jbattan

I've had my 2017 Mercedes-AMG S63 Cabriolet for five months and 5,900 miles now, and am sharing my impressions of this amazing car. This is my sixth MB, my second AMG, and my third MB convertible. I've also owned 2 Audis, 4 Lexus, a Porsche Cayenne Turbo, and a few Hondas. I'm an analytic and a perfectionist, as you'll see below, and drive more quickly/aggressively than probably 90% of the drivers out there in Oregon, but that’s not saying much since it seems they’re among the slowest in the world. I don't track my cars. I've taken a BMW driving school many years ago and am looking forward to my free AMG Driving Academy BASIC class this summer as part of a 3K+ mile road trip across the US. I just returned from a lovely 3,000 mile road trip to the Coachella music festival.

My configuration is:
890 Color: Lunar/Cavansite Blue Metallic
654 Wheels: 20-inch AMG 5-spoke
744 Soft Top: Dark Blue
585 designo Exclusive Porcelain/Deep Sea Blue Nappa leather
H21 designo Black Piano Lacquer Wood Trim
445 Warmth & Comfort Package
997 Driver Assistance Package
610 Night View Assist PLUS
U70 Red-painted brake calipers

My prior car was a 2015 SL550. I was compelled to upgrade to this Cab due to its many advantages over the SL: bigger, more substantial feel, faster, AWD, displays, styling, Exclusive Nappa, heated wheel, Burmester, 360 camera, HUD, 4 seater, instant seat heater, hot stone massage, red calipers, fragrance, Steering Assist, Speed Limit Assist, top operation while moving, auto trunk partition, AirCap, LED headlights, ADS Plus, remote start, 7 color mood lighting, Thermotronic, footwell heating.

In summary, I love it. As I should for $190,000 US! I've looked at Porsche, Bentley, Ferrari, Tesla, and Rolls Royce as potential cars, and they don't exceed this perfect blend of features, style, performance, price, quality, technology, reputation, and reliability. As an example, the California T is in this price-point, but its seats are rock hard, fit-and-finish is an afterthought, the electronics are difficult, and it doesn't look as good. But it has the Ferrari cache and resale might be better. Really, since I’m not a BMW guy, the Continental GT Speed and the Dawn are the only competition in this segment for me, but the Dawn is >2x as expensive, and I don’t feel old enough for it.

So far I've only had a few passengers, but they have exclaimed that it really feels like a luxury car, whereas my SL550 was never met with the same response, instead of more like "good looking" and "sporty". And indeed it exudes luxury. The seats and the design of the dash in particular connote years of refinement and an unyielding drive towards "The Best or Nothing".

I did European Delivery for the second time, and highly recommend it. After a one-on-one tour of the AMG factory and MB Museum, my wife and I drove from the Sindelfingen Center of Excellence through Germany, France, Italy, Monaco, and Spain over two weeks. Very pleasurable, especially the ferry rides to Ibiza and Majorca. But then it took 14 weeks for the car to show up in the US. The car was built 9/1/16, shipped out 10/1, arrived at LA VPC 11/9, cleared customs 11/11, ticket printed 11/22, arrived at the dealership 12/5, and I picked it up 12/7/2016.

So, of course, first off, performance: 585 HP/430 kW, 664 lb-ft/900 Nm! I babied the thing during the 1,000 mile break-in period. But since then I've only put it in Sport mode a couple times. It's plenty fast in Comfort/Economy mode for diving through urban traffic, and taking intersections under power is not only possible thanks to the 4Matic, but enjoyable. The suspension is quite stiff in Sport mode, and slightly stiffer than my SL's in Comfort. Cornering is flat and responsive. Dodging potholes is easy. The brakes are wonderful. I could have gotten by with a mere S550 Cab had it come with 4Matic, but my S63 sedan with RWD turned me off to so much power without AWD. Traction control still comes on about once a week.

The MCT transmission is the weakest link in this car. I highly recommend having your dealer do a transmission adaptation. This will help reduce the huge shudder that shakes the whole car when you brake hard and then resume acceleration around 15 MPH, causes jerkiness at 9 MPH, and causes much delay at tip-in in C mode. It’s still far from smooth, but those quick shifts in S mode are amazing! The Speedshift PLUS in the S65 is much better.

The Conti 5P tires are very sticky, but also very hard, summer rated, and have miserable tread life. I tried to drive 10 feet in the snow and got nowhere. The front tires emit a really bad sound when I'm turning sharply, especially at very slow speeds, as though it's losing grip over rocks or the tires are hitting the wheel wells, but I hear it’s because they’re hard as rock at temperatures below 45F. I can’t wait to replace them with something else—probably the Michelin PA4.

My favorite part of the car by far is the seats. Goodness, they are amazing. Gorgeous, perfectly bolstered, sublimely soft Exclusive Nappa leather, exquisitely detailed, infinitely adjustable, quickly heated, vented, supremely comfortable, fully reclining, with six styles of massaging including hot stone. The seat is easy to move forward for rear passengers, seeming unnaturally lightweight compared to its sturdiness, and the motor to move them horizontally is much faster than the SL's. Getting in and out of that rear seat is a challenge for anyone other than Simone Biles unless the top is down, in which case you just step in and out. Rear passengers get scared when the seat moves back until it touches their knees and then rebounds an inch.

The rest of the interior is perfect too. The dual displays are amazing, but the thick steering wheel obscures a lot, and direct sunlight washes them out. It's very bright inside with the Porcelain interior. I'm glad I didn't get black leather again. The piano black trim is exceedingly easy to scratch, even when wiping off dust with my clean finger. The ambient lighting is nice, but of course I'm jealous of the new E Class's 64 colors. Hey, I thought the S was supposed to get EVERYTHING that's new, which then trickles down to the E and the C. But no, the E has a better Intelligent Drive, touchpad steering wheel controls, the new key fob, and is faster too! The upcoming facelift should fix all this.

I usually get white paint because it stands out and looks good even when dirty/scratched. One of my MBs was black, and after I sold that I told myself never again. So I was worried about getting a dark color like this Cavansite Blue. I must say it's gorgeous, but it's probably 80% as bad as black at showing chips (of which I have many, despite being very cautious to keep my distance) and dirt. So for my 2019 S63 Cab, I'll probably go back to Polar White, or maybe Brilliant Blue if it’s available. The blue soft top is really nice looking, but my cat likes it too. I also like the porcelain interior, especially in the headliner, as it makes the car bright and cheery even on dull Oregon rainy days. My S63 Sedan had the Designo Deep White leather, which was even nicer looking than the Porcelain, and surprisingly wasn't hard to keep clean given my general cleanliness, so I'll probably order my 2018 with the Deep White too, depending on what I can do with the headliner. Cars with Porcelain and Espresso trim leather get Porcelain carpeting. I'm glad mine came with black carpets to hide dirt.

The Driver Assistance package is coming along nicely, with many improvements over prior versions I’ve used, but has a few deficiencies and one glaringly dangerous change from the previous version. Distronic Plus is better about not getting distracted by stray bounce back from steel girders under overpasses, causing it to set off the red triangle alarm and then realize there's nothing to worry about. It’s much slower starting off from a stop light unless in S mode. It's more aggressive in following cars more closely, and comes to a stop a good couple feet closer to the car in front. It doesn't pick up a stationary car quickly enough at slow speeds, but it does at the same distance if the car in front is moving. It'll start accelerating as soon as I start to change lanes, whereas the SL would wait until I was over before resuming speed. If someone cuts in front of me at highway speed, it doesn’t panic and slowly resumes the set distance over about 20 seconds. When following a car that is turning, Distronic takes a really long time to release the brakes and due to the MCT, resuming speed is usually a jerky affair. Active Lane Keeping Assist does not do the full three wheel vibrations unless necessary. The Steering Assist is very nice sometimes. At anything above 15 MPH, it does a great job, but I never know if the curve I’m about to round is too tight for it to do the right thing, so vigilance is paramount. At slow speeds (<24 MPH), it will steer itself without any assistance for hours on end, which is lovely in stop-and-go traffic. But when it's slowly following a car in front, with quality lane markings, it sometimes makes an abrupt steering change (about 8-10 degrees, rather than its usual 1-2 degrees), and then has to correct back immediately. I'm sure people think I'm a drunk driver when this happens, as I bounce around my lane whereas everyone else is smoothly following the queue. How embarrassing. Unlike the dozens of MB's I've driven in the past that have the Blind Spot Assist feature, my 2017 operates differently, making it dangerous to rely on. In the other cars, the rearview mirrors have a yellow triangle displayed when the car is going <20MPH, and then it's either off or turns red when a car is in the blind spot. On the 2017, the yellow triangle never appears. This means I can't rely on the system to tell me whether there's a car in my blind spot unless I first glance at my speed, determine whether it's <20MPH, and then decide whether the system is activated. All in a split second. Why would they do this? I can imagine MB got hit by a stupid lawsuit that made them turn off the yellow triangle feature, perhaps because in almost every other manufacturer's blind spot system, yellow means someone's in the blind spot. Those systems never use a red light. I learned all this the hard way, almost causing an accident.

I've always been fairly happy with COMAND, but after using this latest NTG iteration and comparing it to the current BMW iDrive and Audi MMI UIs, realize that it's cumbersome and distracting. It's agonizingly, infuriatingly, painfully slow in moving between screens, bringing up menus, and rendering map moves. Not only is it a slow UI (or, from a software engineering perspective, it's doing way too much for the CPU/GPU hardware upon which it's hosted), it takes too long to get to common functions, requiring for example five actions to get to the nav Destination menu, where it is only two on the SL. Having both the wheel and trackpad is kind of ridiculous. I prefer the wheel, but it’s going away in future designs. I’m glad I found the trick to swipe up with two fingers to activate the audio menu. The UI design has a number of baffling annoyances. An example is that the cover art for the radio is half dimmed as in a split-flip indicator like in old train stations, so the art work doesn't look like the artist intended. Similarly, there is varying shading on many of the screens, for no apparent reason, sometimes down the horizontal centerline of a row of text. The menu bar obscures the settings menu for a while. The time clock disappears from the right screen in some menus; why isn’t it on the left screen anyway? The highway exit list often leaves just a few characters displaying the name of the exit after it shows graphics for the highway name, exit #, state highway equivalent name, etc. Again, with 12.3” of real estate available, WHY?

Space is better and worse. For such a big car, they've clearly prioritized the front seats and the engine compartment. There is lots more room for the driver and front passenger compared to my SL Roadster, but the rear seats have little--almost none if my seat is all the way back like it usually is since I'm 6'4"-- legroom. The trunk is also very small and oddly shaped. On trips I can only fit one carry-on suitcase and a couple small soft bags. For such a big car, I'd like a bigger trunk. And I don’t even have the 3D Sound, which takes up even more trunk space. Having the automatic powered trunk/roof separator is a nice upgrade from the SL's manual cover, as is being able to raise/lower the roof at slow speeds. My dealer recommended that I be stopped when I raise/lower the roof, but I've had no problems doing so while looking for parking spots, etc.

The Companion app shows miles, miles to next service, gas level, miles to empty, recent destinations, parking location, tire pressures, and walking directions to your final destination. It's used in addition to the mBrace (or now, finally, in the US, the Mercedes me) app. I don't know why they didn't combine them. The app calls it an "S Class Coupe", not a Cabriolet. The iOS Companion app, when configured to suggest destinations based on my calendar, pops up its suggestion, I click "no thanks", and it pops up four more times with the same suggestion. So I turned off suggestions. It takes 15 seconds to remotely lock. I can track where the car has been on a map, get alerted if it starts during curfew, or if it goes beyond a geofence. But I can't get geofencing to work on my Mac using Safari or Chrome.

Delights:
> The heated steering wheel is so nice; why doesn't the SL have this?
> The microphone for Bluetooth telephone calls is crystal clear.
> Engine eco start/stop is much less intrusive than the SL’s. I rarely turn it off.
> It comes with a trickle charger and a connector in the trunk/boot.
> No exposed roof support metal as in the SL.
> The exhaust sound is perfect, top up or down, sport or comfort mode.
> The HUD displays enough so I can keep the Driver Assist display up most of the time. But it doesn’t use its pixels wisely, much of it being taken up by the nav info even when nav isn’t active.
> Some things about the car are magical: How does it know whether I’m holding the steering wheel? It appears to be pressure sensitive, but an aluminum can also reportedly fakes it out. Attention Assist is uncanny in knowing when I need a break.

Annoyances and Complaints:
> Doors don't stay open at any position like the SL, and the first detent it too close.
> Auto-dimming headlights don't recognize an ML in front of me, so I have to manually dim them sometimes.
> Air perfume settings are nowhere to be found in the vehicle settings menu; they're in the A/C menu, which isn't accessible from COMAND, even though the air temperature settings are.
> The trickle charge connection is not secure.
> The trunk sometimes doesn't open with a hands-free kick.
> Locking the car does not lock the center console.
> My car has clearcoat scratches everywhere after just 4 washes at the dealer.
> I really should have clear wrapped the front when I got it; now it’s pitted with rock chips.
> Still no CarPlay. But until it's the wireless version and allows Waze access, I'm not too interested.
> I found a bug in the ambient light setting menu, causing a flickering circle.
> I can’t smell the fragrance, even on the max setting, but my wife can. BTW, the fragrance contains 1–(1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8-Octahydro-2,3,8,8-Tetramethyl-2-Napththyl)Ethan-1-ON; 1,2,3,5,6,7-Hexahydro-1,1,2,3,3-Penta-Methyl-4H-Inden-4-ON; and Cintronellol.
> No display of the radio’s volume, like almost every other car out there. Volume increments are too small.
> The US don't get the convex left hand mirror that Euro cars do. So I have to install tacky bubble mirrors.
> There are two connectors for a trunk net, but not four, and no trunk net for sale.
> No heated and cooled cupholders.
> It has seat weight sensors, so why does it extend the seatbelt when no one’s sitting there?
> No one-touch up on rear windows.
> The artist and song are reversed between the left and the right monitor.
> There are 3 speed limit signs in the two displays.
> My left knee hits the headrest control button often. The placement of the seat buttons should be moved 4 inches up.
> The speedometer reading is high by 1-2 MPH.
> Buttons between the displays need to move. The refresh will probably fix this too.

Suggestions and Ideas:
Nobody has more respect for Daimler's 282,000 employees than I do, so it's presumptuous to second guess them. But some ideas for a future version:
> Electrify the powertrain for more immediate low-end torque. Turbo and kickdown lag sucks.
> No beeps needed from the Parktronic front-facing sensors if I'm in reverse and the wheels are straight.
> Get rid of the analog clock. In fact, get rid of all skeumorphisms altogether, like in the round speedometer and tach and the XM radio carousel.
> A configurable dash so I can display the info where and how I want it.
> More eclectic paint color options rather than the staid conservative colors that Mercedes has had forever. This is improving gradually, but why can Bentley offer 107 standard and 40,000 custom colors and MB can't?
> Hydrophobic paint and wheel coatings so I don't have to wash it all the time would be nice.
> Stop moving around the steering wheel controls placement. It’s like moving the Esc and Return keys on a keyboard with each new model.
> Doors that open vertically up and over the car. Otherwise they're always in the way.
> Yellow turn signals in the rear, as in the front.
> Better printed manuals, or better yet, ditch them altogether and go to fully hyperlinked online manuals. The MB Guides are a start. Retake all pictures and illustrations in high def. Write safety warnings once and only once, rather than repeating them throughout the manual.
> I want dedicated radio station changing buttons on the steering wheel.
> Don't make me hold down the seat stored memory button for 16 seconds. Push once and push again if I need to stop the movement.
> The "Don't forget key" reminder and beep when opening the door is absolutely bonkers. It doesn’t really matter if I forget my key if I'm getting in the car! And I probably won't when I leave since I always lock it. Seriously, why is this annoyance still there?
> A subtle LED light ring outline around the bottom of the entire exterior, in 64 colors of course.
> Camera rearview mirrors. A dedicated person to help the NHTSA study and permit them.
> 4Matic on the S65 so I can put that smooth V12 to use.
> Change "ventilated" seats into actual "cooled air" ones.
> Educate your dealers about AMG, custom orders, and how to use NetStar.
> Improve HomeLink distance. My 2005 Lexus has 5x the range.
> Wait 2 seconds before Eco Start/Stop automatically shuts off the engine.

Overall, despite the nits, I love the car. It’s a pleasure to drive and I cherish every adventure with it. In fact, I can’t really believe I OWN one! I look forward with anticipation to the facelift so I can do another EDP purchase and tour, hopefully in the summer of 2018.

HAWKiS63

Thx for the extensive review! Many observations I recognize :-)

What is this transmission adaptation exactly? Never heard of this.

jbattan

I believe they wave a wand at it and utter some words from Harry Potter. Or, it's actually a software update, and then shift and wet clutch adaptation per LI27.60-P-062141 that has been around since 2012 at least: "HARSH SHIFT OPERATIONS, POOR START-OFF CHARACTERISTICS, UNCOMFORTABLE JOLTING - ADAPTATION
OF WET CLUTCH (NAK)".

AMG 17GT

Nice review

Get the car paint corrected and the front clip protected with suntec wrap. It's a matter of time before your front end will have to be repainted.

Germancar1

Why would you need this?

M

jbattan

When I back out of my garage every day, the sensors beep at me since I'm parked close to something in front of the car, so I have to double check that one of my dogs isn't behind the car.

Germancar1

Gotcha.

M

tusabes

Awesome review, can you post some pics of this beautiful interior and exterior color specification?

HAWKiS63

Then I assume this update is already present on a MY2017 car?

jbattan

It was applied to my 2017 car with great success, so I don't think it was present from the factory. Which is kind of odd.

jbattan

COOPERDB

`


"> My car has clearcoat scratches everywhere after just 4 washes at the dealer."


The last place I would take my coupe to have it washed / detailed

would be the dealership

I have viewed too many Mercedes in other shops where the owner

said the scratches happened when the dealership washed the car

Lot boys are the ones who wash the cars...

Find a good detail shop where the employees know what they are

doing and you will see a big difference


Thank-You
D.B.


`

Germancar1

Absolutely stunning colors combo. WOW. The rule of thumb is that a convertible should only be two colors. However you want to match the top/body/interior, two colors. You did just that and it's stunning. Brilliant.

M

SouthernNC

Quite the thorough review, jbattan, and much appreciated.

I have the Edition 130 (Alubeam [a close but much shinier match to my Weimaraners, who are not allowed in the car], red top, red/black interior, and most options including the upgraded stereo system with more speakers that I can count). More gadgets than I can use. I drove it for a month wondering why it had heated seats (rear included), and heated armrests, but not a heated steering wheel. Then, lo, I discovered it does have a heated steering wheel, operated by that stubby, almost hidden stalk which also adjusts the steering wheel. Guess I should have RTFM, but where's the fun in that?

Some of your "nits" are spot on, but some may find them amusing as "1%-er" complaints. Pfft. Ignore such people. Personally, I mourn the unavailability of the Champagne cooler between the back seats of the cabriolet, due to the space requirements of the roof when it is open. It is available on the coupe, of course. We all must suffer in our own ways.

Biggest actual beef: the fact that it defaults to "comfort mode," and the annoying automatic engine shutoff. Any chance my dealership could change the default to sport mode? And I really, really don't care about the scents which can be made to waft through the cabin. Agree that the lack of cargo nets in the trunk is disappointing. And like you, I find the "wave a foot" trunk opener operates only when it wants to.

The "virtual analog" speedo and tach are better than I had anticipated, but I'd still rather have "real" gauges. And why no analog clock?

Acceleration and handling are stunningly good for a car this size, and the stability, brakes, and various safety devices add confidence. Lighting, inside and out, is first rate. Fit, finish, and materials of the interior are beyond criticism. The upgraded stereo system is jaw-dropping, top up or down, though I do feel I'm not using it to its full capacity by playing my iPod full of Steely Dan, Fleeetwood Mac, and Dire Straits. Perhaps I need to work on my Tchaikovsky or Wagner appreciation to better test the range of the speakers.

I'm quite sure when tire replacement time rolls around far too early (I only have 6000 miles on it so far), I may grumble at the cost. But I won't worry about that yet. Until then I'll enjoy the ride.

Enjoy yours!