Hey all, i'm in the hunt for the C63 (regular or S)

I'm wondering how much of a different the facelift is in the exhaust. I live in the states. My budget is around 60k and i want the digital dash and facelift but i'm wondering just how different the exhaust is? I do love how the 2018 violently up-shifted. Is that gone with the facelift?

Also, how much better is the trans in the facelift? I've only driven the 2018 S and i was really impressed but there was definitely some lag when I hit the paddles vs when it shifted. Is the 2019 better?

 

With the FL, the artificial pops&bangs are essentially mostly gone at least for normal driving at lower rpms. It starts popping&banging if you drive it hard and keep the rpms high. I personally prefer how the FL exhaust sounds overall. Much more authentic and in line with how I drive at the moment.

Yes, the 9-speed is much better IMO. The laggy paddle shifts in the 7-speed was my biggest complaint and a big reason why I skipped the 2018. The manual shifts in the 2019+ are instant when you pull the paddle. There's no lag. Much more satisfying to drive in manual mode if it actually shifts when you pull the trigger. It's in line with the dual-clutch transmissions in my previous car and others I've driven. This was a big criteria for me as I pretty much do all my dynamic, sporty driving in manual mode. From what I remember, the manual shifts got better in the 7-speed in Race mode, but I don't always wanna have to put it in Race mode to get responsive shifts. With the 9-speed the manual shifts are instant even in Comfort mode.

 

I find manual upshift on my 2020 C63s near instant and it feels as responsive as DCT in my BMW M4.
However, manual downshift is different story and can be somewhat laggy in certain situation.

9 speed MCT still has that violent upshift feeling like you are driving manual transmission car.

 

There are a couple of downshift scenarios that result in a slightly delayed shift if done off throttle. For example a double downshift (pressing the downshift paddle twice in rapid succession) with the foot not on the throttle results in one downshift, followed by a second one a bit later. However, if you do it with the foot on the throttle (don't even have to give it much throttle) it instantly downshifts two gears. Took me a while to sort this one out, because I often did double downshifts on my previous DCT car while slowing down. There are some other scenarios that when you slow down casually and downshift it choses not to hurry up with the downshift, but if you do it while on the brake or throttle, then it instantly downshifts. The downshifts are crisp and instant when they need to be in my experience. The harder you drive the crisper the downshifts become. My general observation is that off throttle downshifts can be somewhat lazy, I guess because it figures it doesn't really have to hurry up and preforms a comfort downshift instead, but if you are on the throttle or the brakes while shifting it bangs the gears on command.

 

Yes, it seems like lag only happens during off throttle downshift.
It just feels weird to me because my previous daily (F80 M3 DCT) downshifted immediately in any situation so I used to perform a lot of off throttle downshift to engine brake when coming to stop.

 

Yes, I do that, too. I'm finding it just takes a little bit of a different approach. After a while I learned how to get the response I'm looking for. I pretty much drive about 90% in manual mode as I did with my RS5 and its DSG. I had to learn how this one reacts. My RS5 also had certain quirks, and really what I found is that I needed to let go of how I dealt with those quirks, and adjust properly to the MCT. I'm still struggling a bit in automatic mode trusting how fast it reacts to throttle input. What I mean by that is the DCT/DSG transmissions have to scramble for the next gear if it turns out that it's not the one they pre-selected. For example cruising along on the highway in the top gear, the pre-selected gear is the one right below it, but if you suddenly demand max acceleration (kick down), they have to first move the cogs around resulting in a super long downshift, so I've developed a hesitation to demanding instant acceleration w/o first manually downshifting into the right gear, but the MCT drops 5 gears in the blink of an eye if you just stomp on the throttle. Even knowing that, for some reason I still haven't fully gotten over my hesitation. Bad habits take a while to break I guess.

 

Will it block shift if you hold the paddle in?

 

Not entirely sure what you are asking, but if you pull and hold the left paddle it downshifts to the lowest possible gear.

 

I'll have to try it, 95% of my driving is in auto.

 

I agree, I just wish it could be as LOUD as the pre FL on the pops&bangs. Other than the fact that the car would lose its warranty, would you encourage putting catless/high flow downpipes???

 

I would never drive a 2019+ without immediately installing Downpipes (im assuming this will take care of the psrticle filter as well)
because the sound on 19+ is frankly neutered as ****, doesn't even sound like a proper amg anymore......#EmissionLawsRuinEverything

 

I don't know what the terminology is, but I think it's kickback? you guys talking about double downshifting made me realize I don't really double downshift in alot of scenarios and instead, hold the downshift for the kickback (It jumps down to a higher rpm?)

 

No, I don't encourage that personally and I'm not into modifying exhausts. FWIW, the US spec cars don't have the OPF. As I said, I'm fine with the sound. I was never a fan of the forced pops&bangs for no reason and they annoy me on other cars when they drive through residentials areas and cities. I like that the car is not that loud if I just drive it normally. That's what I expect from a GT, but I can somewhat understand if people who drive these cars primarily on normal public roads miss the sound. I just did a 200 mile canyon run yesterday, and that's where the sound comes out beautifully, complete with pops&bangs on the overrun. I don't want this if I drive in populated areas, as it attracts unwanted attention. I scared bicyclist yesterday thundering up and down the mountain. Several of them decided to wait on the side of the road as they clearly heard me coming. I always slow down as I'm an avid cycler myself, but given the sound of the car, bystanders clearly get the impression that I'm going past them a lot faster than I am. Anyway, IMO, the best aspect of this car is that it can be a quiet cruiser when driving normally, and a noisy beast when you get on it. I also constantly get compliments when I fire it up. I always use the Emotion Start. Gives it a nice bark. With the OPF in Europe, I suppose it's another story. One of the issues with the initial OPF models is that most of them cars were not designed with the OPF from the ground up. It was forced on them, so the sound suffered. As new models come out with the OPF as part of the design it looks like the sound doesn't suffer as much anymore. For example the G80 M3/4 sounds better than the F80 despite the OPF, IMO. BTW, there is also a lot of sound insulation in these cars. I often fire mine up in the garage with the door open to take it in. The sound is definitely there outside, it just doesn't make it into the cabin necessarily.

 

The pops and bangs only do it in s+ mode. Car is completely quiet in c and s mode with zero pops.

 

Yes, that's pretty normal. I believe the PFL was the same. In S+ and Race for that matter it changes the engine timing to do the overrun pops&bangs. I have my Individual mode setup up with the engine settings in Dynamic, which is what S+ uses and I use I* for spirited daily driving and on the highways. I also have my transmission set to M in my Individual mode, so I can rev it up as much as I want. I do occasionally get pop&bangs this way if I romp up an onramp and let off the throttle quickly once I reached the highway speed. For canyon driving I use Race mode with transmission in M and am pretty much constantly at high revs.

 

Downpipes really transform the car as far as sound and responsiveness. When I got mine comfort mode felt like sport+ mode because of how responsive it made it, feels like no turbo lag at all particularly in comfort. Soundwise it's night and day, I couldn't go back to stock sound afterwards. If you decide to do downpipes I recommend catted 200 cell. Catless is really unnecessary.