C63 AMG - Talk to me!

[crazy about cars]

I am negotiating a deal on a 60 plate C63 AMG at a Merc dealership. On paper it looks ideal - with around 15,000 on the clock, FMBSH and around 1 year remaining of manufacturers warranty (iirc). I am pushing for HP deal as I don't think it would be wise going lease with a 60 plate.

I haven't owned a Merc before and now that I'm approaching 32 I'm tempted to own one. Can anyone offer some insight as to what to look out for?

I do low mileage (5000 annually) but would need to rely on the car daily for commuting. I know it won't be as sporty as my current ride but I am hoping for more luxury and also slightly cheaper/hassle free maintenance. (the tyres itself should be cheaper than my current costs).

The most important thing now for me is that the interior is free of squeak and rattles. I have an OCD with squeaks and rattles and it annoys me a lot. The other thing would be a decent sound system.

[crazy about cars]

Hmmm, first thing I've noticed is that the NCAP impact rating is only 2 stars? :P

[Seventy]

Don't be surprised to get squeaks and rattles in these they are a little prone to it. A good long test drive will show up any problems. I don't know your budget but I would seriously consider the facelifted version - for the MCT gearbox if nothing else.

[chiefski26]

Post up a link to the car so we can check the spec.

[crazy about cars]

Thanks for the reply chaps - as I've mentioned I never own a Merc before so pretty clueless. It's just the price of the C63 that tempts me. Budget would be around £40,000 mark. This is the car I am looking at :

http://www.sytner.co.uk/mercedes-benz/bedford/sear...

Facelifted versions are all >50k if I am not mistaken? I would love to go for a long test drive but as with most main dealer test drives I'm pretty sure it will last around 15 minutes..

[TonyF]

I just bought my c250 cdi estate from bedford, speak to phil and ask for an extended test drive it shouldnt be an issue, it wasnt for me..
Ive had quite a few friends own the c63 and whilst it is a great car they have all had the same concerns about them which is fuel consumption and moved them on after a very short time.
Most have struggled to get 13-14 mpg which isnt great...
Reflecting back to test drives, I recently walked away from Aston Martins because the dealer would only let me on an accompanied drive for around 20-30 minutes and refused to let me go out alone with my wife to chat on a more serious note about the car long term.
It amazes me how they think that you would part with 120-150k based on an accompanied drive for that small amount of time...

[crazy about cars]

TonyF said:

I just bought my c250 cdi estate from bedford, speak to phil and ask for an extended test drive it shouldnt be an issue, it wasnt for me..
Ive had quite a few friends own the c63 and whilst it is a great car they have all had the same concerns about them which is fuel consumption and moved them on after a very short time.
Most have struggled to get 13-14 mpg which isnt great...
Reflecting back to test drives, I recently walked away from Aston Martins because the dealer would only let me on an accompanied drive for around 20-30 minutes and refused to let me go out alone with my wife to chat on a more serious note about the car long term.
It amazes me how they think that you would part with 120-150k based on an accompanied drive for that small amount of time...

Thanks for the recommendation! Fuel economy is not too important for me as I only do around 100 miles a week commuting. 13-14 is a bit low though... even my modded GTR manages 16 around town ...

Can someone please comment more about the C Class having issue with squeaks and rattles? I would've thought Merc excels in interior build quality?

[chiefski26]

That is a good spec c63 for £3k more you can get a facelift car which wil be a non ppplus car.

[crazy about cars]

chiefski26 said:

That is a good spec c63 for £3k more you can get a facelift car which wil be a non ppplus car.

Yes, the spec is good but I'm debating if Performance Pack is worth it... the facelift does look nicer with the DRLs...

Does the upgraded sound system come standard on C63s?

[HotJambalaya]

DAB is standard on the coupe but not saloon or estate.

I recently bought a 10 plate, I'd say the 19's are pretty firm and crashy. I don't get any rattles or anything, though I have heard about rattle problems on the w204. I'm in the city, and my average mpg over 300 miles is 11.4mpg. I took it on a motorway blast the other day and got a personal best of 21mpg.

I have the HK surround system with dab and find the sound excellent, I also really like the reversing camera coming from a smaller car and being in London!

Personally, I'd ditch the performance pack plus model and get a facelift version with the newer comand unit in it, ie the integrated unit as opposed to the pop out unit

Edited by HotJambalaya on Sunday 21st October 10:51

[eldar]

crazy about cars said:

Thanks for the recommendation! Fuel economy is not too important for me as I only do around 100 miles a week commuting. 13-14 is a bit low though... even my modded GTR manages 16 around town ...

Can someone please comment more about the C Class having issue with squeaks and rattles? I would've thought Merc excels in interior build quality?

There are some cars that have a squeaky dash that dealers seem unable to fix. Seems to be fairly random, and varies in degree. Usually there from the start, and tends no to appear after a while. A test drive will show if the car has it or not.

Budge for lots of rear tyres as well as petrol. 10p/mile tyres, 40p petrol. There are deals on new ones, a reasonably speccced brand new one can be had for 50k

[kashn]

Leasing options on the c63 are very good atm. Check this out £516pcm including vat and the car will be brand new:
http://www.yourfleet.co.uk/car_leasing/mercedes-be...

[SimonMaidenhead]

or http://www.freedomcontracts.com/viewdeal.asp?id=88...


Be daft not to at that price, surely depreciation over 2 years would be a lot more than your 15k outlay

[crazy about cars]

Wow... getting a new one seem to make more sense with those prices! A facelifted one I saw is around £45,000...

I will have to think carefully then as I personally prefer straight forward finance like HP compared to leasing. It's the fear of having no car to drive at the end of lease term if I can't cough up balloon.

[SimonMaidenhead]

crazy about cars said:

Wow... getting a new one seem to make more sense with those prices! A facelifted one I saw is around £45,000...

I will have to think carefully then as I personally prefer straight forward finance like HP compared to leasing. It's the fear of having no car to drive at the end of lease term if I can't cough up balloon.

No balloon to cough up, hand back the keys and get something else that takes your fancy!!! The way I look at it is your 45k second hand car is going to be worth 25-30k in 2 years time, therefore a loss off 15 to 20k. This way you know that in 2 years you've spent out an exact figure of roughly 15k and can hand the car back or take out another lease for a brand new car. The other way of thinking is after the initial 3k deposit or thereabouts you can invest the balance of the 45k you were going to fork out and if invested wisely it well well offset a good portion of the 15k over 2 years.
I maybe looking at it the wrong way, but to my mind it's a no brainer

[crazy about cars]

SimonMaidenhead said:

No balloon to cough up, hand back the keys and get something else that takes your fancy!!! The way I look at it is your 45k second hand car is going to be worth 25-30k in 2 years time, therefore a loss off 15 to 20k. This way you know that in 2 years you've spent out an exact figure of roughly 15k and can hand the car back or take out another lease for a brand new car. The other way of thinking is after the initial 3k deposit or thereabouts you can invest the balance of the 45k you were going to fork out and if invested wisely it well well offset a good portion of the 15k over 2 years.
I maybe looking at it the wrong way, but to my mind it's a no brainer

True but if you don't cough up balloon you will need to come up with some equity as deposit for next car though? At least that was how it was explained to me. From what I understasnd from your explanation it is akin of paying 15-20k car hire for 2 years with only fuel at your expense?

The other thing about leasing from what I've heard are terms applied. Some require you do only service at an approved branch at your own cost and some will penalise for even smallest blemish when returning car...

[SimonMaidenhead]

So they expect you to look after the car as if it were your own, and quite rightly they expect a full main dealer service history. As you've already stated you only do 5000 miles a year, so you've got to fork out for 2 services which I hope you would have done if it were your own. As for any scratches etc, you can have a car detailed for about £200, so just do that and the end of the lease.

[crazy about cars]

SimonMaidenhead said:

So they expect you to look after the car as if it were your own, and quite rightly they expect a full main dealer service history. As you've already stated you only do 5000 miles a year, so you've got to fork out for 2 services which I hope you would have done if it were your own. As for any scratches etc, you can have a car detailed for about £200, so just do that and the end of the lease.

All valid points. I haven't took out lease deals before and have been hearing mostly negative things so just being cautious. Since I do low mileage, likes to change cars every 1-2 years and like new cars I guess lease deals should be a no brainer.

I guess the risk would be change in employment which required more travelling...

[Seventy]

I am averaging 22mpg over the first 6k miles in mine. Rear tyres at 5mm. First set!

[taffyracer]

I'm averaging 19.6 mpg, 2 trackdays, mixed driving and 7,000 miles, still have some meat on the rear tyres but not alot.....all in all that's pretty good for the package, I leased for the 1st time, the deal was just too good to be true, at these rates it doesn't make sense to buy