Hi all

Back in last May I had BenzNinja carry out a few tweaks to my 2015 SL63 AMG and I am very pleased with the outcome
As much as I like the car its poor handling is a irritant despite the fact that I never I expect to be awesome

So I have become a lifetime member with after buying a cheap refurbished ThinkPad laptop with the required RJ45 connector from Amazon plus the interface with many cable connectors to Mercedes cars and vans off eBay. The laptop now loaded with BenzNinja software etc
Most of the software alterations are just things that I found annoying such as defaulting to ECO and COMFORT mode on the transmission

ECO mode
The car starts now in last known position which for me is ECO permanently off.
The main reason for this is back when I wrote Diary of a Lemon every time I had a kangarooing pull away before the clutch was reset and eventually replaced the car was in ECO mode and on pull away it felt as ECO was about to cut in.
Since the clutch was changed it happen twice very slightly and about the time ECO cut off was due to happen. In my case it’s never happened when ECO was off. It could be coincidental but as it seems to work in my car I am happy to think it’s true.

Comfort Mode
No more starting in COMFORT mode as 90% of the time I use to switched it off. once sat in the car start it then switch to SPORT and that could be 5-10 times in a few hours if I was out shopping; I wondered how long the switch would last
Now it starts in SPORT or last mode and for me that’s a big improvement

Top Speed
This is just a well I might as well have it item. The car now has the top speed set at 180mph instead of 155mph and yes I have told my insurer who had no interest once I pointed out it was standard top speed in the EU.
Why did I bother in July I drove from Munich to Koln on mostly unrestricted Autobahn last time I did that it was overnight and at 120mph I was nearly the slowest car on that road. In the end it never went over 130mph due to it being daytime and the road was busy, poor tarmac and the endless road works with lorries crawling or even queuing in the 2 inside lanes. say 30% of the journey was at 50mph going through sections of 20 miles long roadworks then 20 miles of 85mph then another 30 miles of roadworks mixed with a few bits of unrestricted road but then the road surface was rubbish anyway with far too much traffic.

P30 that some call The Nürburgring setting
This was for me the big one for me having Transmission Mode P30 although I thought that the SL63AMG most likley already has most of it compared to upgrading SL550 with P30
After all this was done and before going on a month holiday to the EU I gave Peter and my early impressions and said I would give the club a write up……Sorry it’s been a bit distracted….
My opinion has not changed much from what I thought after the first 100miles and as I wrote above in having this done handling was the big thing for me but I was not expecting vast changes

P30 and Brakes
Not that any change was promised but it makes brakes no difference at all. I was hoping it might shorten what I think is a overly long distance to the bite point and it does not

Steering
SPORT and COMFORT the steering is comfortably stiffer and more positive but In SPORT + and MANUAL its far less if at all

Damping
The ABC Dampers now have more control over spring rebound and that’s a big plus for me

Also in SPORT and COMFORT there is more damping on compression but it’s not a big a change as the rebound

In SPORT + and MANUAL there seems no real difference; although sometimes I think there is but …….

Handling the ever increasing UK bumps and potholes in SPORT and COMFORT has improved, particularly in COMFORT

Accelerator pedal
The accelerator has much less slack in COMFORT but I was not sure initially about the effect in SPORT and sport + seemed much as it was but I expect there was some improvement. Really by then being after a few weeks it just became normal so I offer no opinion.
To be able to say in all modes its defiantly changed you would need to be able to switch P30 on then drive 30miles and then do the same trip with it switched off.

General opinion
Does it make the car handle better when really pushed on a fast curving road in SPORT + and MANUAL yes but its subtle not a real in your face effect on fast roads.

However, P30 makes more of a difference on our twisty but often fast UK lanes etc but it’s does not change it into a nimble sport or race car……..I drove a Caterham 7 for 3 decades both on and off track and unlike the heavy SL63 the third of the weight 7 on cornering hits 1.8g on handling and the SL63 will never do so and in design it’s not intended to be so. The best car to compare the SL63 would be the Ferrari California T but here in the UK that's nearing twice the price of my year of SL63

Does the P30 make it a better continent eating fast car and for which I use it for in the EU once a year and driving over 2500 miles well YES

Peter himself is very helpful during setting up the laptop and interface etc as in my case the first cheap laptop that arrived was duff as in all the lights came on but the essential RJ45 port did not work but the Amazon seller simply changed it for another
Then the old CISCO wireless router I had temporary wired up in the garage had a power unit failure however, neither of these problems were related to BenzNinja