SIx years with an E63 M6. My experience.
Discussion
I have recently said goodbye to my M6. I have noticed a number of threads on this car so thought it might be helpful to report on it.
The car was bound for Canada, and was an individual edition. Ruby black metallic, full leather interior covering every possible area including the dash. alacantera headliner. Interior was a very pale yellow with black carpets. I had a fair mount of apprehension as to how this would wear. I had previously had a 645Ci manual which I did not like.
I picked up the car in Munich, and noticed that it would require a 2000km service to change the running-in oil. Leaving Munich i headed for Hartge up in Beckingen, and had the electronic limiters (one at 250 km/h and one at 305 km/h) removed. Fairly long job and EUR2000 to do. I also had them tighten up all tolerances and dyno the car. 535BHP. Stopped over in Beckingen,Berlin,arriving in Vienna which was exactly 2000Km, giving me the opportunity to get the service done three days after picking up the car.
INITIAL IMPRESSIONS
(1) The transmission required practice to shift smoothly on upshifts, but t ono took me abut a day of driving to become proficient at it. The auto mode was utter garbage for any kind of performance driving, jerking and hesitating if I accelerated aggressively. It was perfectly adequate for pootling around in urbane traffic however.
(2) The iDrive had improved since the 645, but in any case I thought the whole Clarksonesque rants about it were nonsense. Once you set the car up the way you want, most of the work is done. The M button gives the final 100hp but also changes transmission and suspension settings to your preferred performance mode. The voice activation for phone ( bluetooth) and for audio etc worked very well.
(3) Loved the heads up display which could be set up to access the nav system or as a colour coded shift indicator and speedo.
(4) Standard of interior fitting was very high, and seats were superbly comfortable and supportive.
(5) Engine note at lower revs much less compelling than the V8 burble of the 645.
(6) Steering and roadholding was predictable and responsive.
No faults were noted except that the nav system failed in the Czech republic but then reset itself.
Now that it was serviced, I headed for (where else? the Nurburgring
THE RING
In the much more challenging environment of the Ring a few more things showed up
(7) The V10 comes alive and hugher revs (6000) and just pulls like crazy. It also sounds incredible. It had amazing acceleration for the time.
(8) Driven hard ( and I mean hard) we were getting under 5MPG there, leaving for fuel about every five laps!. The small fuel tank was a constant irritant.
(9) The SMG is actually great on a track
(10) The car is significantly underbraked for track work, and in fact I had to replace the discs (not jus the pads) after a week at the NS.
(11) Its a bit heavy for track, but superb for road. It became my preferred car for long highway trips.
(12) It was the first and last time I took a new car on track without a clear bra. The front end looked like it had been machine gunned.
THE VMAX RUN
Of course, the whole point of having the limiters pulled was to run on an unlimited road, the autobahn near Weisskirchen. We drove down from the Ring and met a German mate who had an identical car at 4am on a Sunday, (no trucks). Flat out, the car was rock solid stable unlike a few I have driven that were spinchter-tightening.
Video below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTMKkPxei0I
EXPERIENCE IN CANADA AND THE US
I only tracked the car once more, at a BMW event in Mosport ( the old F1 track near Toronto),but did take it to the famous Tail of the Dragon in the US which is incredibly twisty. The car was stored every winter so never saw snow. I have less than a Km commute to work and multiple cars, It was only used lightly, mainly for longer trips. It is an ideal weekender for two, with a huge trunk and a simply magnificent sound system, very quick and comfortable between as stations. In ints final year it only covered 1000Km, and had 33,500Km ( around 20,000 mile or so) when I sold it.
RELIABILITY/WEAR
I only had one failure, but it was a big one. Driving along one day the thing lit up like a Christmas tree, scrolling through a massive list of failures..."safe mode" ,transmission failure etc. It an ECU snafu which required the whole ECU to be replaced. This is a very complex job and took a week, but the good news was that it was under warranty. There were a number of recalls, all of which were handled as part of scheduled service. I went through three sets of tires. Initially it was consuming a litre of oil every 1000 km but this slowed down to negligible consumption. As mentioned previously, discs were replaced very early in its life, but a week's tracking at the Nordschleife is a tad tough.
A big surprise was interior wear. There was basically none apart from scuffs on the driver's seat side bolster. I thought that the light colour would be a challenge. Paint was still in good shape after the front end respray caused by the NS stone damage. My wife liked the car as a passenger but did not particularly enjoy driving it.
Overall, it was not as perfect a package as the E39 M5, but I truly enjoyed the car, and I also knew that I might never again have a V10/ That part was really special. A truly great engine. I very much enjoyed this car and have no regrets about buying it.
Photographed on sale day:
Gone now.
The car was bound for Canada, and was an individual edition. Ruby black metallic, full leather interior covering every possible area including the dash. alacantera headliner. Interior was a very pale yellow with black carpets. I had a fair mount of apprehension as to how this would wear. I had previously had a 645Ci manual which I did not like.
I picked up the car in Munich, and noticed that it would require a 2000km service to change the running-in oil. Leaving Munich i headed for Hartge up in Beckingen, and had the electronic limiters (one at 250 km/h and one at 305 km/h) removed. Fairly long job and EUR2000 to do. I also had them tighten up all tolerances and dyno the car. 535BHP. Stopped over in Beckingen,Berlin,arriving in Vienna which was exactly 2000Km, giving me the opportunity to get the service done three days after picking up the car.
INITIAL IMPRESSIONS
(1) The transmission required practice to shift smoothly on upshifts, but t ono took me abut a day of driving to become proficient at it. The auto mode was utter garbage for any kind of performance driving, jerking and hesitating if I accelerated aggressively. It was perfectly adequate for pootling around in urbane traffic however.
(2) The iDrive had improved since the 645, but in any case I thought the whole Clarksonesque rants about it were nonsense. Once you set the car up the way you want, most of the work is done. The M button gives the final 100hp but also changes transmission and suspension settings to your preferred performance mode. The voice activation for phone ( bluetooth) and for audio etc worked very well.
(3) Loved the heads up display which could be set up to access the nav system or as a colour coded shift indicator and speedo.
(4) Standard of interior fitting was very high, and seats were superbly comfortable and supportive.
(5) Engine note at lower revs much less compelling than the V8 burble of the 645.
(6) Steering and roadholding was predictable and responsive.
No faults were noted except that the nav system failed in the Czech republic but then reset itself.
Now that it was serviced, I headed for (where else? the Nurburgring
THE RING
In the much more challenging environment of the Ring a few more things showed up
(7) The V10 comes alive and hugher revs (6000) and just pulls like crazy. It also sounds incredible. It had amazing acceleration for the time.
(8) Driven hard ( and I mean hard) we were getting under 5MPG there, leaving for fuel about every five laps!. The small fuel tank was a constant irritant.
(9) The SMG is actually great on a track
(10) The car is significantly underbraked for track work, and in fact I had to replace the discs (not jus the pads) after a week at the NS.
(11) Its a bit heavy for track, but superb for road. It became my preferred car for long highway trips.
(12) It was the first and last time I took a new car on track without a clear bra. The front end looked like it had been machine gunned.
THE VMAX RUN
Of course, the whole point of having the limiters pulled was to run on an unlimited road, the autobahn near Weisskirchen. We drove down from the Ring and met a German mate who had an identical car at 4am on a Sunday, (no trucks). Flat out, the car was rock solid stable unlike a few I have driven that were spinchter-tightening.
Video below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTMKkPxei0I
EXPERIENCE IN CANADA AND THE US
I only tracked the car once more, at a BMW event in Mosport ( the old F1 track near Toronto),but did take it to the famous Tail of the Dragon in the US which is incredibly twisty. The car was stored every winter so never saw snow. I have less than a Km commute to work and multiple cars, It was only used lightly, mainly for longer trips. It is an ideal weekender for two, with a huge trunk and a simply magnificent sound system, very quick and comfortable between as stations. In ints final year it only covered 1000Km, and had 33,500Km ( around 20,000 mile or so) when I sold it.
RELIABILITY/WEAR
I only had one failure, but it was a big one. Driving along one day the thing lit up like a Christmas tree, scrolling through a massive list of failures..."safe mode" ,transmission failure etc. It an ECU snafu which required the whole ECU to be replaced. This is a very complex job and took a week, but the good news was that it was under warranty. There were a number of recalls, all of which were handled as part of scheduled service. I went through three sets of tires. Initially it was consuming a litre of oil every 1000 km but this slowed down to negligible consumption. As mentioned previously, discs were replaced very early in its life, but a week's tracking at the Nordschleife is a tad tough.
A big surprise was interior wear. There was basically none apart from scuffs on the driver's seat side bolster. I thought that the light colour would be a challenge. Paint was still in good shape after the front end respray caused by the NS stone damage. My wife liked the car as a passenger but did not particularly enjoy driving it.
Overall, it was not as perfect a package as the E39 M5, but I truly enjoyed the car, and I also knew that I might never again have a V10/ That part was really special. A truly great engine. I very much enjoyed this car and have no regrets about buying it.
Photographed on sale day:
Gone now.
jon- said:
Really good thread, thanks for posting.
Obvious question... what are you replacing it with!
This will, umm..surprise you.Obvious question... what are you replacing it with!
I have a couple of other sports cars, but also have some practical needs for my winter house in Arizona. So, I am very shortly going to buy a Jeep Wrangler Unlimited which will be set up for offloading in the endless Arizona wilderness. I have done a lot of that stuff, so rather than another quick car....well, it now time for something completely different. More to come on that.
tjlazer said:
Great write up, thanks for sharing. Lovely car, epic way to start a relationship with a week running around the ring! Not sure I could ever take a car up to that speed though :O
Its was a whole lot less scary flat out than my GT3RS gen 1. At 310 it was beginning to lift and I had a very bad feeling...backed off smartly. The M6 was cruising flat out. RDMcG said:
At 310 it was beginning to lift ...
EEEEEEK!I would wet my boxers pretty sharpish.
I was driving one of the first Audi TT's (delivering it to a promotional event) which hadn't had the aero fix of adding a rear wing; on a French toll road at about 140mph on a slight curve I felt the weight completely lift off the rear... it was the single scariest moment in my life, I will never forget it. Lifted off as safely as I could and never really trusted a VAG at speed again!
Plainview23 said:
EEEEEEK!
I would wet my boxers pretty sharpish.
I was driving one of the first Audi TT's (delivering it to a promotional event) which hadn't had the aero fix of adding a rear wing; on a French toll road at about 140mph on a slight curve I felt the weight completely lift off the rear... it was the single scariest moment in my life, I will never forget it. Lifted off as safely as I could and never really trusted a VAG at speed again!
I know that feeling. Many years ago I (not my car BTW) I was driving a fairly new Aston DBS in Germany - I was quite young, and it was absolutely terrifying at about 140MPH. Past of it was sheer inexperience on my part obviously, but I recall just how unplanted the thing felt and the sense that the slightest wrong move would result in unpleasant consequences. Being young and very stupid I kept it up there for a while but, but looking back it was one of my more unwise trips. Now, with the odd trackday crash to my credit I am much more cautious at speed than I used to be. I would wet my boxers pretty sharpish.
I was driving one of the first Audi TT's (delivering it to a promotional event) which hadn't had the aero fix of adding a rear wing; on a French toll road at about 140mph on a slight curve I felt the weight completely lift off the rear... it was the single scariest moment in my life, I will never forget it. Lifted off as safely as I could and never really trusted a VAG at speed again!
One quick comment..I tried the new M5 and had a very similar view that I had with the Porsche 991. Excellent in every numerical way, but some kind of link to the driver seemed missing.
However, its true also the the E63 M6 seemed less brilliant to me than the E39 M5 which was the most perfect car of its type when it was produced. The one shining, incomparable thing about the E63 was that V10 though. WInding it up was a visceral experience. When I vmaxed it we were doing 7600 RPM in 7th gear at 200 MPH or so, and the sound of the engine pulling like a locomotive was unforgettable.
However, its true also the the E63 M6 seemed less brilliant to me than the E39 M5 which was the most perfect car of its type when it was produced. The one shining, incomparable thing about the E63 was that V10 though. WInding it up was a visceral experience. When I vmaxed it we were doing 7600 RPM in 7th gear at 200 MPH or so, and the sound of the engine pulling like a locomotive was unforgettable.
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