Why I sold my C63S Brabus, and my thoughts on W204 C63 vs W205 C63

[Engadine]

It's now a year since I sold my 2021 C63S Cabrio with a factory Brabus 600 upgrade and Brabus interior. I expected to keep it for years, but sold it after less than two. Prior to that, I owned a W204 C63 estate for nearly seven years and used it as a daily driver and school run car.

I drove the Brabus from London to Italy and back in the summer of 2022 and wrote about it here, a very memorable drive in a fabulous high speed GT. IN the right gear, at the right speeds and on the right roads between 70 and 164 mph (my highest indicated) it was brilliant.

Why did I sell the Brabus? A combination, as follows,

Gearing - nine speed gearbox plus economy focussed program even in Sport and Sport Plus meant the car often shifted into seventh, eighth or ninth gear at slow road speeds. Add that to a turbo engine with much less pickup at less than 2000 rpm and instead of the roaring beast you might expect this car to be, it was frequently lacking in response in normal UK road situations. And in excitement.

Steering - this model has a slack spot around the straight ahead, which combined with the lack of feel of the electric steering, means not only that feedback is largely absent, there is also a total lack of granular feel when driving along A roads, slip roads, other ordinary driving situations where you expect to feel you are at the helm of a sports car. Totally unlike the W204 which was brilliant at this. I spent days on end driving the Brabus on normal Uk drives and ending up feeling I could have had as much feel and feedback from a 200 diesel.

I guess elements like sound also came into it, but less important, that can be fixed with an exhaust mod. Having spent more than 20k on top of the new car price on Brabus mods, I realised that I would never make the car into what I wanted it to be . Or, I would never have the driving schedule the car required, like a daily blast from Stuttgart to Passau. All came alive at consistent theee figure speeds.

The W204 was a very different beast and I wouldn't say better or worse although I kept it for much longer so I think maybe it was better in its context of a purer and more limited sports car. Certainly more fun at day to day UK speeds, the W204 C63 steering is a unique plus point.

Sadly they won't be making a joyful C63 again as far as I can see. But that is just my view, and I hope everyone enjoys their own cars in good health. I am disappointed not to be part of this community and this excellent discussion board any more.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

It's now a year since I sold my 2021 C63S Cabrio with a factory Brabus 600 upgrade and Brabus interior. I expected to keep it for years, but sold it after less than two. Prior to that, I owned a W204 C63 estate for nearly seven years and used it as a daily driver and school run car.

I drove the Brabus from London to Italy and back in the summer of 2022 and wrote about it here, a very memorable drive in a fabulous high speed GT. IN the right gear, at the right speeds and on the right roads between 70 and 164 mph (my highest indicated) it was brilliant.

Why did I sell the Brabus? A combination, as follows,

Gearing - nine speed gearbox plus economy focussed program even in Sport and Sport Plus meant the car often shifted into seventh, eighth or ninth gear at slow road speeds. Add that to a turbo engine with much less pickup at less than 2000 rpm and instead of the roaring beast you might expect this car to be, it was frequently lacking in response in normal UK road situations. And in excitement.

Steering - this model has a slack spot around the straight ahead, which combined with the lack of feel of the electric steering, means not only that feedback is largely absent, there is also a total lack of granular feel when driving along A roads, slip roads, other ordinary driving situations where you expect to feel you are at the helm of a sports car. Totally unlike the W204 which was brilliant at this. I spent days on end driving the Brabus on normal Uk drives and ending up feeling I could have had as much feel and feedback from a 200 diesel.

I guess elements like sound also came into it, but less important, that can be fixed with an exhaust mod. Having spent more than 20k on top of the new car price on Brabus mods, I realised that I would never make the car into what I wanted it to be . Or, I would never have the driving schedule the car required, like a daily blast from Stuttgart to Passau. All came alive at consistent theee figure speeds.

The W204 was a very different beast and I wouldn't say better or worse although I kept it for much longer so I think maybe it was better in its context of a purer and more limited sports car. Certainly more fun at day to day UK speeds, the W204 C63 steering is a unique plus point.

Sadly they won't be making a joyful C63 again as far as I can see. But that is just my view, and I hope everyone enjoys their own cars in good health. I am disappointed not to be part of this community and this excellent discussion board any more.

Sorry to hear that you didn’t gel with your car. Stick around though, this place is as much about cars in general as it is Mercedes. There are plenty of regular contributors who don’t drive a Mercedes.

Have you replaced it with something else or are you just driving other cars you already had?

 

[Skd884]

As i may have said once previously here, 204 156 is

C63 Black Series: The perfect road car?

Harris finds that, despite its trackday aggression, the C63 Black makes the perfect road-trip companion

www.pistonheads.com

 

[badgx]

As i may have said once previously here, 204 156 is

C63 Black Series: The perfect road car?

Harris finds that, despite its trackday aggression, the C63 Black makes the perfect road-trip companion

www.pistonheads.com

Pop the hood

 

[350cls]

You can take the man out of the M156, but you can't take the M156 out of the man

 

[Engadine]

Sorry to hear that you didn’t gel with your car. Stick around though, this place is as much about cars in general as it is Mercedes. There are plenty of regular contributors who don’t drive a Mercedes.

Have you replaced it with something else or are you just driving other cars you already had?

Thank you, that is a wise thought (as ever!). I have actually just been driving my own "weekend cars" more, and then leaning on manufacturers, whom I know through my business, for longer term loans. I am in a M car ATM, which I like but still the best recent AMGs are more fun, in my opinion!

Pondering another everyday car, with the children now away at uni it's a different equation, which the Brabus was supposed to solve.

I did love the M156 together with the steering in the W204, but in the larger cars I tried eg S63 it worked less well as it seemed more needy for revs than the style of car demanded. I wish they had done a W204 C63 cabrio. Equally the newer engine I had in my W205 was brilliant in the AMG GTS Four Door I drove around Europe a couple of years back, the factory tune was obviously better than the Brabus tune and it was a monster..the kind of monster I wanted my Brabus to be, But that car is too big for my needs.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Thank you, that is a wise thought (as ever!). I have actually just been driving my own "weekend cars" more, and then leaning on manufacturers, whom I know through my business, for longer term loans. I am in a M car ATM, which I like but still the best recent AMGs are more fun, in my opinion!

Pondering another everyday car, with the children now away at uni it's a different equation, which the Brabus was supposed to solve.

I did love the M156 together with the steering in the W204, but in the larger cars I tried eg S63 it worked less well as it seemed more needy for revs than the style of car demanded. I wish they had done a W204 C63 cabrio. Equally the newer engine I had in my W205 was brilliant in the AMG GTS Four Door I drove around Europe a couple of years back, the factory tune was obviously better than the Brabus tune and it was a monster..the kind of monster I wanted my Brabus to be, But that car is too big for my needs.

Having a reason to drive your weekend cars is no bad thing, best to enjoy them.

I’m with you on a 204-generation 63, such a shame it was never made, I suspect slow 209 sales were a major factor in that.

 

[TrueSpirit]

As far as AMGs go, the guys at brooklands (I've done 5 or 6 of those driving experiences each instructor told me the wagons seem to be the picks of the bunch because of the weight distribution- so drifting , sliding etc and handling more neutral but with a weight penalty. Still the cabrio is heavier yet than the wagons and more conpromised with a less rigid chassis. I do love a cabriolet (I've owned four, unfortunately all
BMWs) and dynamically they do suffer a little bit but ofcourse you get the bombastic sound track to your ears and that's hard to beat. Perhaps if there was an OPF in the facelift it ruined the sound a tiny bit ?

Regarding the 4L , I hear you regarding the power band and especially having 9 gears (my 4l only had 7 so maybe there's a fair bit of difference but from 1800 rpm up to maybe 6k , it was a mighty unit if in the right gear and very responsive. A Brabus is such a collectors car and really rare. I cant imagine with the roof down that any estate can compete for fun at normal speeds or daily driving ?

Maybe it's worth you getting into an SL63 where you can just compare a 6.2l in a cabrio form to the 4l. This may give you a decent comparison on what compromises youll be making when you take a super fast shifting car vs a sluggish 6.2.
EDIT: there is the 6.2l CLK 63 cabrio too with 4 seats but I bet once you have to deal with 7g tronic gearbox you'll appreciate just how incredible a machine that brabus was

Maybe the 213 E63s will give you what the AMG GT63 did with slightly less weight but albeit the body is stil large unfortunately but it's much cheaper.

 

[Neiltodd]

I found the wagon too light at the rear so was losing grip, but I haven't tried the coupe.

 

[TrueSpirit]

I found the wagon too light at the rear so was losing grip, but I haven't tried the coupe.

Those 265 wide tyres on the estate may have a part to play but also the ESP comes in a lot later than other cars so the back slides all over the place very easily ( what I loved the most about that car but I can appreciate it can leave skidmarks in the wrong place if the sudden unexpected oversteer takes place). The coupe is meant to put down power much better with it's suspension set up and slightly wider tyres but I haven't had direct experience

 

[Engadine]

Just to say, my W204 was a 2013 estate, and my Brabus was a W205 cabrio. The cabrio shares the wider rear track with the coupe, and if some reports are to be believed, also shorter gearing. Traction was never an issue, even with the 600 hp and however much torque Brabus upgrade, In fact my most joyful memories are of hairpins in the Black Forest...Great fun. But that's not my life sadly

What it also needed was a Brabus steering upgrade and gearbox reprogram,,which don't exist!

 

[HHamster]

Thanks for your write up and I would agree with a lot of what you said. I previously owned from new a W204 C63 PPP saloon which I absolutely adored and kept for 10 years. I really miss that car and WISH I hadn't sold it.

After 10 years, I thought it was time to move on, and I had the opportunity to get into a new W205 C63S Final Edition. I thought this was a car I would keep forever, as the last V8 C63. I had read a lot about how people preferred the old car which I thought at the time was just a case of rose tinted glasses. But it's true, the 204 was a truly fabulous car, and the new car just didn't quite pull at my emotions. I liked the 205, it's a lovely car really, but I didn't LOVE it. I sold it after 1 year.

I'd love to get back into an AMG, I'm just not quite sure which one. If my lottery numbers came up it would be the SLS black series! Otherwise I'll be interested to see what the new CLS 63s coupe is like with the V8. Trouble is they all seem to be 2 ton+ cars now, so it might have to be a 911 !

P.s. my daily is a E220d W213 estate and absolutely love it, but obviously a very different car!

 

[Skd884]

Having a reason to drive your weekend cars is no bad thing, best to enjoy them.

I’m with you on a 204-generation 63, such a shame it was never made, I suspect slow 209 sales were a major factor in that.

156 was made for men with really hairy chests not gay folks.

 

[ToeKnee]

156 was made for men with really hairy chests not gay folks.

Yet conversely, so many gays drive them.......

 

[Steve84N]

Sadly they won't be making a joyful C63 again as far as I can see. I am disappointed not to be part of this community and this excellent discussion board any more.

As you know, we have similar thoughts on the C63. Gone but not forgotten is what I'd say. The M156 courses through the car and along with the steering defines the 204 C63, the M177 just doesn't so when you're not using it's power it can feel too ordinary.

I've found different ways to have fun since selling mine. If you haven't got a lightweight car in your stable then do yourself a favour and get one. It's hugely refreshing and rewarding to drive.