New C63 Coupe Arrived!

[moff]

1100 miles and 1 month in and the love affair grows J

Wish I had more time to do a really comprehensive review, but I will try and cover a few points.

Average mpg has been 16.8 over the last 500 miles, with lots of blasts with friends. Worst mpg was over 30 miles getting 12.1!!! I ran in for 500 miles and then gradually increased the limits.

Best things… crazy acceleration, gear change noise changing from 2nd to 3rd at 7000rpm, the NOISE…
Worst things… thirst (obviously), lack of traction in 1st and 2nd (really struggling to get it off the line cleanly), DAB (terrible reception)

Okay, from the inside. I love the interior and seats, the porcelain / black leather seats are fantastic but do require maintenance to stop dye transfer. The piano trim is lovely too but a nightmare to keep dust off! Overall I love the COMAND but the DAB reception is dreadful compared to the DAB system that was in my last Mercedes that never lost reception except in tunnels.

The stock speaker system is pretty decent as well. I’ve had a number of cars with HK systems, and all the stock system is missing is the deeper bass and some mid range. I love the intelligent auto lights too, the way they dip is great even though they are sometimes a little slow to go back to full beam. The way they turn at corners is impressive and I thought that this would be a gimmick but it really works.

I love driving it and make any excuse to go anywhere, just turning the key in the ignition and seeing other peoples reaction in a car park or petrol station (I visit these a lot) is funny! It’s so easy to pootle around in the revs staying around 1500 rpm in C mode on the auto box. Talking of the gearbox I now get all of the modes… C as mentioned and on the motorway, S when I require 1st gear at junctions and a little more reaction to inputs, S+ for ‘bonkers’ driving down country roads and M when it suits to play with 2nd for noise and more control for overtaking. My only issue is that in C sometimes it’s too eager to drop down a cog when there is plenty of torque already available.

I’ve started pushing a little having a good play during a recent dry spell and now prefer Sport Handling Mode in the dry when having fun. The balance is great and I love the surprising amount of grip that’s available, it feels surefooted through the bends and really gives me confidence, but I am very aware what the 450 horses can do when provoked in the wrong situation so I have been fairly tame especially in Sport Handling Mode.

Acceleration as mentioned is amazing, overtaking in 3rd is obscene and still easy in 4th at 50-60mph. Power is always available making even the shortest overtakes easy. I love launching onto motorways, the accelerating hard from 50-*** is frankly bonkers!

I am frustrated with the size of the fuel tank, 60 litres and a 200 mile range is crap and I am constantly having to think through journeys so I don’t get stung using motorway services or crappy unleaded.

I’ve also gone back to my crazy **** ways with cleaning and I think I am averaging twice per week and it has already had 4 coats of wax J

Anyway… will try and give the 2000 mile review some more structure and thought, back to work!

moff

 

[MarriedBlonde]

I've just about caught you up on the mileage front. have just hit 1000 miles and also started to open mine up before the 1000 miles limit.

I drove mine from home to dover last wednesday and whilst I did manage to average 21mpg over the 315 miles it is annoying that I filled up in the morning and then again on the way home.

I am over to ashford/tunnel/dover on friday then going to exeter from there for a wedding reception. So I would imagine around 380 miles, the last stint will be 230 miles. Looking forward to have a real drive but annoyed that I wont be doing the journey in one hit unless I can really eak out some MPG - no poit in having the car if I do...

I have only washed mine once so far but that was in the pee'ing rain

Gotta love the light seats...

 

[PhilDR]

So when are you guys going to come and have a remap and some more carbon

 

[Deletedmember78787]

That is an awesome looking car. I ordered my saloon back in Feb and 'touch wood' should get it in about 3 weeks.

Just reading your experience so far nearly makes me wee with excitement

 

[MarriedBlonde]

So when are you guys going to come and have a remap and some more carbon

I don't really have an excuse seeing as I am just down the road from you

 

[Deletedmember78787]

Quick question... With the new facelift headlights the main lamp acts as a high and low beam - but what is the lamp for in the middle?

 

[moff]

Quick question... With the new facelift headlights the main lamp acts as a high and low beam - but what is the lamp for in the middle?

Think it could be the cornering lamp??

On another note, glad its nice and dry today might have to hit some back roads on the way home this afternoon

I can't imagine owning a car more fun that this

 

[jasemc678]

Cricky just had to get my fix from ski holiday to hear about how you are getting on with your new toy.. Sounds happy days

Picking mine up first thing Sunday morning - weather please be kind!


Play nicely...

 

[jazzmonst]

First post but long time lurking but thought I'd mention that I had the squeaky breaks exactly the same and asked my local dealer to take a look whilst they were replacing my punctured tyre. They went for the typical response of replacing the pads rather than figuring out what was wrong or caused it (on warranty). I now have a squeaky free coupe again (brakes only started squeaking after 2K miles (now on 4K)

 

[moff]

Yeah my brakes are still squeaking, nothing major, usually happen from 5mph to a halt rather than everytime I brake.

 

[Simon_M]

Mine still squeal after 21000 miles and new pads.

Dealer offered to strip and clean them, and charge me for it, and if that did not fix it then would look at warranty replacement.

So I left it and just give them a workout now and again....

S

 

[ghibbett]

Sorry to hear about squealing brake problems - for reference, mine are silent at all times

 

[SG1]

Looks lovely. Nice colour and interior!

 

[geoff19]

superb looking motor,and top marks for the most tidy garage i've seen.

 

[delboyc63]

Hi looks good mines all black.had for 10 months still makes me smile every drive

 

[adzy]

great read, spent 30 mins reading the 7 pages! makes me want to hurry up and order mine!

what is the official run-in period? Do you require a 1,500 mile run-in service like i had on my m3?

 

[Fizzer]

Officially its IIRC keep under 4500 rpm and under 85mph for 1000 miles. Not actually heard of anyone managing to do this (definitely not me, I managed about 500 miles with only one or two 4500+ moments but found myself increasingly forgetting to look at the rev counter after that).

Sorry missed "service" in you question. The answer to that is no. If you have the LSD that needs an oil change (which is FOC) at 1850 miles but apart from that servicing as normal.

 

[Spin_bowler]

Running in period on a leased car?

Out of earshot of the dealer you pick it up from.

 

[RhysC63?]

Catching up here - just spent a good few minutes reading all the pages. Congrats on a lovely car, the interior is gorgeous!

I agree on the fuel capacity issue - its really annoying.

Regarding squeeky brakes, ignore it, it tends to happen on cars with massive discs and stopping power, most of my performance cars have done it to a certain extent.

Having covered 2600 miles in mine I've now got to understand the gearbox a lot better, I remember posting here regarding "S" -questioning it's purpose. Well, what I now find is that S+ is too aggressive on those wide open A roads, when you want to nip in and out of traffic but dont really want to have the engine screaming in 4th the whole time. S+ is more of a track driving style, when you want to be either nailing the throttle or nailing the brakes the whole time - fantastic fun of course but I don't always want to drive like that. I also dip into M now and again, but in all honesty, I find the short ratios in the lower gears hard to get used to and spend a lot of time bouncing off the rev limiter, I'm sure if I slowed down and got used to the box with some more gentle driving I'd be fine, but I'm quite happy letting the electronics take care of it. I do like using M to make some well timed downshifts for artistic effect though Like when I saw a C220 AMG on a local dual carriageway - I couldn't resist a perfectly timed downshift as I edged past him just to show that mine was a real one I can be stupidly childish sometimes

 

[moff]

Hey Rhys...

Yeah, I have similar thoughts regarding the gearbox. I use C most of the time when pootling around, S when I want to drive quicker and M when I want to be in more control i.e. for overtaking, but like you I've hit the limiter a few times even though the dash has gone red! S+ is awesome, but reserved for all out attack on some deserted local country roads, I do love the down-shifting as you brake hard for a corner, awesome!

I've covered 1400 miles so nowhere near you, what mpg are you getting? I've averaged 16.8 over the last 900 miles. Tend to get 18 driving steady on a small 5 mile drive to the shops, 20 for around 40-50 miles and maximum 22-23 for anything longer. Even my wife who drove it very steady only managed 22mpg over a 40 mile mixed road drive. (oh and 12-14 for spirited driving)

Still got the squeaky brakes, but they don't really bother me, but the rattle in my dash - right side of steering wheel is beginning to grate on me!

Also currently considering getting the wheel alignment sorted to reduce inner rear tyre wear, just trying to find the perfect setup which isn't proving easy!

May also get the rear 3/4 windows tinted but again undecided until I see a few white coupes with it.

Most exciting of all is that I have now master the race start (RS) mode... took a lot of flaffing but had a great laugh on Saturday doing it with my brother in law and his girlfriend in the car. It really does perform excellent launches, but I have no idea when you would use it, bit of a gimmick as it wouldn't work for a traffic light grand prix and you (I) would look like a complete nob

Next job for me to do on Friday is to give the car a wipe down with some Tardis (thanks Detailed) as my car seems to have picked up a thousand tar spots already Will give her a full on polish and wax after.

I've religiously checked the oil level but it hasn't moved since new so it's not using oil as fast as I had expected, anyone got any thoughts on oil usage as I had read it was high?