cavey

hi folks about to pick my very first mercedes on thursday, its a nice 2008 e63 with loads of factory extras, fxxx have i done the right thing.

C2 Turbo

Hey Folks,

Question regarding the E63 handling. Though, I am looking for an E55 but would like to expand my search to E63 now.

E55 Impression:

I was very happy with it when I owned it few years ago. The handling/performance/sound everything was to my taste. What I didn't like was the front end and few interior tid bits

E63 Impression:

Had a local friend who had an E63 ('07 i think) but without the performance package. I was OK with everything but the drive. My impression at the time, the car was nose heavy, didn't have the E55 punch (ofcourse) and felt it was lose and not buttoned down.

So would the performance package (P030) makes that much of a difference?

Besides the head bolt issue (repair?), anything else that's that generation specific that I need to be careful about?

Thanks

Yuille36

I think that your going to get varying opinions on the subject. But to be frank, the E55 and E63 are both heavy cars, and weigh about the same and handle similarly. The Performance Package has slightly stiffer suspension. So it should handle slightly better. The E63 has plenty of punch in my opinion, but has 51 ft./lbs. less torque. I think it looks better. I don't know if the performance pack actually handles better or not, as I never driven one. But the head bolt issues didn't effect all E63s. I never had any issues, and this is my second E63, I also had a C63 with no issues. But as far as other issues go, I can't think of one at the moment.

Redwood415

M156 motor in the E63 is prone to cam and lifter failures (early production) The shop has seen at least 5 or 6 with the same cam lobe issues. This is why I keep my E55 with the more reliable M113 motor, only things that fail on that motor are blower bearings and radiator leaks/cracks, plus it chugs around town like a truck with lots of effortless low rpm torque. Even high mile 250K mile + cars still run fine.

tw2

Just 51 ft/lbs yes but it is separated by 3500-4000rpm between the two cars. The torque curve couldn't be more different.

Yuille36

With that said, the E63 is no slouch with 507 HP and 465 ft./lbs. of torque.

Dublinoh

Yes you did.

tw2

Absolutely, it is an awesome engine. The sound and high rpm pull is unrivalled.