2010 E63 Review
01-05-2010, 11:34 PM
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2010 E63 Review
I have had my 2010 E63 for a month now, so I thought I would offer some more feedback. I have not yet sold my 2007 E63, and I have been able to do lots of back-to-back driving and comparing of these 2 cars. I will do my best to give accurate input on the pros and cons of my 2010 car compared to my 2007, based on the options I have on these 2 cars. Your options may be different.
DRIVING
The 2010 E63 feels much quicker off the line and around town. I don’t know if the gear ratios are different, but the new car feels much better matched to the engine. To me, the 2007 E63 always felt like it was geared too tall in 1st gear. Not the 2010. I usually keep the car in S+, and love the quick automatic shifts.
MCT Transmission
The new MCT transmission gives you more control over the shifting. On the 2007, the shift paddles acted as a way to keep the transmission from shifting to the next higher gear. The gear you selected told the car the upper gear limit for the transmission. In the old car, if you manually shifted gears before the point when the car’s Auto transmission would have shifted them, the car would shift at the exact same point as would have been done in Auto mode. For example, if you started out accelerating in 1st gear, and very quickly and immediately clicked through all the gears, the shifts would be exactly the same as in Auto. It would not put you in 5th gear too soon, even though you clicked it. With the old transmission, you basically told the car with the shift paddles, “don’t shift past this gear”.
The new MCT transmission in the 2010 is different. While I have not learned all its intricacies, I notice in Manual mode that it acts more like a true manual transmission: When you press the paddles, the gears shift right then. Unlike the previous car, you don’t just control the maximum gear, you control exactly when the shift takes place. You tell the car to shift the gear now. In some ways, this is trickier because you can shift too early. There is no computer telling you exactly when the shift will take place. Please note that my understanding of this transmission and its operation is still very limited. There are some limits built into the system so that you don’t stay in 7th gear while stopped.
The rev matching on downshifts and braking is pretty cool. I love hearing the motor doing it automatically.
Arrrg…..If there was one complaint I could voice to the AMG engineers it would be about the need to manually re-set the transmission mode to S or S+ each time the car starts. Instead of the car going back to the last mode it was in (S+, in my case), it defaults back to Comfort mode each time the engine is started. In my 2007 car, there is a similar irritation: Even if Sport mode was selected, my car would always start out in 2nd gear, unless the revs had previously exceeded 3500. (this may have been corrected in later years). A large percentage of the people who buy these 500+ hp cars do so because they are performance-oriented. Many of us do not want these cars starting off in second gear by default each time we engage the ignition!!!!
The button for putting the car into Park is another minor irritation. I did discover an interesting optional way of going into Park without pressing the P button. If the car is stopped and the transmission in Drive or Reverse and you press the Engine Stop button without pressing the P button, the engine stops, and the car goes into Neutral. When you open the drivers door, the car automatically shifts into Park.
At night, you can see the reflection of the 3rd brake light in the rear window when braking.
The front end on my 2007 would scrape when exiting some driveways. The 2010 is much less prone to this scraping. There is no button to raise the 2010 car, but it does not seem necessary. I believe the rear of the 2010 is now automatically adjusted so that it remains level no matter the load.
The handling is much better than before, as has been said in other posts, and in other articles.
The stock exhaust sound is great. I removed the resonator in my 2007, but will likely not modify the exhaust in the 2010 since it already sounds so good.
INTERIOR & FEATURES
The interior looks great. The burl walnut dash is a darker shade than in the previous version. There is some new very nice interior accent lighting halfway up the dash and door. The seat controls are illuminated. It is all very muted and tasteful as you would expect. I have attached a time exposure picture that exaggerates the amount of accent lighting, so you can better see exactly where the lighting is.
The control knob interface is a huge improvement over the old system. The IPOD interface is great, and allows for louder volume for my MP3s than in my old car. There are many other features which I have yet to discover.
HVAC
The HVAC system does not have a separate set of controls for rear passengers, or a separate zone for rear passengers. It is a 2 zone system with a different setting for the driver’s side and passenger’s side of the car.
The seats are very comfortable. Drive Dynamic seats are back (for driver only) as an option and work well for giving side bolster support as needed. They also have a massage feature. I do notice that the air bolster at the leading edge of the seat does not automatically re-inflate. I have to press my seat memory button to get it to work. No biggie.
My car came with the automatic trunk closing option, which I find pretty worthless. It is not a quick one-touch closing. You have to hold your finger down on the button for 4 seconds. The motor is mounted on the roof of the truck area, and takes up a little room. I would “pass” on it, if given the choice.
I have still not found a good place for my Blackberry to rest, but the integration is much better than before.
I really like the Pano roof. There is less wind and less noise than from my previous sunroof. There is still great front headroom for taller drivers (I’m 6’-5”). Note than there is some loss of headroom in the back seats with the Pano roof. If you plan on regularly carrying taller people in the back seat, you should skip the Pano roof.
All gauges in the dash have a line between the numbers to designate the midpoint between the numbers. This is good for most gauges, but is a little silly and confusing for the analog clock. There is a midway line in between the 12, 1, 2, 3 etc. What is that supposed to indicate…that its 2.5 or 7.5 or 12.5 minutes past the hour? I would rather see nothing in between, or 4 faint lines. Some may accuse me of picking nits on this.
The tire pressure monitor came in very handy when I ended up unknowingly driving over a small screw. Even if you regularly check the inflation of your tires, this is a useful safety feature.
I really like Keyless Go, but the outside buttons do not work as well as the ones in my previous car. They are sometimes hard to activate when locking the car.
Auto Headlight Dimming – I have disabled this feature for now. I think it would be handy on the highway, but when driving around suburbs decorated with Christmas lights it would often not turn on the highbeams when I wanted them on.
The battery has been moved from the area next to the spare to the right rear of the engine compartment. While it gives some more open space for storage next to the spare, this is not a good move if one is interested in keeping the center of gravity low.
EXTERIOR
The new car seems to have a higher waistline. When you sit in the car, the window sill seems higher, which to me looks better.
The hood spans the whole front of the car. Instead of the gap between the hood and the rest of the car being located on the top of the car, its on the side of the car. The gap seems big to me when you really look at it.
SUMMARY
Overall, I really love the new car. The handling and the transmission are great. The stock sound of the engine is excellent. The interior feels more luxurious. The exterior styling has really grown on me. It’s a big improvement over the old car. The power feels about the same when the accelerator is floored, but much quicker around town for normal driving.
DRIVING
The 2010 E63 feels much quicker off the line and around town. I don’t know if the gear ratios are different, but the new car feels much better matched to the engine. To me, the 2007 E63 always felt like it was geared too tall in 1st gear. Not the 2010. I usually keep the car in S+, and love the quick automatic shifts.
MCT Transmission
The new MCT transmission gives you more control over the shifting. On the 2007, the shift paddles acted as a way to keep the transmission from shifting to the next higher gear. The gear you selected told the car the upper gear limit for the transmission. In the old car, if you manually shifted gears before the point when the car’s Auto transmission would have shifted them, the car would shift at the exact same point as would have been done in Auto mode. For example, if you started out accelerating in 1st gear, and very quickly and immediately clicked through all the gears, the shifts would be exactly the same as in Auto. It would not put you in 5th gear too soon, even though you clicked it. With the old transmission, you basically told the car with the shift paddles, “don’t shift past this gear”.
The new MCT transmission in the 2010 is different. While I have not learned all its intricacies, I notice in Manual mode that it acts more like a true manual transmission: When you press the paddles, the gears shift right then. Unlike the previous car, you don’t just control the maximum gear, you control exactly when the shift takes place. You tell the car to shift the gear now. In some ways, this is trickier because you can shift too early. There is no computer telling you exactly when the shift will take place. Please note that my understanding of this transmission and its operation is still very limited. There are some limits built into the system so that you don’t stay in 7th gear while stopped.
The rev matching on downshifts and braking is pretty cool. I love hearing the motor doing it automatically.
Arrrg…..If there was one complaint I could voice to the AMG engineers it would be about the need to manually re-set the transmission mode to S or S+ each time the car starts. Instead of the car going back to the last mode it was in (S+, in my case), it defaults back to Comfort mode each time the engine is started. In my 2007 car, there is a similar irritation: Even if Sport mode was selected, my car would always start out in 2nd gear, unless the revs had previously exceeded 3500. (this may have been corrected in later years). A large percentage of the people who buy these 500+ hp cars do so because they are performance-oriented. Many of us do not want these cars starting off in second gear by default each time we engage the ignition!!!!
The button for putting the car into Park is another minor irritation. I did discover an interesting optional way of going into Park without pressing the P button. If the car is stopped and the transmission in Drive or Reverse and you press the Engine Stop button without pressing the P button, the engine stops, and the car goes into Neutral. When you open the drivers door, the car automatically shifts into Park.
At night, you can see the reflection of the 3rd brake light in the rear window when braking.
The front end on my 2007 would scrape when exiting some driveways. The 2010 is much less prone to this scraping. There is no button to raise the 2010 car, but it does not seem necessary. I believe the rear of the 2010 is now automatically adjusted so that it remains level no matter the load.
The handling is much better than before, as has been said in other posts, and in other articles.
The stock exhaust sound is great. I removed the resonator in my 2007, but will likely not modify the exhaust in the 2010 since it already sounds so good.
INTERIOR & FEATURES
The interior looks great. The burl walnut dash is a darker shade than in the previous version. There is some new very nice interior accent lighting halfway up the dash and door. The seat controls are illuminated. It is all very muted and tasteful as you would expect. I have attached a time exposure picture that exaggerates the amount of accent lighting, so you can better see exactly where the lighting is.
The control knob interface is a huge improvement over the old system. The IPOD interface is great, and allows for louder volume for my MP3s than in my old car. There are many other features which I have yet to discover.
HVAC
The HVAC system does not have a separate set of controls for rear passengers, or a separate zone for rear passengers. It is a 2 zone system with a different setting for the driver’s side and passenger’s side of the car.
The seats are very comfortable. Drive Dynamic seats are back (for driver only) as an option and work well for giving side bolster support as needed. They also have a massage feature. I do notice that the air bolster at the leading edge of the seat does not automatically re-inflate. I have to press my seat memory button to get it to work. No biggie.
My car came with the automatic trunk closing option, which I find pretty worthless. It is not a quick one-touch closing. You have to hold your finger down on the button for 4 seconds. The motor is mounted on the roof of the truck area, and takes up a little room. I would “pass” on it, if given the choice.
I have still not found a good place for my Blackberry to rest, but the integration is much better than before.
I really like the Pano roof. There is less wind and less noise than from my previous sunroof. There is still great front headroom for taller drivers (I’m 6’-5”). Note than there is some loss of headroom in the back seats with the Pano roof. If you plan on regularly carrying taller people in the back seat, you should skip the Pano roof.
All gauges in the dash have a line between the numbers to designate the midpoint between the numbers. This is good for most gauges, but is a little silly and confusing for the analog clock. There is a midway line in between the 12, 1, 2, 3 etc. What is that supposed to indicate…that its 2.5 or 7.5 or 12.5 minutes past the hour? I would rather see nothing in between, or 4 faint lines. Some may accuse me of picking nits on this.
The tire pressure monitor came in very handy when I ended up unknowingly driving over a small screw. Even if you regularly check the inflation of your tires, this is a useful safety feature.
I really like Keyless Go, but the outside buttons do not work as well as the ones in my previous car. They are sometimes hard to activate when locking the car.
Auto Headlight Dimming – I have disabled this feature for now. I think it would be handy on the highway, but when driving around suburbs decorated with Christmas lights it would often not turn on the highbeams when I wanted them on.
The battery has been moved from the area next to the spare to the right rear of the engine compartment. While it gives some more open space for storage next to the spare, this is not a good move if one is interested in keeping the center of gravity low.
EXTERIOR
The new car seems to have a higher waistline. When you sit in the car, the window sill seems higher, which to me looks better.
The hood spans the whole front of the car. Instead of the gap between the hood and the rest of the car being located on the top of the car, its on the side of the car. The gap seems big to me when you really look at it.
SUMMARY
Overall, I really love the new car. The handling and the transmission are great. The stock sound of the engine is excellent. The interior feels more luxurious. The exterior styling has really grown on me. It’s a big improvement over the old car. The power feels about the same when the accelerator is floored, but much quicker around town for normal driving.
Last edited by E63AMG; 01-05-2010 at 11:36 PM.
01-06-2010, 09:09 PM
#3
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Very nice write-up. The new E63 is a extremely desirable car. The exhaust note and the new tranny are reason enough to make the change.
I have to admit that the only reason I have not made the switch is due to the likelihood of the new TT coming next year.
Congrats on your E...........sweet ride!!
I have to admit that the only reason I have not made the switch is due to the likelihood of the new TT coming next year.
Congrats on your E...........sweet ride!!
01-07-2010, 07:42 AM
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2014 CTS-V (6spd, phantom grey), 2010 Cadillac Escalade ESV (black raven)
Great write up!
I test drove it about 2 months ago. Fantastic car!
Love the steering feel/feedback, much better than the CTS-V. As you already mentioned, the exhaust note is very nice.
Your comment about the having to manually set it to S everytime you start it up is very similar to my M5...it defaults to S3 (shift speed 3 out of possible 6). People complain about it all the time. I guess I'm broken in
My only real gripe is that the car does not come standard with LSD!
Willl most likely be optioning one out in Feb/March this year.
Hope to hear more comments as you learn more about your car...
I test drove it about 2 months ago. Fantastic car!
Love the steering feel/feedback, much better than the CTS-V. As you already mentioned, the exhaust note is very nice.
Your comment about the having to manually set it to S everytime you start it up is very similar to my M5...it defaults to S3 (shift speed 3 out of possible 6). People complain about it all the time. I guess I'm broken in
My only real gripe is that the car does not come standard with LSD!
Willl most likely be optioning one out in Feb/March this year.
Hope to hear more comments as you learn more about your car...
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10-18-2014, 10:48 PM
#8
MBWorld Fanatic!
Wow, an old revival. It's good you are reading everything. I did the same back then. Of course, I also read the entire owner's manual.
There is a tiny flimy black knob over the trim near 10 o'clock (or maybe 2 o'clock) position of the steering column. You turn it to adjust the lighting.
There is a tiny flimy black knob over the trim near 10 o'clock (or maybe 2 o'clock) position of the steering column. You turn it to adjust the lighting.
