AMG C43 Convertible, an expensive dog walk.....
Discussion
Not sure this will appeal much on here but here goes;
Mrs Sticky's MX5 RF had paint problems, we couldn't quite decide whether to sort and keep or cut our losses and move on. I took the dugs for a walk down to the beach and wandered past the local dealer who we know on the way there.. Whilst waiting to cross the road I looked over at the stock (he's always got something interesting Quattroportes, S2000's, Porsche etc) kicking around and a C43.....
I assumed it was a 200 or a diseasel but a quick nosey revealed BiTurbo on the sides....oh interesting, not sure about the white but after the MX5's soul red being a big problem, a plain colour was strangely appealing and the Ox Blood red interior gave a good contrast.
Couple of days later I mentioned it to Mrs Sticky and showed her the ad, she didn't say no! Took the RF down to the dealer, told him about the paint, he was happy to sort and off we went for a few hours in the C43. It's a Merc plus 1 owner car (from about 6 months old) and just over 40k miles. Very different from the RF but Mrs Sticky took to it straight away which is always a good sign! Did a deal and collected last week.
Thoughts so far? Well it doesn't half get down the road when you are in the mood but it also does the mooching around thing quite nicely too. We have never had a car with so much configuration possible so still getting used to faffing around with all that. Seats are good, the optional switchable AMG performance exhaust is on the naughty side but is easily quietened down, the stereo is utterly crap and needs sorting. The damping is very good, a very poor road near St Andrews that has tried to throw various things into the scenery (I'm looking at you CRX, M135i, Mk 1 MX5) over the years was dealt with really well with the dampers in comfy setting.
It's doing high 20's mpg driven sensibly, RFL is in the cheap bracket & insurance was only a hundred quid more than the RF. So far, so good
Mrs Sticky's MX5 RF had paint problems, we couldn't quite decide whether to sort and keep or cut our losses and move on. I took the dugs for a walk down to the beach and wandered past the local dealer who we know on the way there.. Whilst waiting to cross the road I looked over at the stock (he's always got something interesting Quattroportes, S2000's, Porsche etc) kicking around and a C43.....
I assumed it was a 200 or a diseasel but a quick nosey revealed BiTurbo on the sides....oh interesting, not sure about the white but after the MX5's soul red being a big problem, a plain colour was strangely appealing and the Ox Blood red interior gave a good contrast.
Couple of days later I mentioned it to Mrs Sticky and showed her the ad, she didn't say no! Took the RF down to the dealer, told him about the paint, he was happy to sort and off we went for a few hours in the C43. It's a Merc plus 1 owner car (from about 6 months old) and just over 40k miles. Very different from the RF but Mrs Sticky took to it straight away which is always a good sign! Did a deal and collected last week.
Thoughts so far? Well it doesn't half get down the road when you are in the mood but it also does the mooching around thing quite nicely too. We have never had a car with so much configuration possible so still getting used to faffing around with all that. Seats are good, the optional switchable AMG performance exhaust is on the naughty side but is easily quietened down, the stereo is utterly crap and needs sorting. The damping is very good, a very poor road near St Andrews that has tried to throw various things into the scenery (I'm looking at you CRX, M135i, Mk 1 MX5) over the years was dealt with really well with the dampers in comfy setting.
It's doing high 20's mpg driven sensibly, RFL is in the cheap bracket & insurance was only a hundred quid more than the RF. So far, so good
Andy665 said:
Just bought one myself, just over 40k miles.
Was very lucky to find a Premium Plus with loads of further extras, aircap, HUD, Lane Keep Assist, Blind Spot Alert, Park Pilot, rear air suspension etc etc
Lovely split personality car - more impressed with it than I thought I would be.
I think the split personality is the key here that makes it very usable, it's no sports car as such and they were never on my radar but it manages to do that thing (especially when the roof is down) of offering more enjoyment than you expect.Was very lucky to find a Premium Plus with loads of further extras, aircap, HUD, Lane Keep Assist, Blind Spot Alert, Park Pilot, rear air suspension etc etc
Lovely split personality car - more impressed with it than I thought I would be.
SE2 said:
Only had one convertible (B7 2.0T) and absolutely love the driving experience.
This looks lovely, and red leather is always great IMO. What is the engine on a 43, a six cylinder?
Cheers Chap, yes, BiTurbo 3.0 V6. Gives a nice cultured burble when pootling around. We like the fact that it is quite subtle in many ways with only a tiny AMG badge on the front grill & a small one on the boot.This looks lovely, and red leather is always great IMO. What is the engine on a 43, a six cylinder?
Need to get a decent road trip sorted for it!
Nice 100 mile trip out today for lunch, 4 up and just mooching along. Used the eco setting that has the sailing or 'gliding' (coasting) in Merc speak. We ended up with 35.3 mpg overall which I thing is pretty good going as they are not the lightest things around. You can't argue with 1600rpm at 72mph on cruise, it wafts really well.
Seats are proving very comfy but still supportive; even the back seat crew were happy enough with theirs!
I have turned my attention to ....the worst car stereo....in the world....Mr Merc clearly wanted you to spend even more money on the upgrade one they flog.
So! I have purchased a set of used Burmester door trims that have space for tweeters. Ours has the air scarf but that should (!) just swap over.
I have been in touch with Horst from Allwoods car audio and had good chat yesterday with him. Lots of good advice and what works and what doesn't on these. Handily, their competition winning demo car is a GLC so very similar in so far as where everything is music wise.
A custom plug and play wiring harness is being made so the car talks to a Musway DSP amp, ESX door components, Match Subs x2 & the Musway dongle that connects an app to your phone for tuning purposes. They are going to upload a tried and tested base setting for the DSP just to get me going. He asked if the new door trims had black on the back of the speaker grills, they did, it is a thick muffling felt that is relatively easily removed and will allow more sound through, like I said, helpful!
So, looking forward to this, everything will be located as per factory and once we see where we are we might do the rears but removal is a complete pain so we shall see!
Seats are proving very comfy but still supportive; even the back seat crew were happy enough with theirs!
I have turned my attention to ....the worst car stereo....in the world....Mr Merc clearly wanted you to spend even more money on the upgrade one they flog.
So! I have purchased a set of used Burmester door trims that have space for tweeters. Ours has the air scarf but that should (!) just swap over.
I have been in touch with Horst from Allwoods car audio and had good chat yesterday with him. Lots of good advice and what works and what doesn't on these. Handily, their competition winning demo car is a GLC so very similar in so far as where everything is music wise.
A custom plug and play wiring harness is being made so the car talks to a Musway DSP amp, ESX door components, Match Subs x2 & the Musway dongle that connects an app to your phone for tuning purposes. They are going to upload a tried and tested base setting for the DSP just to get me going. He asked if the new door trims had black on the back of the speaker grills, they did, it is a thick muffling felt that is relatively easily removed and will allow more sound through, like I said, helpful!
So, looking forward to this, everything will be located as per factory and once we see where we are we might do the rears but removal is a complete pain so we shall see!
So, big box of stuff arrived Saturday lunchtime, not raining, rude not to get cracking on with pulling the interior apart.....
Started with the subs down in the firewall, removed Mercs fake plastic sub from the driver's side, huge moulded affair that can't have cost much less than a real speaker, and the wopping 6 incher from the passenger side
The replacement Match subs are 8" and far better quality.
Located a wee space ideal for the Musway DSP amp. Got all the wiring fed up and over the trans tunnel for the new addition sub, then got the new amp harness plugged in and carefully stuffed out of the rattling way. Musway dongle plugged in and 3D taped onto the power box in the footwell.
Then stripped the door panels, the original plastic basket speakers are truly appalling, tweeters added into the new door trims, crossover secured on the trim panel and everything Tessa taped up and connected. The air scarf switch that the new panel didn't have was an easy unclip/clip in job thankfully.
Quick test it actually works before the phaff of trying to put everything back together. It worked but didn't sound great, much tuning to do!
A good 2/3 hrs of re-building trying not to break the 8 million plastic clips and connectors
Downloaded the Musway app and got playing with the DSP, crumbs, not bad at all. More tweaking with the app over time but a really clear crisp sound with sensible bass at lowish volumes. Not cheap but definitely worth it
Started with the subs down in the firewall, removed Mercs fake plastic sub from the driver's side, huge moulded affair that can't have cost much less than a real speaker, and the wopping 6 incher from the passenger side
The replacement Match subs are 8" and far better quality.Located a wee space ideal for the Musway DSP amp. Got all the wiring fed up and over the trans tunnel for the new addition sub, then got the new amp harness plugged in and carefully stuffed out of the rattling way. Musway dongle plugged in and 3D taped onto the power box in the footwell.
Then stripped the door panels, the original plastic basket speakers are truly appalling, tweeters added into the new door trims, crossover secured on the trim panel and everything Tessa taped up and connected. The air scarf switch that the new panel didn't have was an easy unclip/clip in job thankfully.
Quick test it actually works before the phaff of trying to put everything back together. It worked but didn't sound great, much tuning to do!
A good 2/3 hrs of re-building trying not to break the 8 million plastic clips and connectors
Downloaded the Musway app and got playing with the DSP, crumbs, not bad at all. More tweaking with the app over time but a really clear crisp sound with sensible bass at lowish volumes. Not cheap but definitely worth it
Spoke with Horst from Allwoods who sent me some tweeks for the DSP, oh yes, had to wind the bass back a little but that's really starting to sound good.
Had been wanting to clean the roof thoroughly and treat, enter the shed of amazing stuff (if you can find anything.....) and sure enough, a tin of Fabisil, a tub and large clean paintbrush. Marvellous! Got the roof gently scrubbed, hosepipe only (!) and whilst waiting for it to dry properly found some caliper paint I last used on our old Brabus E class wagon from years back.
Before:
After;
Off with the rear wheels, the calipers didn't look great. Wire brush and brake cleaner then on with the paint.
Back on the ground and Fabisil'd;
I was looking for a more factory finish but the silver should simmer down quite quickly and look OE. Fabisil applied and now drying. Just hope it doesn't rain..........
Had been wanting to clean the roof thoroughly and treat, enter the shed of amazing stuff (if you can find anything.....) and sure enough, a tin of Fabisil, a tub and large clean paintbrush. Marvellous! Got the roof gently scrubbed, hosepipe only (!) and whilst waiting for it to dry properly found some caliper paint I last used on our old Brabus E class wagon from years back.
Before:
After;
Off with the rear wheels, the calipers didn't look great. Wire brush and brake cleaner then on with the paint.
Back on the ground and Fabisil'd;
I was looking for a more factory finish but the silver should simmer down quite quickly and look OE. Fabisil applied and now drying. Just hope it doesn't rain..........
ClaphamGT3 said:
A very nice upgrade to the MX5!
I completely agree with your point about doing fast and pottering equally well - the ability to happily pootle is AMG s super-power
I completely agree with your point about doing fast and pottering equally well - the ability to happily pootle is AMG s super-power
MX5 was good fun when in the mood, this probably more adaptable and usable but still fun when the mood takes.TV8 said:
Looks a good car and love the interior. Surprised the sound system needed so much of a change.
Cheers TV8, it was specced with the base 'stereo', someone on the C43 Fb forum likened it to sounding worse than his Datsun Cherry radio back in the day! That bad! Sorted now though.MiniMan64 said:
Lovely thing, hardcore on the stereo. I m rather keen on an estate of these although I d prefer it s bigger brother the E43 but they re rare as anything.
How does the V6 sound?
HI MiniMan, V6 sounds pretty good, this has the AMG factory performance exhaust so all the noise you want when switched on, a gentle burble when switched off. There isn't a huge amount of noise from the engine itself, cold air intakes are available to increase that if you wanted but the open filters are placed above the turbos which doesn't make any sense to me. There are some expensive USA kits that are supposedly better but I'll stay standard for the time being......How does the V6 sound?
Had been wanting to clean the roof thoroughly and treat, enter the shed of amazing stuff (if you can find anything.....) and sure enough, a tin of Fabisil, a tub and large clean paintbrush. Marvellous! Got the roof gently scrubbed, hosepipe only (!) and whilst waiting for it to dry properly found some caliper paint I last used on our old Brabus E class wagon from years back.
Calipers before;
After;
Silver actually matches the diamond cut part of the wheels which was of course planned and completely intentional....
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