I'm prepping my trip over the pond to take ED of my E63 - I've read on many forums about the break in and I've decided to follow the "keep it under 4500 RPM, vary the speed, no launches, no sport + / Race modes for the first 1000 miles" approach. That said - I'll be in Germany and Switzerland hitting Klausenpass, Furka Pass, & Grimsel Pass with a buddy who is local and has a 911. So, the big question is, how much fun can you have under 4500 RPM in comfort mode and sport mode?? I'm guessing on these roads, it won't matter much because they are some serious passes and the drive alone will be insane.

Anyway - to anyone who has done this, would love any advise you have before I go.

Thanks!

 

I would recommend the 1500 km breaking-in period over the 1000 mi period. The 1500 km period is shorter than 1000 miles by a non-trivial amount. I'm afraid that the great German engineering behind the car didn't carry over to the folks who wrote the User Guide and they're unable to do basic conversions between two unit systems.

We had plenty of fun staying mostly on two lane highways touring about, but we did have some Autobahn driving too. The car pulls reasonably well under 4500 rpm in comfort mode and on two-lane highways the speed varies a fair bit so you won't be droning the motor along at a fixed rpm and load that much. It will get a more variation of rpm and load on the two-lane highways than the Autobahn - though it will take a little longer to break in as the speed overall will be lower.

We used the speed limit adoption feature and cruise control a lot because the speed limits change so frequently and there were traffic cameras all over. Still did get one ticket for 32 or 33 km in a 30 km zone which was a whopping 18 Euros.

The car handles really nice on the mountain roads and has good torque down low so is still plenty fun to drive on the curvy stuff.

On the Autobahn, you'll be getting blown away by moms in mini-vans as you're limited to 140 km/h (85 mi/h) during the breaking-in period. Once that's over, there are very few cars driving about that you won't be able to hang with on the unrestricted portions of the autobahn.

Enjoy!

 

You will have a blast with car like this. I trained my E63 on the Autobahn driving in C mode and not exceeding 85 mph for the first 500 miles, or so. Then started increasing the speed and using S+ after 1000 miles.

Keep in mind that initial limit to 85 mph is significantly higher than the speed limit in the US, Italy and Switzerland (1), and in Germany is changing dynamically depending on the traffic and road conditions (2). Autobahn unlimited speed is a myth! On my maiden trip from Stuttgart to Austria speed was limited to less than 85 mph 90% of the time!

There were no speeding mini-vans passing me on my 1500 miles trip. On contrary, slower cars would move to the right lane immediately after they see Mercedes star in the rear view mirror! Which is totally opposite from CA drivers that pile up and love to hug the left lane.... even when posted signs ask slower traffic to use the right lane...

Congrats on your ED, relax and enjoy your trip. AMG is king of the road in Europe!







is higher speed

 

Interesting. We were passed numerous times during break-in when we were going 140 km/h and Moms were driving by with a load of kids doing 160 to 180 km/h.

The Germans are very good about keeping right when not passing. The notable exception was during very heavy traffic conditions where all lanes where occupied. But when the speed limit increases or is unrestricted and things open up then the left lane clears reasonably well.

Keep in mind that if you are tooling along at 250 km/h and someone does move into the left lane in front of you at a lower speed and you rear end them, you will be at fault. Occasionally someone will pull into the left lane from a middle lane to pass slower traffic and not realize you're closing at double their speed.

The last day, driving from Munich to Stuttgart, we were doing 150+ mi/h in several unrestricted stretches. At one point we did hit 170 mi/h and got that on video - though my wife panned the camera away from the instrument cluster at 162 mi/h. The car was still pulling strongly when we backed off due to the road ahead.

 

Thanks guys! I’m headed down into Switzerland just after pickup so that will keep most of the break in miles on the 2 lanes, my longest part of the trip would be Munich to Berlin and is on the last day so hopefully I’ll hit that 1500km mark! Did either of you do the AMG tour by chance?

 

Yes, I did, and believe posted already. It is well worth to see in person hie they build those mighty engines, highly recommended. My center of excellence delivery was in the morning and went to Affalterbach in the afternoon. Let me know if you need more detail....

 

Funny story about speeding Moms - May depend on the day/time/Autobahn?

From my experience: four round trips taking A8 towards Austria in the past year. Leaving from Stuttgart on a work day, late morning, and driving back to drop off in Munich on Sunday afternoon. No speeding Moms...

Bad luck last year: past 1000 mi break-in, eager to check out E63 max speed, no speed limit sign, but guess what; very heavy traffic. Was able to get up to around 120 mph for few short runs....

Traffic rules are different: left lane is only for passing, not driving lane. One can get the ticket for driving in the left lane.... it’s not just that Germans are disciplined drivers, drivers from other countries are well behaved when driving on the Autobahn.

 

weather/road conditions might be questionable this time of year . . .

 

Thanks, Excellent point...it may be ice and snow in Alps soon.

MB folks were hesitant to loan me E63 last October since these cars don’t take snow chains... however weather forecast was in my favor and ended up with E63 instead of S-class.

Suggest JODE63 to check wether forecast and adjust the itinerary if needed....

 

Yea, I'm going to be with a friend who has lived there for the past 10 years so he's def going to be the lead on these and advise go / no go.. He did say we are about 2 weeks before Switzerland requires snow tires so hoping the weather holds out for the passes. @6G Schnell Can you send me your link to where you posted about your delivery?

I can't believe I ordered the car nearly 7 months ago and now I'm within a month (almost) of picking it up... Getting super hyped!

 

Congrats on the ED and the new car. I am originally from Switzerland, but lived in the USA for the last 20 years. I just did an ED trip earlier this year. Picked up my 2019 C63S Coupe beginning of May and stayed for two months, driving about 10,000 kms (~6200 miles) in 8 weeks. When exactly are you going, because the comment above on the weather is an important one. These cars come with summer performance tires and it's getting close to the winter seasons. Many of the passes close when the snow starts falling and temps are already below freezing at night on those mountain passes. If it rains and the roads freeze up you'll be in trouble.

But going to Switzerland is generally a good idea to break in the car as you can't legally drive all that fast. I spent a few days in Stuttgart around the delivery day. I have an acquaintance there who came to the delivery and tours. We did the delivery and factory tour on day 1, and then went to Affalterbach on Day 2 for the AMG tour. Highly recommended. Doing everything in one day could get tight. Are you taking delivery at the Center of Excellence? That takes longer because of the three course lunch and the more immersed experience. We didn't get out of there until mid afternoon.

I then drove to Switzerland to visit my folks. I took all surface streets from Stuttgart to my folks' house. It's actually close to where you are going on your way to the Klausenpass. I deliberately avoided the Autobahn. Speed limit in Switzerland is 120 kmh and pretty monotone. Not a lot of variation, so going the long way on surface streets was a nice trip and varied the speed constantly. It did take 6 hours, though, but it was a nice drive. I then spent 3 weeks in Switzerland and the car was broken in after about the second week. Afterwards I went to Germany for a while to enjoy the Autobahn, Nurburgring etc. and returned to Switzerland to drive the mountain passes including the ones you are doing. I also went down to Italy to drive up to the Stelvio.

You can still have fun in Comfort mode. You can't go all that fast on these roads. Some of them are pretty tight, especially the Klausenpass. There are tour buses and coaches going up and down some of them as well and if you encounter one, there's often not a lot of space to get past each other. I had to back down the mountain at one point to find enough space on the side of the road to pull to the right and let the bus go by. So hopefully you are comfortable driving on very tight roads, especially in a new car where you still have to learn how big it is.

 

Very jealous. Did this twice and it's never enough... Def do the tours, mb museum, etc. All great. Stop by Stuttgart and see the museum and factory. I did a great 1,000 "loop" down through Austria and Switzerland (don't forget your vignettes!) then back up through eastern France, Belgium then back to Germany. Perfect roads for a break in while in the mountains, just avoid the motorways.

Having a local will help. Easy to check what passes are still open. Be careful as conditions can change quickly. Also there is no fixed date when snow tires become compulsory, generally variable based on conditions.

 

There actually is. Between beginning of November and end of April, you are generally required to have at least M+S tires on the car. You can get away with it if conditions are dry. Enforcement and fines vary between countries, but fines can be as high as 5000 Euro if they catch you. Outside of the this time frame you are required to adjust based on conditions. Most put them on in October and take them off sometime after Easter. I would certainly not go anywhere with elevation on summer tires during this time, unless it's pretty clear that conditions remain dry. Back when Audi still did European Delivery, they refused to deliver cars with factory summer tires between November and April, because of this requirement. MB and BMW leave it up to the customer, and with BMW you can rent winter tires. There's a company in Munich that specializes on this, but there is nothing for MB.

 

Found one from this forum
https://mbworld.org/forums/w213-amg/...ml#post7766152

Posted at AMG PL as well, with few more pictures.....

Sorry to hear about long wait. My order was in February with delivery at the end of May, and finally in my garage in September- total of 7 months including the shipping!

Once you get in the drivers seat all this pain will be behind; will drive off to a better future with smile on your face!
Wish you a safe trip!

 

@superswiss This is great advice! I'm meeting two buddies from NY there and we have been discussing whether it's enough time to take delivery AND the AMG tour in one day - If we don't do it all in one day, one of my buddies - (the engineer!) will miss the delivery and center of excellence... but based on what your recommend, I think I'll take delivery in Sindelfingen (is that the Center of Excellence?) on Monday, then do the AMG tour with my engineer buddy on Tuesday morning before heading to Zurich. Plus, I think if he had to choose one, it would have to be the AMG tour. That would give us all day Monday at Center of Excellence, and then we scoop him up from the airport Tuesday morning and go to the AMG tour.

My friend from Zurich sent a video from Klausen Pass today! Looks insane! Really hope the weather holds...

@signes Thanks for the link!

@everyoneelse Thanks for all of your comments!

 

Any chance you can share the route you took from Stuttgart to Switzerland? Trying to figure out the best way but would love some direction (literally)!
Thx!

 

I was saying there is no fixed start and end date, I.e 1 October it starts and ends 15 April, so you can't plan exactly. Yes by November it is almost certain but dates aren't codified.

 

@JODE63 One good reommendation is to head south to Andermatt. The Chedi there is an incredible hotel and tons of passes on the way in and out. Again you could wind up with some that are closed but it is a great spot.

 

My ED was November 6th of 2017. I'd hoped to be able to get the car sooner but that is how things worked out. Was worried about the weather and not having winter tires.

We chose a more southerly tour because of the concern about weather. Mostly it was cool and rainy but we did get some snow for a couple of days while we were in Füssen to visit the Neuschwanstein Castle. Wasn't bad though, just a couple of inches and the car did OK with the Pirellis that unfortunately were put on my car.

In that southern area we once covered five countries in a day - France, Switzerland, Germany, Liechtenstein, and Austria.

Grew up in the midwest and can drive in snow, but was still sweating a potential ticket for not having winter tires. Everyone assured me that they don't just go around ticketing people who don't have winter tires, but rather usually do it if you get the car stuck and cause problems blocking the road, etc.

Would definitely like to do it again in a warmer part of the year when we could add some of the nice mountain road driving routes. Those that we did hit were fun, but roads were generally wet so I wasn't pushing it with a new unfamiliar car and precious cargo.

 

The Center of Excellence is a separate unique delivery experience. It takes place in a separate part of the delivery building in Sindelfingen and is only available to AMG, CLS and S-Class buyers. It has to be requested by MB USA ED for you, but the spaces are very limited. They only do 4 deliveries in the morning and 4 in the afternoon. It's a very personalized delivery experience. Takes place in a little lounge area with your car covered and then they unveil it in front of you, followed by a three course catered meal. It takes longer than the regular delivery which takes place in a much bigger hall with everybody else picking up their cars. If you can get it, I highly recommend it. Complements the experience of taking delivery a special car.

Here's my car before the unveiling. When you walk in all the cars are covered and there's a sofa and coffee table with your keys on a pillow next to the car. An employee gets assigned to you and takes you through the whole delivery and unveils the car for you.




I didn't take a specific route. I used Google Maps via CarPlay during my entire stay, and I just set the route options to avoid highways, so it routed me through surface streets the entire way.

 

Yes, it can be done in one day. My delivery was scheduled for 10 am and AMG Factory tour for 3 pm. Headed to Affalterbach after the lunch and arrived well ahead of time ....

 

My ED trip was 1500 miles down to Geneva and then back to FRA with lots of side trips. Had a blast in my reubellite E53 Cab.

My guy said that speed was far less the breakin issue than torque. He (unofficially) said that as long as I was in ECO or Comfort mode I could go any speed I liked on the Autobahn--which I did. That was fine with me. One can find places at home to go zum-zum in Sport+ which normally occurs at lower speeds. Diving over 100mph is pretty rare though.

 

We went down to Switzerland and then back up to FRA on our ED and had a great time:

After picking up the car we drove to Strausburg.which is lovely old city.
From there we drove (on the German side) into Switzerland. Staying in Interlocken for Alpine activities of choice.
Cheese and Chocolate led us to Geneva, which is nice but very expensive.
We drove from there (on the French side to save time) to Colmar, which is quainter than Struasborg
We then went to Luxembourg to spend time with friends which we also used as a base to explor the Mosel.
Then last autobahn trip to Frankfurt to drop the car off and go home.

 

JODE63, I have to tell you I am a little jealous. I am supposed to pick up my E63 wagon on 10/9, but they won’t release it to me. They are loaning me an E63 sedan, which is fine and I get to avoid break-in on the Autobahn, but still want to get my car. I ordered in May, and it was built on 9/23.

Your trip sounds awesome. We are heading west to Baden-Baden for a few days, Strasbourg, then heading to Switzerland and ending in Zurich on 10/16. But avoiding all the passes, as the wife doesn’t much care for roller coasters.

Enjoy the trip and keep us posted.

 

That sucks. I was afraid of this possibility. MB pushes forward with the delivery and gives a loaner for up to 2 weeks if the car isn't ready. Looks like yours got delayed in the production somewhere. They need about a month after the car is built to handle the registration and insurance, so looks like yours finished production too late. Mine had finished production on 2/18 for a 5/6 delivery. I did give them about 6 months lead time. I had ordered at the beginning of November '18, but looks like you gave'em about 5 months, too.