C63 Estate - the "sensible" family car
Discussion
TL:DR; Dad sells impractical V8 GT, tries to fill gap with a range of (mostly) nice cars that are too small and impractical still and ends up with another V8 that everyone can enjoy, even if they didn't want to.
After a long series of cars that my very tolerant family invariably have descibed as "noisy" (Aston Martin Vantage), "compact" (Z4MR), "not enough room" (Mini JCW), "but its green and smells funny" (shed 2002 Honda Accord) and "where do I sit Daddy" (all of them), I've finally relented and purchased a sensible family car. Well a family car. Ok, a car I can just about squeeze everyone in alongside the family bus (Touran - nice but slow / dull)
The biggest challenge since selling my rather beloved Aston was finding a car that ticked the emotion box (by which I think I really mean noise and feel) at sane speeds - the Z4MR was lovely, but only came alive a long way into the rev range and sounded a bit tame, the JCW again is a hoot and sounds great but still didn't do it for me day to day and with my seat in the right position, even my youngest couldn't sit behind me without complaining alot (making it a very impractical 3 seater). So I got the AT bug and spent evening after evening looking for a responsible, practical family car.
Once I'd rationalised my next car to be something everyone could get into, my immediate thought was an M5 (I've had 2 M Cars and 3 other BMW's) - but the total lack of drama at reasonable speeds quickly took it off the list, I also considered the NA V8 M3 saloon, but they are rare and very expensive for their age for a nice spec / low mileage example.
I then got some "advice" that suggested an estate was the way forward if I expected the car to be usable for us all - so out went the M cars and I looked at the new ST with Sync 2 (nice enough), the Golf R estate (lovely and golfy quality inside) and randomly the X3 35d because I like BMW's.
But then two things came to mind 1) Depreciation 2)That emotion thing. I was pretty sure that a £21k Focus (cheapest Sync2 ST estate) or a £30k Golf (cheapest R estate) would lose around £10k in 3 years / 20k miles and would be competent, but not set my world alight whilst losing £300 a month - not ideal.
So my attention then moved to large engined family estates, which totalled a list of: Jaguar XFR, E63 & C63 as no one else seems to be in the game (try finding a reasonably new 3 series with a 3L NA petrol engine!). I was politely informed that a Jag would not be tolerated "for at least another 10 years", so I was left with the 2 Mercs.
This led me to seeing if I could fit 3 seats into the back of a C63 (I could) and if they were comfortable (they were) and if it could play their music loudly (it does) and if it made the Boss sick (it didn't) - so with a couple of days going back and forth, a deal was struck.
I'm still not sure how I got away with it, but I picked up my 2013 C63 estate last weekend in shy-and-retiring Opal Fire Red with only the mildest of rebukes from the ministry of war and finance.
It's a poverty spec car, which means it's only got full leather, heated seats, sunroof, electric everything, adaptive lights, sat nav with traffic, online apps, jukebox, DVD player, about 20 types of connectivity for phones / music and some snazzy 19" alloys (which I think may have been an option to be fair) and remote opening boot that I've only nearly hurt myself / children with three times this week pressing buttons at random on the remote when approaching the car.
It was really well prepared by Mercedes Guildford, with brand new Continental tyres, brakes with lots of meat on them and the next major service included in March. It was most enjoyable interrupting the showroom starting it up to leave (one small child scared in the process) and I was pleasantly surprised to get the full car reveal experience in the showroom on a second hand car.
Early impressions are very favorable. I can't work out how to see the MPG, so that's good. The noise is fantastic and it feels properly built - no annoying rattles or squeaks, the buttons all feel nice (even the cheap looking silver ones for the heated seats), it pulls like a train, it has only modest levels of traction in anything but the dryest of conditions and has that "emotion" I missed, in spades. It's very early days but it feels like a keeper and really is the last of a breed - even now it seems absurd to explain to anyone whose not a petrolhead that I do indeed have a 6.2l engine in my family car!
Oh and to return to the man-maths, I think the total cost of ownership vs. a nearly new Focus / Golf is very favorable, at least that's what I'll tell myself as I spend the majority of my free time topping up the tank with petrol
After a long series of cars that my very tolerant family invariably have descibed as "noisy" (Aston Martin Vantage), "compact" (Z4MR), "not enough room" (Mini JCW), "but its green and smells funny" (shed 2002 Honda Accord) and "where do I sit Daddy" (all of them), I've finally relented and purchased a sensible family car. Well a family car. Ok, a car I can just about squeeze everyone in alongside the family bus (Touran - nice but slow / dull)
The biggest challenge since selling my rather beloved Aston was finding a car that ticked the emotion box (by which I think I really mean noise and feel) at sane speeds - the Z4MR was lovely, but only came alive a long way into the rev range and sounded a bit tame, the JCW again is a hoot and sounds great but still didn't do it for me day to day and with my seat in the right position, even my youngest couldn't sit behind me without complaining alot (making it a very impractical 3 seater). So I got the AT bug and spent evening after evening looking for a responsible, practical family car.
Once I'd rationalised my next car to be something everyone could get into, my immediate thought was an M5 (I've had 2 M Cars and 3 other BMW's) - but the total lack of drama at reasonable speeds quickly took it off the list, I also considered the NA V8 M3 saloon, but they are rare and very expensive for their age for a nice spec / low mileage example.
I then got some "advice" that suggested an estate was the way forward if I expected the car to be usable for us all - so out went the M cars and I looked at the new ST with Sync 2 (nice enough), the Golf R estate (lovely and golfy quality inside) and randomly the X3 35d because I like BMW's.
But then two things came to mind 1) Depreciation 2)That emotion thing. I was pretty sure that a £21k Focus (cheapest Sync2 ST estate) or a £30k Golf (cheapest R estate) would lose around £10k in 3 years / 20k miles and would be competent, but not set my world alight whilst losing £300 a month - not ideal.
So my attention then moved to large engined family estates, which totalled a list of: Jaguar XFR, E63 & C63 as no one else seems to be in the game (try finding a reasonably new 3 series with a 3L NA petrol engine!). I was politely informed that a Jag would not be tolerated "for at least another 10 years", so I was left with the 2 Mercs.
This led me to seeing if I could fit 3 seats into the back of a C63 (I could) and if they were comfortable (they were) and if it could play their music loudly (it does) and if it made the Boss sick (it didn't) - so with a couple of days going back and forth, a deal was struck.
I'm still not sure how I got away with it, but I picked up my 2013 C63 estate last weekend in shy-and-retiring Opal Fire Red with only the mildest of rebukes from the ministry of war and finance.
It's a poverty spec car, which means it's only got full leather, heated seats, sunroof, electric everything, adaptive lights, sat nav with traffic, online apps, jukebox, DVD player, about 20 types of connectivity for phones / music and some snazzy 19" alloys (which I think may have been an option to be fair) and remote opening boot that I've only nearly hurt myself / children with three times this week pressing buttons at random on the remote when approaching the car.
It was really well prepared by Mercedes Guildford, with brand new Continental tyres, brakes with lots of meat on them and the next major service included in March. It was most enjoyable interrupting the showroom starting it up to leave (one small child scared in the process) and I was pleasantly surprised to get the full car reveal experience in the showroom on a second hand car.
Early impressions are very favorable. I can't work out how to see the MPG, so that's good. The noise is fantastic and it feels properly built - no annoying rattles or squeaks, the buttons all feel nice (even the cheap looking silver ones for the heated seats), it pulls like a train, it has only modest levels of traction in anything but the dryest of conditions and has that "emotion" I missed, in spades. It's very early days but it feels like a keeper and really is the last of a breed - even now it seems absurd to explain to anyone whose not a petrolhead that I do indeed have a 6.2l engine in my family car!
Oh and to return to the man-maths, I think the total cost of ownership vs. a nearly new Focus / Golf is very favorable, at least that's what I'll tell myself as I spend the majority of my free time topping up the tank with petrol
Edited by krisdelta on Friday 18th November 09:17
FELIX_5 said:
That's a great choice, nice to see a C63 estate in red as well. Just out of interest, was an RS4 / RS6 not on your radar, if you wanted an estate?
I drove the B8.5 S4, which I really liked, but the incremental cost to a C63 of the same vintage was only about £1k and tough to ignore for the noise and general naughtiness. I considered the RS4 too, but nice ones were more than 5k over my budget so decided driving one might not be a great idea just in case it was amazing. 
Looking forward to a tunnel exhaust testing trip at some point in the near future Looks great - don't think i've ever seen an estate in red!
I'm looking forward to getting a dog for an excuse to chop my C63 coupe in for a wagon!
I would wholeheartedly recommend the secondary cat delete if you would like to increase volume level without being ott
I agree with you i can imagine these holding value reasonably well - alot of people prefer these to the newer model.
I'm looking forward to getting a dog for an excuse to chop my C63 coupe in for a wagon!
I would wholeheartedly recommend the secondary cat delete if you would like to increase volume level without being ott
I agree with you i can imagine these holding value reasonably well - alot of people prefer these to the newer model.
krisdelta said:
FELIX_5 said:
That's a great choice, nice to see a C63 estate in red as well. Just out of interest, was an RS4 / RS6 not on your radar, if you wanted an estate?
I drove the B8.5 S4, which I really liked, but the incremental cost to a C63 of the same vintage was only about £1k and tough to ignore for the noise and general naughtiness. I considered the RS4 too, but nice ones were more than 5k over my budget so decided driving one might not be a great idea just in case it was amazing. 
Hilarious read on a great car. As a poverty-pack car, I suppose it doesn't have the LSD or performance kit fitted? While the performance kit is nice to have (since it shares a lot of internals with the SLS), the LSD would be even more so, to assist in those lairy traction-lacking moments.
Love the colour, too.
Love the colour, too.
YAY - another fellow C63 pilot!
Congrats OP, looks like a stunning example. Really digging the red as well, which is unusual for my normal "buy it in anything that will re-sell" colour choices.
As you'l see from this recent thread: http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a... you are in good company
Enjoy the car
T9
Congrats OP, looks like a stunning example. Really digging the red as well, which is unusual for my normal "buy it in anything that will re-sell" colour choices.
As you'l see from this recent thread: http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a... you are in good company
Enjoy the car
T9
That looks great. I am in Guildford and need to pop over to the Merc dealer after reading that...
I borrow my mates C63 saloon while I lived in Dubai and it was just awesome, pulled so hard and sounded to good. We were driving it back to back with a Ferrari 458 and it was still good to be in the Merc!
I borrow my mates C63 saloon while I lived in Dubai and it was just awesome, pulled so hard and sounded to good. We were driving it back to back with a Ferrari 458 and it was still good to be in the Merc!
Thanks for the positive comments everyone. I did see that Chris Harris vid on the RS4 - thank you, it does make a lovely noise - but I'm happy I didn't tempt myself, that's how I ended up with a V8 Vantage.
I might like a bit more noise, but really need to give it a couple of thousand miles - it still feels barely run in - I'm not convinced the first owner used much of the rev range.
My to-do list so far is split into two areas.
Maybe (things I probably wont get away with doing soon / easily)
Quaife Diff
18" wheels or upgrading rear tyres to 265 to give the rims some protection.
Some kind of exhaust tinkering
Definitely, (when no one from the finance ministry is looking):
OEM 20% window tint b-pillar backwards (weird that it's not standard like on the Touran)
Black wing mirror covers to match front splitter / wheels.
I've also spotted since yesterday that it reads road signs! The base spec on these is unbelievable. Comand is well thought out and it's easy to flip from Katy Perry based music (not mine - honest) on an SD card, to the more manly music found on my phone. I like listening to music, and thought I would miss the HK set up which isn't optioned on many of the estates - but the base stereo is more than adequete, the bass isn't mega crisp - but has plenty of depth for a "basic" system and I don't feel short changed.
I've adopted the "leave door open when starting car" ritual, this is not universally enjoyed by any cold passengers, but the dual zone climate was quite persuasive for The Boss. 26 for me 21 for her, everyone happy.
I've got a nice run down to Dorset tomorrow to stretch it's legs and get a decent layer of muck on it. It will give me a good indication of how much moaning I'll get when we go to France next month.
I've also made my first of many many visits to the local petrol station - I think we'll be exchanging Christmas cards - I can see it's going to be my new "favorite" place to be. Are bulk fuel deals available anywhere?
I might like a bit more noise, but really need to give it a couple of thousand miles - it still feels barely run in - I'm not convinced the first owner used much of the rev range.
My to-do list so far is split into two areas.
Maybe (things I probably wont get away with doing soon / easily)
Quaife Diff
18" wheels or upgrading rear tyres to 265 to give the rims some protection.
Some kind of exhaust tinkering
Definitely, (when no one from the finance ministry is looking):
OEM 20% window tint b-pillar backwards (weird that it's not standard like on the Touran)
Black wing mirror covers to match front splitter / wheels.
I've also spotted since yesterday that it reads road signs! The base spec on these is unbelievable. Comand is well thought out and it's easy to flip from Katy Perry based music (not mine - honest) on an SD card, to the more manly music found on my phone. I like listening to music, and thought I would miss the HK set up which isn't optioned on many of the estates - but the base stereo is more than adequete, the bass isn't mega crisp - but has plenty of depth for a "basic" system and I don't feel short changed.
I've adopted the "leave door open when starting car" ritual, this is not universally enjoyed by any cold passengers, but the dual zone climate was quite persuasive for The Boss. 26 for me 21 for her, everyone happy.
I've got a nice run down to Dorset tomorrow to stretch it's legs and get a decent layer of muck on it. It will give me a good indication of how much moaning I'll get when we go to France next month.
I've also made my first of many many visits to the local petrol station - I think we'll be exchanging Christmas cards - I can see it's going to be my new "favorite" place to be. Are bulk fuel deals available anywhere?
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