C63 Bi Turbo W205

[Krise]

Evening all

Moving out of London soon and kids are a bit older so don’t need as much space so the trusty Volvo barge is going to get moved on.

As a last stop before we move to being an electric car family I want another quick car, I really fancy a C63, 2016/17 ish ideally I would like a convertible or saloon with the sports seats.

I would be buying from a Merc main dealer, I see they all come with a 2 year warranty, aside from tyres and fuel are there any particularly scary running costs ?

What’s the service schedule like, at what mileage or year is the “big” service due ?

Not particularly put of by big running costs, but would like to factor those into purchase decisions.

Also is it likely to see 25mpg on a steady motorway cruise ?

Thanks in advance

Krise

[petery27]

I had a 2015 estate and servicing at Merc wasn't cheap but nothing crazy and on a par with the M3 and Range Rover i had before that.

Sat on a motorway at 70-75 i could 34mpg out of mine and i'd average about 25/26 driving around the rest of the time. They are so quick you don't get much opportunity to really go for it for long periods so it doesn't seem to drink fuel at the rate it could.

[carbonblack]

From what I've read, they do appear to be fairly bulletproof. There doens't seem to be any horrorstories I've found whilst researching the W205 4.0tt, (I'm thinking along the lines of head-bolts on the W204, SMG and VANOS failures on the 5.0L BMW V10 and so on)

That said - I'm yet to see many particularly high mileage examples due to the oldest ones being 7 years old.

I've seen one or two at 80k miles which are contenders for an inpending purchase given I'll only do 3-5k a year. What is the consensus on higher mileage cars?

I know that bushes etc will need replacing at some stage, does anyone have any experience in costs of these or other similar components? I know sometimes its a false economy saving £3-8k over an example with half the miles if you've got to spend similar to that in wear and tear suspension items.

I have read that the S version with the Drexler electronic diff can be a very expensive fix - £8k from what I've read in a couple of places....



Also, one thing I do seem to see regularly is that the steering wheels look terriblly worn even on a lot of supposed 20-40k mile examples. Are they prone to wear so easily or are an unusually high proportion of people running mileage blocking devices on these cars?

[Faszination76]

I have owned a 2017 C63S Saloon since July 2020. Bought from an indie garage with 15k up and only the statutory warranty.

To answer the questions:

Servicing

As others have said, nothing outlandish for regular visits - provided you're comfortable with main dealer pricing. Best option I found was to buy a service plan for 3 years, which covers me for a B, A and then a B service (A being oil and filters, B being the inspection type service). Anything outside of that (like brakes, other repairs etc) I tend to use an independent specialist, works out a little cheaper on labour.

However, the one thing to be very careful of is the additional service items which the previous owner may have missed (as was the case with my car). The car was advertised with FSH and indeed, the Merc data shows just that. But, when I got into the detail behind that history, I discovered my car was overdue for spark plugs, ATF fluid change, diff oil change and cabin air filters.

So, in 2 years and about 18000 miles of driving, i've had to have the following extra work done:

Starter motor bendix - lubrication dried out, so screeched everytime the car was started from hot (£178)
A/C regas, new auxiliary battery (they last about 3-4 years) and sat nav update (£538)
Drivers side lower control arm - Severely bent after hitting a huge pot hole (£651)
Diff oil change (£106)
ATF oil, spark plugs and cabin filters (£647)

Oh and tyres - only had one set so far but, if you get a C63 - make sure you put a set of MP4S's on it. My car came with MPSS all round and it was a bit of a handful in the damp/wet. Changing to 4S's was night and day difference - mine have 15k on them now and still have approx 5mm all round.

MPG

Best i've seen is 33mpg on steady motorway runs (keeping to the speed limit, minimal overtaking)
Worst i've see is 9mpg on a cold commute in the dead of winter (stuck in traffic for the most part)
Average daily mpg is approx. 24mpg

Electronic diff issues

I have never ever seen a report of one of these failing. Provided you stick religiously to the oil changes and don't serially abuse the car, I seriously doubt you will ever experience a problem with it. I am pretty mechanically sympathetic but, I went on a 2 day driving course last year, day 1 of which was at Milbrook and I spent all day long, hammering round their road circuits, high speed cornering, lots of high G starts/stops etc and also on their dynamic handling pad - no issues whatsoever.

Finally, the reason the steering wheels look tatty is because they are part alcantara, which in heavy use gets flat and dirty. Easy to bring it back, micro fibre cloth and warm soapy water.

Happy to answer any more questions.

PS This is going to be possibly the last chance to own a V8 - don't hesitate! The pending EV change is partly why I bought when I did too.

[carbonblack]

Great info Fazination76, thanks.

From your post, you mention that the Merc service history and A and B services. Are you saying that despite A and B services that spark plugs, ATF and diff oil were still not done as part of that at Mercedes?

I do agree that the alcantara steering wheels look tatty, but a lot of the non-S leather ones also seem to really show their age despite lowish miles.

Do you happen to have a reference on the ATF, diff oil and other items and their service schedule? I've not found anything definitive online but perhaps I need to look harder.

Thanks

[JAMSXR]

After 6 months I’m in love with my estate, however, it did take me a while to warm to it.

I bought mine from Mercedes and took out the Mercedes service plan, circa £55 per month and it covers both A and B services. For any additional work (i.e. pads and disks) I will take to my local specialist as they are a fair bit cheaper.

Go for the S if you like the looks and seats. Following a recent driving experience at MB World I’m happy I saved my money and when for the non-S, I really couldn’t tell much of a difference, and my instructor also said that most of them prefer the <2018 non-S model with the mechanical diff - I’m sure in most amateur hands you won’t notice the difference.

Edited by JAMSXR on Saturday 18th June 06:49

[Faszination76]

carbonblack said:

Great info Fazination76, thanks.

From your post, you mention that the Merc service history and A and B services. Are you saying that despite A and B services that spark plugs, ATF and diff oil were still not done as part of that at Mercedes?

I do agree that the alcantara steering wheels look tatty, but a lot of the non-S leather ones also seem to really show their age despite lowish miles.

Do you happen to have a reference on the ATF, diff oil and other items and their service schedule? I've not found anything definitive online but perhaps I need to look harder.

Thanks

In terms of the missing service items, I discovered that although they flag as 'additional work' on the schedule, if you opt not to have them done, they do not flag as overdue and will not alert on Mercedes systems until the next schedule point. I had to spend a lot of time on the phone with both my local (Nottingham) dealer and the supplying dealer (Exeter) to work out that the items I mentioned above were missed. Its a glaring fault in Merc's system if you ask me - I couldn't convince them to do the missed stuff for free either, as far as they were concerned 'computer says no'.

I paid for the diff oil at Mercedes and the other stuff at an indie. If I choose to carry on using Mercedes for servicing after my plan is up (next February) then they will alert me at the right time for the next set of additional work, but I'll switch to using the indie full time after that as at least I can talk to the mechanics who service the car and I know they're not going to rip me off.

Below is an extract from Merc's electronic service platform that should show you what you need, plugs don't appear as I've only had them done in the last 12 months (I think that's why anyway).

Every 15,500 miles/2 years
Replace dust filter
Service 3 At every service
Engine: change oil and oil filter
Service 8 - Every 31,000 miles/3years
Replace air filter element
Service 8 - Every 31,000 miles/3years
Rear axle: Change oil - With code 467 (Electronic locking differential) or with code 471 ( Mechanical locking differential )
Service 10 - Every 31,000 miles/3 years
Panoramic sliding sunroof: Clean and Lubricate guide mechanism (with CODE 413 - Panoramic sliding sunroof/glass roof)
Service 20 - Once 31,000 miles/3 years
Automatic transmission: Change oil and oil filter ( transmission 722.930)
Service 20 - Every 31,000 miles/3 years
Automatic transmission: Change oil and oil filter (Transmission 725.066).
Service 20 - Every 77,500 miles/5 years
Automatic transmission: Change oil and oil filter
Transmission 722.9 (except 722.930)
Transmission 725.0 (except 725.066) except code M005 (Vehicles with 4MATIC/all-wheel drive) up to model year 2016
Automatic transmission and transfer case: Change oil and automatic transmission oil filter
Transmission 725.0 with code M005 (Vehicles with 4MATIC/all-wheel drive) up to model year 2016
Automatic transmission
Transfer case

[Faszination76]

JAMSXR said:

After 6 months I’m in love with my estate, however, it did take me a while to warm to it.

Go for the S if you like the looks and seats. Following a recent driving experience at MB World I’m happy I saved my money and when for the non-S, I really couldn’t tell much of a difference, and my instructor also said that most of them prefer the <2018 non-S model with the mechanical diff - I’m sure in most amateur hands you won’t notice the difference.

Edited by JAMSXR on Saturday 18th June 06:49

Was the cost different really that much between S and non-S? I can't see a reason to not get the S in my opinion, great seats, dynamic engine mounts, bigger brakes, trick diff and more power. Personal preference of course, but I always buy the best I can afford at the time and the difference between the two in my case was negligible. Might be different now though.

[JAMSXR]

Faszination76 said:

Was the cost different really that much between S and non-S? I can't see a reason to not get the S in my opinion, great seats, dynamic engine mounts, bigger brakes, trick diff and more power. Personal preference of course, but I always buy the best I can afford at the time and the difference between the two in my case was negligible. Might be different now though.

It’s all down to preference, I would pay extra not to have red callipers . I prefer the under the radar look.

I bought used and it was at least a good few thousand more to get the S, and they were all higher mileage examples at the time. Having driven them both back to back on track, I couldn’t notice the difference. As mentioned, the Mercedes Driving instructors all prefer the mechanical diff of the non-S. I was also slightly confused the brakes on the S saloon I drove felt softer than mine, I put this down to it being a well used demo car. The S pads and disks are also a chunk more money. It really comes down to looks rather than extra performance in my opinion.

[Faszination76]

JAMSXR said:

It’s all down to preference, I would pay extra not to have red callipers . I prefer the under the radar look.

I bought used and it was at least a good few thousand more to get the S, and they were all higher mileage examples at the time. Having driven them both back to back on track, I couldn’t notice the difference. As mentioned, the Mercedes Driving instructors all prefer the mechanical diff of the non-S. I was also slightly confused the brakes on the S saloon I drove felt softer than mine, I put this down to it being a well used demo car. The S pads and disks are also a chunk more money. It really comes down to looks rather than extra performance in my opinion.

True - I personally love the look of the red calipers. I think the car is still pretty subtle looking with them, that being said I don't want it too subtle, otherwise I may as well have bought a cooking model C-Class.

The brakes do feel a bit like that if they're well worn, I noticed that on mine when the rear pads needed doing. Great fun on track but its a once only thing for me I think.

[Blown2CV]

2016 w205 c63s estate (stage 1) owner here. They are batst but also not, great all rounder!

[carbonblack]

A question, perhaps specific to W205 pre-facelift C63 S models (unless it applies to the non-S too..)

Does the car have a soft limiter when parked, in neutral? Does this apply to all modes (e.g sports / sports+)?

I ask not because I intend on annoying the neighbourhood, but I believed that may be a soft limiter of 4k(?) rpm - I wondered if this was the case as it may be a sign a car has been tinkered with.


On a similar note: is there a way to perform a cold start as quietly as possible. I guess a start is to leave in comfort but is there a way to try and keep the noise down when setting off at unsocialble hours? Again, in relation to the pre-facelift S with the active exhaust.

Edited by carbonblack on Monday 20th June 19:25

[Faszination76]

I believe there’s a soft limiter in park, but not sure about neutral.

To answer your other question, when starting from stone cold on a car with the switchable exhaust (like mine), the car opens 3 sets of butterflies - one in the centre and one before each rear silencer.

Even in Comfort (the default mode at startup) the car is very loud and there is no way to make it any quieter. Once the outside temp gets below about 5 degrees your neighbours will be treated to the full V8 symphony until the engine management lowers the revs to normal tickover (around 30 seconds).

You can get a similar effect on a warm day by manually opening the valves with the button before startup, but it never sounds quite as good.

i love that about the car though, it reminds me I’m not driving a normal car &#128556;

[bigtime]

I bought my 2017 C63 AMG S at the end of April and love it. They also had an offer of half price servicing at £27 per month that I accepted. I assume this pack covers spark plugs and diff oil etc and I can just book it in online without having to argue with them about the optional add ons?

[Blown2CV]

bigtime said:

I bought my 2017 C63 AMG S at the end of April and love it. They also had an offer of half price servicing at £27 per month that I accepted. I assume this pack covers spark plugs and diff oil etc and I can just book it in online without having to argue with them about the optional add ons?

question for the provider surely

[Faszination76]

bigtime said:

I bought my 2017 C63 AMG S at the end of April and love it. They also had an offer of half price servicing at £27 per month that I accepted. I assume this pack covers spark plugs and diff oil etc and I can just book it in online without having to argue with them about the optional add ons?

You’d need to check with Merc, also you may find if those items are out of sync on your schedule (as they were on mine as the previous owner skipped them), you’ll be charged for the work separately, regardless of your plan.

[bigtime]

That's shocking if so. I bought it from Mercedes approved so I'd be arguing they shouldn't be selling a car which service history wasn't up to date or at least get the missing serviced items done before hand over.

[bigtime]

That's shocking if so. I bought it from Mercedes approved so I'd be arguing they shouldn't be selling a car which service history wasn't up to date or at least get the missing serviced items done before hand over.

[Blown2CV]

you can get half-price servicing just by going to an independent instead of a dealer

[Faszination76]

bigtime said:

That's shocking if so. I bought it from Mercedes approved so I'd be arguing they shouldn't be selling a car which service history wasn't up to date or at least get the missing serviced items done before hand over.

When I tried to argue that the service history was 'Complete' and that Merc should be doing the work FOC, they were having none of it and that is for a car that until my ownership, had only ever been to the dealer for servicing and repairs.

By the letter of the contract, a check should be made on the car prior to Mercedes going into the service plan contract with you, but that certainly didn't happen with me.

Ultimately, I would prepare yourself for some haggling. The best I got out of them was a 40% discount on parts and labour for the diff oil change, which was the reason I got that done at the dealer and not the indy like the rest of the skipped items.