E63 Purchase

[Sapperz]

Hey guys and gals,
I’m looking to get a 2014 E63 amg. I’ve found one with very low miles and in mint condition at a good price. I’m just asking all the e63 folks if it’s the best decision they’ve made and what’s the best thing about it personally for you guys?
What was insurance like?
What’s the running costs for a normal drive if you’re not giving it some beans all the time?
Just general stuff like that and what good experiences have you had!
My heart is set on mercs and especially the e63 it’s my dream car and have always wanted one. I plan to have it for as long as possible untill maby getting a newer model.
Going to see it this Saturday, going to get some figures with part exchanging my current car for it. Going to make this work one way or the other financially. Not too fussed if it costs a fair bit as I’d rather be happy in my dream car and join such an amazing community of other amg drivers
Any info and experiences welcomed!!!

All the best,
Luke.

 

[kalvin928]

Hi Luke
went from E55 to E63... preface lift w212 5.5 TT... makes me grin even more than my E55 which was fairly modified.... I had no major expense on previous car and just general servicing.... the car I bought was on 40,000 and will hold onto this for around 5 years before changing again.... probably wont have done any more than 10,000 during the time. Fuel wise it seems no worse than my E55 and insurance for me was £600 protected no claims... originally wasn't going to do any mods.... just done a ecu map at MSl and now happy with output now and may just add a splitter and rear diffuser.... finding second-hand buys are great value.... would love a RS6/ RS7 but never had that brand before and prices appear to hold better.... and due to my experience with the E55 it made me carry on with Mercedes AMG variant.... hopefully the E63 proves to be a good reliable purchase

 

[Sapperz]

Hi Luke
went from E55 to E63... preface lift w212 5.5 TT... makes me grin even more than my E55 which was fairly modified.... I had no major expense on previous car and just general servicing.... the car I bought was on 40,000 and will hold onto this for around 5 years before changing again.... probably wont have done any more than 10,000 during the time. Fuel wise it seems no worse than my E55 and insurance for me was £600 protected no claims... originally wasn't going to do any mods.... just done a ecu map at MSl and now happy with output now and may just add a splitter and rear diffuser.... finding second-hand buys are great value.... would love a RS6/ RS7 but never had that brand before and prices appear to hold better.... and due to my experience with the E55 it made me carry on with Mercedes AMG variant.... hopefully the E63 proves to be a good reliable purchase

Thanks for the reply Kalvin! Yes the one I’m looking at is 22k miles and is seriously a one time thing that I don’t think will come again, so more of an investment as I’d only be doing around 7-8k miles a year.
I was looking at a BRABUS diffuser but can’t find any at all, such a mean presence as well. When I get some more money after the purchase I’ll definitly head over to MSL for a remap and IPE down pipes > that’s if I can save the money after getting the car haha.
Luke.

 

[AlexM]

Running costs are high-ish, as you might expect for this type of car but with care costs can be minimised.

Road tax - £550
Tyres - about £700-900 per set, lasting between 8-12000 miles depending on driving style
Fuel economy - 15-18mpg urban, 22-26mpg on motorway cruise
Servicing on a 36 month MB service plan, 3 services - about £36 per month, one service every 12 months
AMG Tier 1 warranty (if you want one) - £1100
My insurance was cheap (before I got points, and my wife had an accident ) was very cheap, considering: £518
other wear items: Front disks and pads - £800, rears about £250

Depreciation: try not to think about it if you can, but I'd guess 10k pa from year three onwards, decreasing afterwards. Just think how the first owner will have felt when they sold it.

 

[Sapperz]

Running costs are high-ish, as you might expect for this type of car but with care costs can be minimised.

Road tax - £550
Tyres - about £700-900 per set, lasting between 8-12000 miles depending on driving style
Fuel economy - 15-18mpg urban, 22-26mpg on motorway cruise
Servicing on a 36 month MB service plan, 3 services - about £36 per month, one service every 12 months
AMG Tier 1 warranty (if you want one) - £1100
My insurance was cheap (before I got points, and my wife had an accident ) was very cheap, considering: £518
other wear items: Front disks and pads - £800, rears about £250

Depreciation: try not to think about it if you can, but I'd guess 10k pa from year three onwards, decreasing afterwards. Just think how the first owner will have felt when they sold it.

Hi Alex thanks for the breakdown of costs it helps me out a lot.
There’s a good service plan and I get free mot services with this dealer so always a plus. For 21k miles I’m going to presume that there’s nothing wrong wear and tear wise, just a small dent on the front bumber which they’ll sort out (haven’t see it in person yet) but mechanically everything is perfect!

 

[JDL60]

Alex M spot on with my own experiences
I have additional winter tyres, I doubt you’ll need them
my service plan is £41 a month, which was a 15% discount from normal
Also got the tier 1
Set of pads a year/discs every 2
Remapped after a year as I wanted to get used to the power it had naturally
Mine is a 2014 too
It’s just brilliant. Had it 15 months now and issue free (oh, an auxiliary battery sorry). That and pads all round have been the only non service items

 

[Sapperz]

Alex M spot on with my own experiences
I have additional winter tyres, I doubt you’ll need them
my service plan is £41 a month, which was a 15% discount from normal
Also got the tier 1
Set of pads a year/discs every 2
Remapped after a year as I wanted to get used to the power it had naturally
Mine is a 2014 too
It’s just brilliant. Had it 15 months now and issue free (oh, an auxiliary battery sorry). That and pads all round have been the only non service items

Seems like minor replacements which is the norm for high powered cars, easily replaced and not too dead on price too. Thanks mate.

 

[S2000Paul]

Age dependency as well as location, insurance can be cheaper again, £400 for me with £500 excess.

Protected, comprehensive including commuting.

MPG is ranging from 15 on a good pace to 27 on a 70mph max motorway commute..

Just remember the beast loves 97Ron minimum (Shell / Esso - Super / Supreme) which is 12 to 14p a litre more expensive than your ASDAs and Morrisons.

However currently AMERICAN EXPRESS are giving me £5 back when I spend £50 - 10% discount!!...but that's half a tank lol!

Oh and expensive oil every few 1000 miles, between services a litre minimum...

 

[Sapperz]

Age dependency as well as location, insurance can be cheaper again, £400 for me with £500 excess.

Protected, comprehensive including commuting.

MPG is ranging from 15 on a good pace to 27 on a 70mph max motorway commute..

Just remember the beast loves 97Ron minimum (Shell / Esso - Super / Supreme) which is 12 to 14p a litre more expensive than your ASDAs and Morrisons.

However currently AMERICAN EXPRESS are giving me £5 back when I spend £50 - 10% discount!!...but that's half a tank lol!

Oh and expensive oil every few 1000 miles, between services a litre minimum...

Yeah mine is saying around £1000 so not bad compared to my last one! Which petrol stations do those or near enough 95, don’t think I have many around my area but will have a look! Do you do every half year for oil change then?

 

[S2000Paul]

Shell, Esso are the two suppliers I use.

Esso tend to be linked to TESCO shops, Shell generally have their own stations and link to Waitrose nowadays.

For oil I Follow the schedule as dictated by the car, car tells you when you need to top up oil soon too, or you can use the old dipstick method when you find it lol....

 

[Sapperz]

Shell, Esso are the two suppliers I use.

Esso tend to be linked to TESCO shops, Shell generally have their own stations and link to Waitrose nowadays.

For oil I Follow the schedule as dictated by the car, car tells you when you need to top up oil soon too, or you can use the old dipstick method when you find it lol....

Okay I’ll look around for them haha thanks guys!

 

[Cyclone1]

Very good choice. If you buy wisely and do low mileage as you’ve stated then your depreciation won’t be too bad.

Enjoy the beast and keep us updated on the buying journey....

 

[Sapperz]

Very good choice. If you buy wisely and do low mileage as you’ve stated then your depreciation won’t be too bad.

Enjoy the beast and keep us updated on the buying journey....

Exactly, a good investment for me, just got to make it happen financially! Gonna have one bollock and a cardboard box after I’ll keep you guys posted,
Luke.

 

[JimmyR]

Awesome car. I have owned a couple of W204 C63s (sedan then estate) and after a longish search found a mint 2015 E63S about 6 months ago. Really happy with it. My observations on running costs are in comparison to my last C63. The E appears to be quite a bit more economical than the C, at least based on long term mileage readings in the TC, though perhaps I have done a bit more motorway driving than normal since getting the E. Insurance is much worse - more than double what I was paying on my C63 Estate - presumably due to the E63 being relatively niche and laden with lots of expensive to replace gadgetry in the event of an accident. Too soon to tell re tyre wear but would imagine pretty similar wear rates to the C63, with fractionally higher replacement costs due to the wider tyres. Servicing would be similar though interestingly just had the 3 year service last month at MB and they told me the transmission fluid and filter change usually due at 3 years has been recently pushed out to 5 years, which more than halved the cost of the 3 year service compared to the 2 C63s I have owned.
The only issue I have had was with the auxiliary battery, which became apparent not long after taking delivery of the car when the Eco Start/Stop and a few systems like Distronic stopped working. Apparently this issue is very common on the e class, and probably lots of others as well, and due to a fault within the auxiliary battery itself. This was replaced no questions asked and no problems since. So given this such a common problem I would see if you could get the auxiliary battery replaced as a condition of purchase - while it being faulty won't leave you stranded it might save you a round trip back to the dealer!!

 

[JDL60]

As said, The aux battery wouldn’t leave you stranded anyway, but mine packed in April this year when the car was 3.5 years old.(so if you can get a new one thrown in that’s a result) I’m not too surprised at that as the stop/start takes a lot out of it. I change my batteries at 5 regardless. I’ve noticed my starter battery has added and extra turn so that will be replaced this year in keeping with my regime

 

[Sapperz]

Thanks

Awesome car. I have owned a couple of W204 C63s (sedan then estate) and after a longish search found a mint 2015 E63S about 6 months ago. Really happy with it. My observations on running costs are in comparison to my last C63. The E appears to be quite a bit more economical than the C, at least based on long term mileage readings in the TC, though perhaps I have done a bit more motorway driving than normal since getting the E. Insurance is much worse - more than double what I was paying on my C63 Estate - presumably due to the E63 being relatively niche and laden with lots of expensive to replace gadgetry in the event of an accident. Too soon to tell re tyre wear but would imagine pretty similar wear rates to the C63, with fractionally higher replacement costs due to the wider tyres. Servicing would be similar though interestingly just had the 3 year service last month at MB and they told me the transmission fluid and filter change usually due at 3 years has been recently pushed out to 5 years, which more than halved the cost of the 3 year service compared to the 2 C63s I have owned.
The only issue I have had was with the auxiliary battery, which became apparent not long after taking delivery of the car when the Eco Start/Stop and a few systems like Distronic stopped working. Apparently this issue is very common on the e class, and probably lots of others as well, and due to a fault within the auxiliary battery itself. This was replaced no questions asked and no problems since. So given this such a common problem I would see if you could get the auxiliary battery replaced as a condition of purchase - while it being faulty won't leave you stranded it might save you a round trip back to the dealer!!

for the info, I’ll get them to check the auxiliary battery too.

 

[Kei]

Yeah mine is saying around £1000 so not bad compared to my last one! Which petrol stations do those or near enough 95, don’t think I have many around my area but will have a look! Do you do every half year for oil change then?

You'll find the fuel cap states min 98 RON. I only put v-power / momentum in there. 97 from BP if I have to.

Other than that, I think what Alex M said is pretty much spot on and correlates with my own usage.
The car is very moddable with many quick wins that are inexpensive:
A simple remap brings power up to 660. Mine's been comfortably running over 700 for almost a year now. It's a very torque-y engine, so be careful not to go overboard. I've limited mine to 1050NM and it goes a long way to helping put power down effectively considering we don't get 4-matic. Once the car is rolling though, very few can keep up.
I'd also recommend looking into the DS2500 race pads. It's a heavy car and these brake pads outperform the stock brakes by a considerable margin.

 

[Sapperz]

You'll find the fuel cap states min 98 RON. I only put v-power / momentum in there. 97 from BP if I have to.

Other than that, I think what Alex M said is pretty much spot on and correlates with my own usage.
The car is very moddable with many quick wins that are inexpensive:
A simple remap brings power up to 660. Mine's been comfortably running over 700 for almost a year now. It's a very torque-y engine, so be careful not to go overboard. I've limited mine to 1050NM and it goes a long way to helping put power down effectively considering we don't get 4-matic. Once the car is rolling though, very few can keep up.
I'd also recommend looking into the DS2500 race pads. It's a heavy car and these brake pads outperform the stock brakes by a considerable margin.

Yeah mines about about 10 miles away for v power but there are closer Tesco’s and bp ect so will glance around.
I’ll look into pads too, I’m looking to get remap and ipe downpipes from MSL

 

[Gav78]

Hey guys and gals,
I’m looking to get a 2014 E63 amg. I’ve found one with very low miles and in mint condition at a good price. I’m just asking all the e63 folks if it’s the best decision they’ve made and what’s the best thing about it personally for you guys?
What was insurance like?
What’s the running costs for a normal drive if you’re not giving it some beans all the time?
Just general stuff like that and what good experiences have you had!
My heart is set on mercs and especially the e63 it’s my dream car and have always wanted one. I plan to have it for as long as possible untill maby getting a newer model.
Going to see it this Saturday, going to get some figures with part exchanging my current car for it. Going to make this work one way or the other financially. Not too fussed if it costs a fair bit as I’d rather be happy in my dream car and join such an amazing community of other amg drivers
Any info and experiences welcomed!!!

All the best,
Luke.

If you're looking to finance the car send me an email at [email protected]. Always happy to do a deal for a fellow forum member.

Car2 - Prestige Car Finance (@car2_car_finance) • Instagram photos and videos

 

[st13phil]

My running costs are pretty similar to AlexM's too. Just totted it up and I've driven just over 56k miles in a Biturbo E63 since April 2014 and every one of those miles has been enjoyable.

I run mine on Momentum 99 pretty much exclusively, partly because I have to detour off my usual route to get V-Power, and partly because I object to Shell's premium pricing (ludicrous, admittedly, in the whole scheme of E63 ownership). Even when I've run successive tanks of V-Power my bum-dyno has detected no difference in performance to running Momentum, and mpg is no different either. So I save around £8 a fill and amass ClubCard points at a pleasing rate that gives me a couple of free Eurotunnel crossings a year

For tyres, I've run Pirelli P-Zeros, Conti 5P's and Goodyear Asymmetric 3's and of the three I reckon the Goodyear's give the best overall performance, with the Conti's a close second and, if you take cold & wet weather conditions into account, the Pirelli's are a distant third.

The M157 engine does use a bit of oil, but as others have said it gives you a warning in the instrument cluster if it needs topping up. Be aware that the warning will often only appear during sustained motorway-speed runs, so it's worth checking the dipstick every 3-4k miles too.

An MB ServiceCare Plan (£46 / mth currently for an E63) makes sense unless you are going to use a trusted indie, especially if you can time it so you get B-A-B services, and at least one of them includes a set of plugs and/or a transmission oil change.

In terms of total cost of ownership, the biggest single element is depreciation which is eye-watering in the first couple of years and then slows to just "very painful" level. The difference between dealer forecourt and trade-in prices is pretty large, even on a three or four year old car (typically £6-7k), so unless you want to be royally reamed don't even think about getting out of one in less than two years. Bearing in mind the high depreciation and the fixed service intervals, the cost per mile of ownership (if that concerns you) can be quite astronomic if you only do a small annual mileage. I solve that problem by driving around 13k miles a year in mine