The long wait is nearly over!
I ordered a C63 saloon at the end of April and earlier this week the time came for my wife to head over to Sindelfingen / Stuttgart to collect the car from the factory. We also took the opportunity to go to Affalterbach to visit the AMG factory.
The car is now back at the MB dealer for a couple of days (All I have at the moment are the delivery plates as a memento). I'm going to pop the registration retention document over to them tomorrow (It only arrived in the post today) and then pick the car up on Saturday. So we're nearly there. Just two more sleeps.
The factory collection was extremely well organised and I would definitely do it again. The flight, hotel and transfers were all taken care of for us and it all ran like clockwork. We had a lovely meal in the hotel on the evening that we arrived and after a comfortable sleep we were taken by taxi to the factory collection facility. In fact we arrived a little early, before they officially opened, as it was only around the corner from the hotel, but we were warmly welcomed and we started the process of collecting the car.
After a quick look around the display area and the shop, we were taken up to a balcony area which overlooked the collection hall. Our car was already parked and waiting for us so I took a quick snap while we waited for the next available English speaking engineer to do the handover.
A few minutes later, we were being shown around the car to make sure we knew all that we needed to. The keys were handed over and we drove off ... to the sound of a warning beep telling me that I'd left the parking brake on! Oops, that's going to take some getting used to as I did the same thing on two more occasions that day.
Anyway, a quick photograph at the "photo opportunity" parking place outside the front of the building and we were away.
Earlier in the month I sent a mail to the AMG factory ([email protected]) asking if we could have a tour of the facility on the same day that we collected the car. They kindly agreed and the visit was scheduled for 11am. The collection hadn't taken very long at all and as Affalterbach is only about 40 minutes from Sindelfingen, we were there slightly early too. It was nice to be greeted by a huge Union Jack flag outside the reception, with smart looking AMG flags either side. We were made comfortable in the reception, given a coffee and encouraged to look around the cars that were on display.
Our guide, Alex, arrived and showed us around our car from an AMG perspective. While we were looking under the bonnet he took a note of the engine builder (Michael Neuchel) with a view to us meeting him if he was working that day. We were pleased that he was, although he had been moved over to building the 5.5l V8 Bi-Turbo units that are in great demand at the moment. It was rather nice to meet him as it felt like it added a personal touch to the tour.
We watched several of the mechanics working at various stages of construction. All fascinating to see and interesting to be told about even though it was somewhat alien to me coming from a software background. In fact, my wife thoroughly enjoyed it as she comes from a family of Engineers and is an Engineer herself by education. She currently works with top level sports so occasionally has the need to visit the McLaren Technology Centre and although the AMG facility wasn't quite at the same level she was still suitably impressed.
We were shown a V12 being cold tested and were also fortunate enough to see another V12 being tested on a dyno later in the tour (The turbos and exhaust system was glowing bright red and was amazing to see).
We were then shown around the performance studio where they were working on all sorts of cars from maintaining F1 safety cars to performing paint jobs on twin black and red SLS gullwings. There was an SLR, a white C63 Black Series (Stripped completely back to the shell for a custom respray), G Wagons, C63s, E63s, ML63s all having new interiors and various parts upholstered in leather. The level of detail was amazing although somewhat shocking to see these cars stripped to pieces after the initial build process had been completed!
The tour ended with a trip up to the private lounge for a very nice lunch with views over Affalterbach on a glorious sunny day. At this point I was looking forward to getting back in the car and getting a few miles under the wheels.
The car and drive was amazing. Having waited so long for it, it really was a pleasure to simply get in and drive. Even being limited to 4500rpm the performance was astonishing. In fact, even obediently staying in C mode we didn't even need to get anywhere near to that many revolutions to make significant progress. We were also pleased with how quiet and comfortable it is when at a steady cruise (Limited to 85mph). Certainly a step up from anything we have ever owned (Which to be honest, isn't hard!).
Unfortunately, our time away was limited by other commitments (Not least two children under four being looked after by the grandparents), so instead of enjoying a few days touring around Europe, we simply headed for Calais and the Euro Tunnel. The Flexi tickets we had were well worth the small premium we paid. We avoided all of the queues, stopped at the "lounge" and were given some light snacks and after a brief wait, we were the first onto the next train. Brilliant.
By the time we got home it was midnight, we had driven approximately 720 miles, stopped for fuel twice (Showing an indicated 24mpg which I expect to severely plummet after 1000 miles when I will allow my right foot a little more freedom) and although we were tired we were surprisingly ache and pain free. Not bad for two old crocks who hobble out of bed of a morning (Actually, we're not that old, we're just crocks).
So, one more day of waiting and it will be ours at last. We will probably take it down to Eton Dorney on Sunday to watch the Paralympic rowing so that trip should get us through the remainder of the run in period.
As I said, two more sleeps. So, night night.
I ordered a C63 saloon at the end of April and earlier this week the time came for my wife to head over to Sindelfingen / Stuttgart to collect the car from the factory. We also took the opportunity to go to Affalterbach to visit the AMG factory.
The car is now back at the MB dealer for a couple of days (All I have at the moment are the delivery plates as a memento). I'm going to pop the registration retention document over to them tomorrow (It only arrived in the post today) and then pick the car up on Saturday. So we're nearly there. Just two more sleeps.
The factory collection was extremely well organised and I would definitely do it again. The flight, hotel and transfers were all taken care of for us and it all ran like clockwork. We had a lovely meal in the hotel on the evening that we arrived and after a comfortable sleep we were taken by taxi to the factory collection facility. In fact we arrived a little early, before they officially opened, as it was only around the corner from the hotel, but we were warmly welcomed and we started the process of collecting the car.
After a quick look around the display area and the shop, we were taken up to a balcony area which overlooked the collection hall. Our car was already parked and waiting for us so I took a quick snap while we waited for the next available English speaking engineer to do the handover.
A few minutes later, we were being shown around the car to make sure we knew all that we needed to. The keys were handed over and we drove off ... to the sound of a warning beep telling me that I'd left the parking brake on! Oops, that's going to take some getting used to as I did the same thing on two more occasions that day.
Anyway, a quick photograph at the "photo opportunity" parking place outside the front of the building and we were away.
Earlier in the month I sent a mail to the AMG factory ([email protected]) asking if we could have a tour of the facility on the same day that we collected the car. They kindly agreed and the visit was scheduled for 11am. The collection hadn't taken very long at all and as Affalterbach is only about 40 minutes from Sindelfingen, we were there slightly early too. It was nice to be greeted by a huge Union Jack flag outside the reception, with smart looking AMG flags either side. We were made comfortable in the reception, given a coffee and encouraged to look around the cars that were on display.
Our guide, Alex, arrived and showed us around our car from an AMG perspective. While we were looking under the bonnet he took a note of the engine builder (Michael Neuchel) with a view to us meeting him if he was working that day. We were pleased that he was, although he had been moved over to building the 5.5l V8 Bi-Turbo units that are in great demand at the moment. It was rather nice to meet him as it felt like it added a personal touch to the tour.
We watched several of the mechanics working at various stages of construction. All fascinating to see and interesting to be told about even though it was somewhat alien to me coming from a software background. In fact, my wife thoroughly enjoyed it as she comes from a family of Engineers and is an Engineer herself by education. She currently works with top level sports so occasionally has the need to visit the McLaren Technology Centre and although the AMG facility wasn't quite at the same level she was still suitably impressed.
We were shown a V12 being cold tested and were also fortunate enough to see another V12 being tested on a dyno later in the tour (The turbos and exhaust system was glowing bright red and was amazing to see).
We were then shown around the performance studio where they were working on all sorts of cars from maintaining F1 safety cars to performing paint jobs on twin black and red SLS gullwings. There was an SLR, a white C63 Black Series (Stripped completely back to the shell for a custom respray), G Wagons, C63s, E63s, ML63s all having new interiors and various parts upholstered in leather. The level of detail was amazing although somewhat shocking to see these cars stripped to pieces after the initial build process had been completed!
The tour ended with a trip up to the private lounge for a very nice lunch with views over Affalterbach on a glorious sunny day. At this point I was looking forward to getting back in the car and getting a few miles under the wheels.
The car and drive was amazing. Having waited so long for it, it really was a pleasure to simply get in and drive. Even being limited to 4500rpm the performance was astonishing. In fact, even obediently staying in C mode we didn't even need to get anywhere near to that many revolutions to make significant progress. We were also pleased with how quiet and comfortable it is when at a steady cruise (Limited to 85mph). Certainly a step up from anything we have ever owned (Which to be honest, isn't hard!).
Unfortunately, our time away was limited by other commitments (Not least two children under four being looked after by the grandparents), so instead of enjoying a few days touring around Europe, we simply headed for Calais and the Euro Tunnel. The Flexi tickets we had were well worth the small premium we paid. We avoided all of the queues, stopped at the "lounge" and were given some light snacks and after a brief wait, we were the first onto the next train. Brilliant.
By the time we got home it was midnight, we had driven approximately 720 miles, stopped for fuel twice (Showing an indicated 24mpg which I expect to severely plummet after 1000 miles when I will allow my right foot a little more freedom) and although we were tired we were surprisingly ache and pain free. Not bad for two old crocks who hobble out of bed of a morning (Actually, we're not that old, we're just crocks).
So, one more day of waiting and it will be ours at last. We will probably take it down to Eton Dorney on Sunday to watch the Paralympic rowing so that trip should get us through the remainder of the run in period.
As I said, two more sleeps. So, night night.
