neutered now for 3 years.