nico2014
Active Member
- Joined
- Apr 30, 2014
- Messages
- 235
- Location
- London
- Car
- W204 C220 CDI sport, W204 C350 CDI Sport, W212 E350 CDI Sport and Now E63 AMG 6.3 AMG PP
Sadly nearly 3 weeks ago, my E63 had a minor accident: another car went in the back of mine (minor hit) when I was stationary at a traffic light, the driver misjudged the distance and braked a little too late. It resulted with a minor scratch and damage on my rear left bumper. The driver immediately admitted liability and with my car insurance, all was taken care of: a like for like car was offered whilst my E63 went for repair: So I had a BMW M5 (2014) for just over a week (this was the car they had available at the time).
After driving the M5 for a week (now back with my E63), I thought of sharing my experience to you all, what this m5 car is like to drive…
First glance: the car looks great, it looks long with wide body shape, rear looks a bit to heavy to my liking but I do like the 4 exhaust pipes. The alloys were 20’ so very big and looked good with the shape of this car.
Boot size: I was disappointed with the size of the boot unfortunately as it is much smaller than the E63 and much less practical. A small detail to attention was noticed when the boot is open, is that there is no way of closing it by pulling it down from the inside so if it is raining or if the boot bonnet is dirty, you will get your hands wet or dirty to close the boot. Well done Mercedes, you have thought it through…
BMW doors: I must say that I was shocked how light the doors were, which did not make me feel ‘safe’. I know that they are light as they must be made of aluminium, this was a bit of a surprise and disappointment. The E63 doors feel very strong and solid unlike this BMW. So for me, Mercedes got this right and it was a bit of a disappointment with the BMW as it felt like a cheap car door.
One cool thing with the doors is that during night time, when you unlock the car all 4 door handles lit, which looks really beautiful and makes the car stands out more.
Interior: The interior looks nice, but again when I seat in, and close the door, I felt squashed in a confined space so I did not like that. When seating inside you also realise more how wide and long the body of this car is compare to the E63. Despite this, the driver seat is very good with lots of adjustments possible. The seat is overall extremely comfortable and a bit better than the E63.
Steering wheel: It looks good I have to say, but the steering wheel felt too big to hold, you have got to have long and big fingers to get a good grip of the steering wheel (and I am a big guy myself). So this was a bit of a miss for me as you get the feeling you are driving a big and fat car made for ‘big people’. So I prefer my E63 steering wheel with the suede leather, which is great to hold.
The buttons on the steering wheels: well, it was difficult for me to get used to the various buttons on the left and right of the steering wheel. There are too many in my view and can be a bit too confusing when driving. But having said this, with time and getting used to them you would eventually like them. I like the M1 or M2 buttons available on the steering wheels and you could play along make some changes with the feel of the steering wheels, chassis, suspension, ESP etc or you could alternatively select these options with buttons near the gear box, but there are far to much options to be playing along and it gets too confusing. I prefer the settings of the E63, which are easier and thanks goodness we have the ‘AMG’ button, which quickly changes the car to a beast in one click! I love that. So in my view BMW made their settings options overly complicated still.
Dashboard: it looks clear but one thing I was annoyed with is the clock, it is a tiny digital one on the dashboard so it was not always easy to check the time unlike the E63 (which I love having on the dashboard). The display was very clear and bright. With the option of driver assistance program or ‘hologram’ projection on the screen, which was displaying the speed when on efficiency mode and the rev with speed when on sports mode, it was IMO a ‘cheap’ technology as the display was not very bright or sharp. Although, it was great to have as an option, I would certainly not miss it in my car.
The control display (I Drive system): Huge screen with excellent quality and the programs available are all very good but you need to spend quite a bit of time to get used to them. One annoying thing I noticed with the telephone program, is that I could not find the digit numbers and this was annoying since I had to make a few phone calls chasing my workshop and like big companies you are first hearing an automated voice message offering you to select various options: option 1 for, option 2 for etc in order to speak with the right dept, so I had to select the options on my phone rather than the phone system in the car… Mercedes have got it spot on with the digit display on the centre console.
Turning the car on: on/off button that was pretty cool, but I do prefer the classic way having to put the key in and out. One annoying thing I would have to say, is that every time you turn the engine on, the control display keeps asking you which ‘profile’ you want to select before going to any other programs. It would annoy me to see this every time you turn the engine on…
Exhausts sound: well, I am sorry to say, it is a big disappointment there, it simply cannot match the E63. Then I realised how much I was missing my E63 badly from that point onward and kept counting the days to have my car back…
Gear box: well, at first, I did like the way it looks and you need to get used to it as there is no ‘P’ mode but Neutral only and you have to pull a button for Parking next to the gear box, which was a bit annoying and not sure why they did this TBH. So I still prefer the gearbox of the E63, which is simply brilliant. The automatic driving was great but if you accidentally touch the gearbox and move it to the right side, it will change from automatic to manual mode and this happened to me by mistake so be aware of this. When stopping during the traffic, I noticed that the car does not hold its position unless you keep holding the foot on the brake of course, but it is not like mine if you press the brake a little harder it will hold its position and you can move your foot off the brake, the BMW does not have it, that is a shame and so if you are in a steep the car can roll back (be aware of this) not good BMW…
How does the car drive like? Well, it grips well on the road and has a different feel to the E63, it certainly feels like it is gripping on the road, which was a great feeling but the weight of this car is a the biggest downside for me: indeed, when you hit the accelerator it did not feel lively enough, the back wheels would spin but you would not feel as much as the E63 due to its heavy weight and so that was a miss IMO.
When driving on the motorway, selecting M1 mode was fantastic, it sounded like the car was a formula one car - sound of the engine through the exhaust was quite sharp and impressive but (yes there is a but) it could still not beat the sound of the E63, which is far more awesome and fun to drive still – sorry BMW.
Fuel economy? Well I was able to do 26-28mpg most of the time, which was great but again, I frankly do not care much as I did not buy my AMG car for fuel economy…
Would I go for the BMW M5 over the E63? Well the answer is no, the M5 is a great car, but it simply cannot match what the E63 does best even though it is a newer car than mine. My car is slightly smaller but is far more agile and more fun to drive. Although the interior of the BMW looks good, I still prefer the interior of the E63 and everything is put together right with buttons in the right place and easy to use.
I was so excited to pick my car back from the workshop and I now love it even more!!! My conclusion I make of this is that sometimes one needs to drive another car to appreciate how fantastic this E63 is, but don’t have an accident to do this!
After driving the M5 for a week (now back with my E63), I thought of sharing my experience to you all, what this m5 car is like to drive…
First glance: the car looks great, it looks long with wide body shape, rear looks a bit to heavy to my liking but I do like the 4 exhaust pipes. The alloys were 20’ so very big and looked good with the shape of this car.
Boot size: I was disappointed with the size of the boot unfortunately as it is much smaller than the E63 and much less practical. A small detail to attention was noticed when the boot is open, is that there is no way of closing it by pulling it down from the inside so if it is raining or if the boot bonnet is dirty, you will get your hands wet or dirty to close the boot. Well done Mercedes, you have thought it through…
BMW doors: I must say that I was shocked how light the doors were, which did not make me feel ‘safe’. I know that they are light as they must be made of aluminium, this was a bit of a surprise and disappointment. The E63 doors feel very strong and solid unlike this BMW. So for me, Mercedes got this right and it was a bit of a disappointment with the BMW as it felt like a cheap car door.
One cool thing with the doors is that during night time, when you unlock the car all 4 door handles lit, which looks really beautiful and makes the car stands out more.
Interior: The interior looks nice, but again when I seat in, and close the door, I felt squashed in a confined space so I did not like that. When seating inside you also realise more how wide and long the body of this car is compare to the E63. Despite this, the driver seat is very good with lots of adjustments possible. The seat is overall extremely comfortable and a bit better than the E63.
Steering wheel: It looks good I have to say, but the steering wheel felt too big to hold, you have got to have long and big fingers to get a good grip of the steering wheel (and I am a big guy myself). So this was a bit of a miss for me as you get the feeling you are driving a big and fat car made for ‘big people’. So I prefer my E63 steering wheel with the suede leather, which is great to hold.
The buttons on the steering wheels: well, it was difficult for me to get used to the various buttons on the left and right of the steering wheel. There are too many in my view and can be a bit too confusing when driving. But having said this, with time and getting used to them you would eventually like them. I like the M1 or M2 buttons available on the steering wheels and you could play along make some changes with the feel of the steering wheels, chassis, suspension, ESP etc or you could alternatively select these options with buttons near the gear box, but there are far to much options to be playing along and it gets too confusing. I prefer the settings of the E63, which are easier and thanks goodness we have the ‘AMG’ button, which quickly changes the car to a beast in one click! I love that. So in my view BMW made their settings options overly complicated still.
Dashboard: it looks clear but one thing I was annoyed with is the clock, it is a tiny digital one on the dashboard so it was not always easy to check the time unlike the E63 (which I love having on the dashboard). The display was very clear and bright. With the option of driver assistance program or ‘hologram’ projection on the screen, which was displaying the speed when on efficiency mode and the rev with speed when on sports mode, it was IMO a ‘cheap’ technology as the display was not very bright or sharp. Although, it was great to have as an option, I would certainly not miss it in my car.
The control display (I Drive system): Huge screen with excellent quality and the programs available are all very good but you need to spend quite a bit of time to get used to them. One annoying thing I noticed with the telephone program, is that I could not find the digit numbers and this was annoying since I had to make a few phone calls chasing my workshop and like big companies you are first hearing an automated voice message offering you to select various options: option 1 for, option 2 for etc in order to speak with the right dept, so I had to select the options on my phone rather than the phone system in the car… Mercedes have got it spot on with the digit display on the centre console.
Turning the car on: on/off button that was pretty cool, but I do prefer the classic way having to put the key in and out. One annoying thing I would have to say, is that every time you turn the engine on, the control display keeps asking you which ‘profile’ you want to select before going to any other programs. It would annoy me to see this every time you turn the engine on…
Exhausts sound: well, I am sorry to say, it is a big disappointment there, it simply cannot match the E63. Then I realised how much I was missing my E63 badly from that point onward and kept counting the days to have my car back…
Gear box: well, at first, I did like the way it looks and you need to get used to it as there is no ‘P’ mode but Neutral only and you have to pull a button for Parking next to the gear box, which was a bit annoying and not sure why they did this TBH. So I still prefer the gearbox of the E63, which is simply brilliant. The automatic driving was great but if you accidentally touch the gearbox and move it to the right side, it will change from automatic to manual mode and this happened to me by mistake so be aware of this. When stopping during the traffic, I noticed that the car does not hold its position unless you keep holding the foot on the brake of course, but it is not like mine if you press the brake a little harder it will hold its position and you can move your foot off the brake, the BMW does not have it, that is a shame and so if you are in a steep the car can roll back (be aware of this) not good BMW…
How does the car drive like? Well, it grips well on the road and has a different feel to the E63, it certainly feels like it is gripping on the road, which was a great feeling but the weight of this car is a the biggest downside for me: indeed, when you hit the accelerator it did not feel lively enough, the back wheels would spin but you would not feel as much as the E63 due to its heavy weight and so that was a miss IMO.
When driving on the motorway, selecting M1 mode was fantastic, it sounded like the car was a formula one car - sound of the engine through the exhaust was quite sharp and impressive but (yes there is a but) it could still not beat the sound of the E63, which is far more awesome and fun to drive still – sorry BMW.
Fuel economy? Well I was able to do 26-28mpg most of the time, which was great but again, I frankly do not care much as I did not buy my AMG car for fuel economy…
Would I go for the BMW M5 over the E63? Well the answer is no, the M5 is a great car, but it simply cannot match what the E63 does best even though it is a newer car than mine. My car is slightly smaller but is far more agile and more fun to drive. Although the interior of the BMW looks good, I still prefer the interior of the E63 and everything is put together right with buttons in the right place and easy to use.
I was so excited to pick my car back from the workshop and I now love it even more!!! My conclusion I make of this is that sometimes one needs to drive another car to appreciate how fantastic this E63 is, but don’t have an accident to do this!
