RavenM6

I took my new beast out for a short spin around the neighborhood last night as I couldn’t resist waiting to drive it until I get it PPF’d. I can 100% confirm that my 2023 coupe is much louder than my previous ‘21 C63S FL coupe. My wife even commented on how loud it was in comparison to the ‘21 as she also drove it for a couple of miles. In sport+, I heard pops, bangs, and crackles in situations that I would normally not hear in my 2021.

Now I don’t know for sure if I have the same sound as a PFL, as I only briefly test drove a PFL 2 years ago so I can’t recall if it was louder than my ‘23 or if they both sound the same. All I can say with certainty is that it’s much louder than ‘19-21 FL’s. It has been confirmed that AMG brought back the PFL sound on 2023 FE coupes. And I remember reading somewhere that non-FE’s still had the muted FL sound. This leaves me wondering if all 2023 C63S coupes were in fact tuned louder, or if mine was mistakenly tuned as an FE instead of a non-FE? Also, in that drive last night it still felt like it was faster than my 2021, almost like it had an extra 50-75hp.

Whatever the case may be, I couldn’t be happier with this car. Not even factoring the performance seats which already transformed the ride, I feel like it’s a totally different animal compared to my ‘21.

japamg

Its courious because I feel exactly the same with my FE.

I had both PFL an FL, and sound is definitely similar to PFL if not the same….or even better hahaha

As per the power, yes it somehow feels much more powerful, I have even thought they put some extra hp and did not say anything… who knows!

Are we biased maybe? Don’t think so hahaha

benzbell

I can't imagine they made the 2023 non FEs sound different. Makes sense they would all sound the same but who knows. I will be looking into this very closely once my 2023 arrives. I'll have my old 2018 C63 for a day and will do side-by-side sound checks with a decibel meter and a comparison drive as well. I have clocked 40k miles between 2 PFL C63s so I have a pretty good grasp on the sound and crackles/pops.

Bet you are loving your 2023. Love Performance seats and miss them and agree completely with you on that. Can't wait for mine to arrive. Hopefully it should be here the end of this coming week or weekend.

RavenM6

So it’s not just me then, this car definitely feels faster than my ‘21. I thought maybe it was just placebo effect of getting behind the wheel of a brand new whip but maybe there’s more to it since you’re noticing the exact same thing. I guess the only way to know for sure is to dyno our cars.

Since you have the FE, it makes perfect sense that it sounds louder like the PFL since it’s already been confirmed that the PFL sound was brought back for FE’s. Maybe we’re being biased on the feel of some bonus ponies, but I have no doubt about the sound. I took it out again earlier in the evening and it was popping and banging like crazy in Sport+, something my ‘21 would only do on rare occasions. And it growls noticeably louder even in Comfort mode. This is a complete game changer in a good way, as I was expecting the sound to be the same as other muted FL’s.

RavenM6

A few weeks ago, someone here had posted that they heard (or have a friend that heard) the sound of a ‘23 non-FE and it sounded no different than any other FL. So I can see that AMG would want only the FE’s to be uniquely tuned with the PFL sound as an added selling point. Thankfully for us, that wasn’t the case as they seemed to have retro’d the PFL sound across all ‘23 C63S builds, FE and non-FE alike.

I’m going to be very curiously waiting on your test results. I don’t have access to a PFL or FL to run the same tests but I’m 100% sure my exhaust sounds nothing like my ‘21 did. The pops, crackles and bangs are very frequent and pronounced and I have yet to even open her up. I’m also really curious to know if you’ll also feel your car is faster. Damn, now I can’t wait for it to arrive either!

benzbell

That might irritate the non FE 2023 buyers because of the FL launch fiasco in 2019. I don't know if you recall when AMG did the launch and journalists were invited to Bilster Berg, drove the car and it sounded amazing. Journos all praised the sound. However, it was not the same car when it came to actual deliveries to customers. It was muted/muzzled. Every one who had a new FL was up in arms and that was the topic for many months and threads here. They basically did a bait and switch and got caught. So perhaps this time they are atoning for it by making all 2023s sound the same and going out with a bang - no pun intended.

RavenM6

Yeah I'm familiar with that fiasco, there were talks of petitions and of bringing on a class action against AMG / MB for the bait and switch lol, none of that went really far.

I get many folks were really ticked, and I would be too if the main reason I bought the car was for the sound. However, they are charging an enormous premium (at least here in the US) for the FE so it wouldn't surprise me if "going out with a bang" was only intended for FE's. Almost every customer for the non-FE would have already been under the assumption that their car would sound just like all other previous FL's so AMG had no real incentive to tune the non-FE's. The non-FE's were going to sell out one way or the other. But I sure hope they are indeed atoning for that 2019 debacle by generously tuning all 2023 C63s models with the PFL sound. It's definitely the right way to close the curtain on an amazing run for an amazing car.

benzbell

My question is how were they able to do this for the 2023 FE and yet they did the "muted fart" sound on everything from 2019 forward. There were no specific regulations required for the car to be more "quiet" for the US market. One thing for sure is we'll never know the answer or the real reason.

RavenM6

Especially since they also brought it back for the '23 Euro spec FE's. So the noise restriction reasons don't make any sense for either market. And if my car is any indication, they didn't just do it this for the 2023 FE, but for all 2023's. Whatever the reason may be, I'm really happy they got it right for this final MY2023 production run.

kc2ntlh

This is all great news! The next step for us 2019-2021 FLers is to find a reason for a dealer ECU reflash with the 2023 profile, and we should be in business!

Please post video/audio clips if possible. Thanks for sharing.

RavenM6

I’ll try to take a good video the following weekend when I get my car back from the tint / ppf shop. I’ll then be able to take it out on the main roads and open it up a bit.

I didn’t really notice the sound on delivery day because on that first very short test drive, I had the windows up with the music on and was conversing with one of my employees who rode along as a passenger. And on the drive home, it was bumper to bumper traffic during rush hour with the windows up and music blaring so I couldn’t really hear the exhaust. It was only a couple nights ago when I took it around the neighborhood with the sunroof open and all the windows down did I hear all the growling and crazy crackles, pops and bangs. I was totally blown away as I hadn’t experienced that kind of sound in my ‘21. It sounds much like the controversial 2019 press car that Mr. AMG reviewed on YouTube a few years back.

Jimmy_c63s

Looking forward to your video man this is interesting and really good to hear about. Can you make a video for us today? Haha

Can I also ask you what made you upgrade and get another C63? Because that means a lot seeing as you had an original Facelift and have now even purchased the very latest one it makes me so happy to hear you got another C63

hyphen79

I'm going to ***** and moan for a minute, then cry, and then contemplate my next car move.....Maybe... I don't know... Like I said I'm going to ***** and moan....
I ordered my C63S in April of 2021, and got one of the last few allocations before they were shutting down this line for the big transition to the electric hybrid setup.... I was like cool, One of the last V8s the MB will produce in a non-GT, G or E vehicle. Fast forward 16 months'ish and I'm hearing that people are getting 2023 C63Ss that are non final edition models, and with better sounding exhaust. This is completely childish, but I was PISSSSSSED and felt slighted by MB. I guess part of me is not surprised.
I love my car, but the exhaust has always been an issue. I don't drive it much as I work from home. The car turns 2 in june, and I just rolled 6k miles last weekend. I've looked into buying a new exhaust, or that module that opens the valves. Not really sure which way to go if any.

Ok rant over.

RavenM6

Hey Jimmy, thanks! I wanted to wait until I can take it out on the main roads so I can really open it up, but tonight when I take it around the neighborhood again at slow speeds, I'll try to take a video to where you can still hear all the pops and bangs.

If you might remember with my '21 diamond white coupe, it had that issue where the dealer changed out the transmission and still left the problem unresolved after multiple visits. And then they damaged my front bumper which had to be totally repainted and ppf'd. All those things left a really bad taste in my mouth knowing my car was no longer original. I just wanted to move on and get the final model year with every option I could possibly find. My '21 didn't have performance seats or the aero and carbon packages. Thankfully I found this 2023 and it has every option I would have spec'd my own build with.

RavenM6

I can relate to where you're coming from because I had a '21 as well except I didn't order mine. I found my '21 as a dealer build that was ready to ship so I grabbed it while I could. It was the only diamond white coupe left in the country at the time. I probably would have kept that car if it was a high spec build without all those transmission issues as I didn't really mind the FL sound. However after experiencing the 2023's sound, I don't know if I could ever go back. I had the EVM on my '21 (and on my '23). It'll do a fine job of making the exhaust rumble louder, but it's never going to give you the PFL pops and bangs and neither will simply swapping the exhaust with an aftermarket one. From what I've researched, the only way to get them on the '19-21 FL is with downpipes and a tune.

hyphen79

I've seen you talk about these transmissions issues. Maybe because I don't drive mine that much, but I haven't had anything goofy happen with my '21 at all. I do get some pops and bangs with my exhaust when it's cold, and get a nice shift at high RPMs. I spent those first 1000 miles driving in manual mode to teach the ECU my driving habits for down shifts / accelerations.
I originally ordered a Designo Gray Magno, but MB came back and said no go, then gave me 4 options to choose from. The Designo Diamond White was the only non-standard color still available. So I went with that. I wasn't mad about it as the Diamond White was in the top 3 preferred. I've always owned a white or light gray cars so I was trying to do something a little different. Oh well.

W205C43PFL

Congrats OP, after all the things you went through, you are finally enjoying your car, I am glad they put the PFL C 63 or similar sound in your 2023 C 63 S Coupe. It is almost like they did it to make up for the abysmal experience you had with your 2021, that had a defective transmission.

RavenM6

Yes I remember your car now, we took delivery of our '21 diamond whites a month or two apart. I remember looking at yours and debating if I wanted to switch to the spare set of silver rims that I had but I ended up selling them instead. I tried to order a '23 diamond white when I submitted my build to my dealer last October, however I never got an allocation. I'm kind of glad because while I love the diamond white color, it was probably for the best that I moved on from that memory and on to a fresh start with a new color.

You have a really nice spec. If it were mine, I would just get the ASR or Renntech evm and call it a day, especially with that kind of super low mileage.

Thanks @W205C43PFL , much appreciated. My new ride is definitely a breath of fresh air compared to all those issues I and frustration I went through with my '21.

I'm not going to say it's the exact PFL sound because I never owned a PFL and only briefly test drove one. It's hard to tell from videos if mine sounds like a PFL. But it does very closely resemble the sound of the 2019 press cars on Youtube, at least in my opinion. From what I recall from one of the side by side FL / PFL sound comparison videos, the 2019 FL press car did sound noticeably different, yet was still very loud and with all the crackles, pops and bangs. It's definitely louder than my '21, and definitely pops and bangs like crazy. My '21 never sounded like this and that I'm sure of. I couldn't be more pleased with the sound. Hopefully @benzbell will soon be able to confirm if the sound is on par with the PFL.

W205C43PFL

Sounds good, looking forward to watching some video of exhaust clips if you don't mind recording them.

RavenM6

Not the best quality, but here's a short video from last night. The first bang happens around the 0:21 mark, followed by several crackles, pops, and bangs throughout the this low speed drive. I could never get my '21 to do this.

benzbell

Thanks for the video. I still say it's hard to ascertain exhaust sound from a video much like color on a car configurator. What drive mode were you in?

superswiss

I was waiting for some actual recordings before commenting. Don't wanna rain on the party, but that sounds like my 2019 sounds now at 32k miles. I get the same kinds of burbles and bangs driving like that. Not sure what was different about your '21, but I don't hear anything new here. Listened to it with headphones. Did you say this is with the EVM module? I don't even have the EVM module.

RavenM6

Comfort until I took that first left turn then Sport+ the rest of the way. Yeah, the video doesn’t do the sound much justice as the pops and bangs sound much more crazy live. You’ll find that out soon 🙂

RavenM6

Are they that frequent? I couldn’t hear too clearly in the video either but it pops and bangs almost on demand. My 2021 definitely did not sound like this up until 5k miles so maybe it needed to be broken in a few more thousand miles. Maybe they tuned the 2023’s to sound like a fully broken in FL right out of the box. I suppose @benzbell will give definitive feedback soon.

W205C43PFL

I also read from some threads in the past that the sound opens up as it learns that you want to drive aggressively maybe that plays a role... too.