C63 AMG (W204) questions

[8bit]

Considering a change from my current 2010 Jaguar XKR 5.0 and looking at the W204 C63 AMG as a possible replacement. I drove one last week, possibly a contender, it's black which I didn't want but it's local, I got a decent trade-in offer and it seems in solid condition to me. I did read through the PH buyer's guide but still have a few questions...

I've seen these listed as either 7G-Tronic or MCT. Is that just variance in Autotrader listings or is it the case that there are two different transmissions available? If the latter, which is better?

What are the typical costs for consumables like brake discs and pads?

Any particular service items that I'll want to verify have been done and at what age/mileage?

Any tell-tale signs/noises of issues to watch out for?

I didn't pay enough attention to the rear seat space. We have two kids, boys ages 7 and 5. Is it feasible to get a couple of appropriate seats back there and still have enough room in the front seats?

Are there any optional items that are particularly nice to have or considered essential?

Edited by 8bit on Wednesday 7th July 08:59

[Terzo123]

Copied from a Facebook group

W204 C63 Buyers Guide & Modifications guide

(Disclaimer: This is just a guide. May have some errors due to year of car registration.)

💥Pre Facelift W204 C63 (2008-10) 💥
Fog Lights
Straight line across rear diffuser
Comand NTG 4.0 with Flip Up screen

💥Facelift W204 C63 AMG (2011-14)💥
DRL's instead of foglights
Comand NTG4.5 with integrated screen
MCT gearbox (2011/12 onwards) - faster more responsive gear changes, has a Wet Clutch instead of a Torque Converter.
Sport+ and RS (Race Start/Launch) modes

Variants:

Standard 457bhp

Edition 125
⁃ similar to standard
⁃ 2 tone leather interior (optional as well)

Performance pack plus P30/P31 487bhp
- P30 - Prefacelift
- P31 - Facelift
- Not fixed - there might be some overlap in 2010/11 cars
- Prefacelift ones generally have LSD as standard.
⁃ Dark Grey intake manifold, red calipers, uprated brakes, SLS internals, Alcantara steering wheel, stiffer springs, carbon spoiler, (LSD is an option)

507 edition 507bhp
⁃ Bonnet vents, side decals, alcantara gearknob gaiter, forged wheels & PPP features

Black Series - the Don!!! 💥💥

Common issues:

1. Noisy lifters - ticking noises on 1st cold start of day, usually last 5-10mins. Usually indicative of low oil level. Wear & tear item & part due to design. Changing them does not necessarily guarantee no noise. Certain oil brand like Liqui Moly helps.

2. Camshaft adjuster - metallic rattle for 5-10secs cold or warm start. Again, its a wear & tear item. Will require changing once it gets worse.
Genuine MB part is costly.

Other options are from @63everything on Insta

https://www.63motorsports.com/m156-shop/amg-camsha...

3. Rocker cover crack / gasket leak. Best to change whole cover as it comes with gasket as part of set. Usual cracks will not be visible until heated up.

4. OEM Multispoke wheels are soft & prone to cracks

5. Transmission can breakdown if regular burnouts. Steering pump at risk with multiple donuts too.

6. Rear subframe rust if car has not been maintained well. The rust issue is now more common, especially in pre facelift ones 9-10yrs car. The rust happens inside out.

7. Headbolt issue - Prefacelift cars. Check if engine number ending 60 060658 and above for reassurance.

Headbolt issues are more common in US, as per online findings. Less common in UK.

8. Injectors will need checking during major service as they can get stucked open, causing hydrolock. (Some correlation with mapped cars but random)

❗️Advisable to change whole set of injectors now as cars are 7-8yrs and injectors gets clogged and do fail. ❗️

9. Paint issue - Fire Opal Red is known to have micro blisters - MB aware and will need strip down to bare metal and repaint

10. Crankcase ‘Upper Sump’ oil leak - due to factory sealant perishing with time. This has become more of an issue of late. Different degree of leak with different cars. Some gets worse, some just remains oil damp around the lower case. Can be monitored and remain the same for years or it can worsened. No set pattern. Major job as its engine out job.

‘Mid sump’ oil leak is less costly, only require transmission out.

‘Lower sump’ is the easiest fix.

11. Brake lines prone to corrosion. Usually done together with corroded rear subframe.

12. Idler pulleys and aux belt should be checked at alternate service intervals. The belt may fray and pulleys degrade and give way without warning.

Fuel consumption:
Fuel Average 15-17mpg combined
Town driving can go as low as 13-14
Asbo mode down to 9-12mpg
Granny mode doesn’t exist as the exhaust sound is too addictive and theatric.

Maintanence:
1. Tyres - depends on how heavy your right foot is, rear tyres can last between 3k miles to 8.5k miles.

2. Servicing is fairly decent. Not anymore than other marque.

3. Annual road tax is HIGHEST! £600 (2021/22)

Insurance:
💥POTLUCK! 💥
Can vary from £350 to £4500
⁃ Variable factors eg Age, Address/Area, No Claims bonus, Mods, Garage or not, Previous similar experience.
⁃ No point asking on FB group. Just call around and ask for quotes
⁃ Examples are Chris Knott, A-plan, Adrian Flux, Admiral, Sky insurance, Keith Michaels
⁃ Remember all these are brokers.

Servicing:
⁃ For MB main dealers and those who wants to keep FSH, then MB service plans are recommended.
⁃ Independent Specialist Garages are recommended if you are not fuss. They are better in fact. There are a few recommended ones depending on where one is based. Prestige Car Service & MBS Southampton are 2 very good ones in the South Coast.

Modifications:

1. Exhaust mods - prices may increase due to annual inflation

£250-300 Secondary decat 20% louder
+ £200-250 resonator delete +5%

£500-600 Primary decat +40%

£3000 Headers with sport cats & resonator +50-60% (+5% with resonator delete as well)

£2600 Headers no cats +80%
Maybe more depending on perception.

££££££ Add supercharger to headers - UNLEASH THOR!!!! 💥💥💥

2. £500-1200 Remap - Eurocharged V7 / MSL / Celtic tuning / DMS
⁃ All maps listed above more or less the same. All stable. Difference is the 5-10bhp top end for bragging rights.
3. Aftermarket wheels - check link in another announcement for offsets and online comparison calculator to check if they fit.
4. LSD ~£1500 - Quaife or Wavetrac
5. Suspension
⁃ H&R lowering springs - Part number HR 29028-1
⁃ H&R coilovers best value for bucks
⁃ KW DDC - Top dog!
6. Carbon exterior
⁃ Xtreme carbon UK
⁃ Unit17
⁃ Vogue Automotive
⁃ BOCA - Europe
⁃ RW carbon - US
⁃ Mode carbon - US (££££)
7. Carbon interior & Carbon steering wheel
⁃ @carbon_revolte on Insta is top notch!
8. Carbon air intake
9. Caliper repainting
⁃ £100 per corner - Paint on wheel
⁃ £500-800 Remove & spray paint

10. Security - GHOST recommended.
11. Tyres - Michelin PS4S or Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetrics or Supersports

13. Superchargers - Weistec / ESS tuning
(PM for more info)

[8bit]

Thanks very much for that, really useful.

Regards the Facebook group, can I ask what the group name is please?

Also at the end it says PM for more info - did you mean to PM you or was that in the copy/paste from FB?

[belleair302]

Town driving an get down to 8 mpg. 24 mpg on motorways. I had an A service yesterday and at a main AMG dealer the cost was under £400. Parts are not stupidly expensive but a major failure could be catastrophic. Buy well and get an inspection before you part with your cash. Electrics are reliable, interiors hold up well beside drivers seat bolsters but paint on lower panels is not so durable. I recently replaced my air conditioning condenser and the parts were close to £450 with a weeks wait.

[Terzo123]

8bit said:

Thanks very much for that, really useful.

Regards the Facebook group, can I ask what the group name is please?

Also at the end it says PM for more info - did you mean to PM you or was that in the copy/paste from FB?

The Facebook group is C63 AMG UK, and yes, the PM bit was a copy and paste from the group page.

I generally get about 20 mpg, but when I was doing alot of town driving, it was only about 16 mpg. I've been on a few decent motorway runs and got around 27 mpg.

As for tyre wear, I must be doing something wrong, my last set of rears lasted over 10k. Folk who say they get 2k per set are either at it, or ASBO drivers.

[Battlecat]

8bit said:

I didn't pay enough attention to the rear seat space. We have two kids, boys ages 7 and 5. Is it feasible to get a couple of appropriate seats back there and still have enough room

Edited by 8bit on Wednesday 7th July 08:59

I’ve had my C63 for years now and gone through the various baby and child seat stages, all fit fine with space for the front seats to be back. My eldest child now uses a booster (freeing up some space for her) and the 7 is still in a larger car seat.

[8bit]

Thanks all, really useful.

Don't suppose anyone here is based in Manchester or Newcastle and would mind having a look around a possible car for me? Happy to send some beer tokens

Edited by 8bit on Friday 9th July 13:23

[Muska_]

I have a facelift estate and a neighbour of mine has a pre-facelift saloon. Mine is stock and his mapped and a heavily modified exhaust.

He recently replaced his discs & pads all round and parts were £450 from Autodoc. I think if you timed it right then you might be able to do a bit cheaper with their ever changing discount model. In general, part prices don't look absurd, unless you fancy switching to the PPP front 2 piece discs at £350 a corner (MB around double that!)

For servicing I have a service plan from MB at about £100 a month which will cover 2 services over two years.

[Ron240]

Muska_ said:

For servicing I have a service plan from MB at about £100 a month which will cover 2 services over two years.

I have heard that Mercedes extended warrantly costs a fortune, but for servicing that seems stupidly expensive!
It was mentioned earlier in this thread that an A service from a main dealer cost under £400, so something definitely isn't adding up.

[Muska_]

Ron240 said:

Muska_ said:

For servicing I have a service plan from MB at about £100 a month which will cover 2 services over two years.

I have heard that Mercedes extended warrantly costs a fortune, but for servicing that seems stupidly expensive!
It was mentioned earlier in this thread that an A service from a main dealer cost under £400, so something definitely isn't adding up.

I just checked and it’s £108 a month (for 12 months) that covers two services. I can’t speak for what others pay, perhaps it’s different on mileage/location of dealership but I just ran another quote on the Mercedes website and it came back exactly the same for me.

[Ron240]

Muska_ said:

I just checked and it’s £108 a month (for 12 months) that covers two services.

Right I understand now, you only pay it for 12 months so the total cost is reasonable.
Reading what you originally wrote I thought you were paying it for 24 months.

[Muska_]

I can see how I may have implied that!

[EC123]

Op I’m also looking for well maintained coupe.

Travelled 3 hours to Leicestershire and he only then told me it’s got a secondary decaf and remap - despite extensive discussions beforehand.

Another has a leaky gearbox hidden in the service again despite lengthy discussions and it missed 18 months so it’s not FSH as advertised!

£27k+ cars still yet to find something straight.

If anyone is looking to get rid on here please comment, looking for enthusiast owned and good history.

The ones on AT for around £31k have all sat there for at least 5 weeks now. Not sure if there wishful thinking prices?

[8bit]

EC123 said:

Op I’m also looking for well maintained coupe.

Travelled 3 hours to Leicestershire and he only then told me it’s got a secondary decaf and remap - despite extensive discussions beforehand.

Another has a leaky gearbox hidden in the service again despite lengthy discussions and it missed 18 months so it’s not FSH as advertised!

£27k+ cars still yet to find something straight.

If anyone is looking to get rid on here please comment, looking for enthusiast owned and good history.

The ones on AT for around £31k have all sat there for at least 5 weeks now. Not sure if there wishful thinking prices?

That's disappointing, sort of puts me off a bit given I'm in Aberdeen and these don't seem to come up very often up here. There is one at a local dealer which I drove and liked it but it's black and I don't want another black car again. It's at £24k, exterior paint and wheels looked very good condition, a little tired in places inside but nothing terrible. Not sure why it's still there, seems well priced, doesn't appear to be in bad nick, I haven't seen the service history myself but am assured it is full. The last one to come up here was during lockdown when you couldn't even go and see cars let alone drive them and it sold within days.

If this one was almost any other colour I'd probably have done the deal. By most measures I'd say my XKR is a better car - it's quicker, more comfortable, interior is of higher build quality and is arguably prettier, but the AMG V8 has gotten under my skin...

[EC123]

8bit said:

That's disappointing, sort of puts me off a bit given I'm in Aberdeen and these don't seem to come up very often up here. There is one at a local dealer which I drove and liked it but it's black and I don't want another black car again. It's at £24k, exterior paint and wheels looked very good condition, a little tired in places inside but nothing terrible. Not sure why it's still there, seems well priced, doesn't appear to be in bad nick, I haven't seen the service history myself but am assured it is full. The last one to come up here was during lockdown when you couldn't even go and see cars let alone drive them and it sold within days.

If this one was almost any other colour I'd probably have done the deal. By most measures I'd say my XKR is a better car - it's quicker, more comfortable, interior is of higher build quality and is arguably prettier, but the AMG V8 has gotten under my skin...

I bought one last week £27k 41k miles FSH MB.

from a dealer in coventry - it's amazing.

Quite a jump from a clio sport, Not been in an XKR myself but this c63 is bonkers and that's why I love it.

[sanguinary]

8bit said:

Thanks all, really useful.

Don't suppose anyone here is based in Manchester or Newcastle and would mind having a look around a possible car for me? Happy to send some beer tokens

Edited by 8bit on Friday 9th July 13:23

I'm in Newcastle if you want me to have a glance over one.

I've had mine for about 14 months now (W204 2011 Estate) and absolutely love it. I've usually got itchy feet by now, but have no intention of changing just yet. I know it has the potential to be ruinous***, but it's not been too bad thus far...

I posted similar in another thread, but when I was looking for mine, I was more interested in servicing and the number of owners over much else. I feel these cars are purchased, ran until something starts to go wrong and then punted on asap. It's not uncommon to see 7,8,9 owners for a 10 year old car.

• ** cost wise. 15,000 miles in. Onto the second set of rears, although I got 12,000 miles from the first set. Fronts are still good from when I got the car. One service down - approx £400. 1 abs sensor - £55 with me fitting it. Approx 1/2 litre of oil for 1500 miles. Nothing else to report. Expect petrol. Quite a bit of that.

[8bit]

Thanks for that. The one I had saved in Newcastle has gone now but if any others come up around there I'll maybe drop you a PM.

[Tommie38]

Terzo123 said:

Copied from a Facebook group

(Disclaimer: This is just a guide. May have some errors due to year of car registration.)

…

Performance pack plus P30/P31 487bhp
- P30 - Prefacelift
- P31 - Facelift

…

I’d fact check anything in that post you make decisions on. As Terzo points out, there may be innacuracies.

Fairly certain the P30 cars came with standard engine outputs for example.

[Krikkit]

Apologies for hijacking a thread, but I have a question too - the PH guide says only to run them on super, is that accurate?

I don't do masses of miles, but it's yet another sting of cost and/or faff to have to fill it with super all the time.

[Terzo123]

Running the odd tank of 95 Ron shouldn't make much difference, but why would you.

Less performance
Issues with E10 fuel over long term use.

I wouldn't.