Redline S2K

Been kind of obsessed with the idea of getting one. Looks good, nice power and from what I've read, pretty reliable (for a German car). Not to mention they sound amazing. Any current or past owners on here? How was your experience with them and how do you compare it to the s2?

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sam_spider

Almost bought one a couple years ago, great car, exhaust note is intoxicating (and addicting) my only gripe was the interior, it's just not as good/nice as the old C class.

I ended up with an S4 (Stasis tuned from dealer) as I wanted/needed AWD, as I ended up not driving the S4 in the winter, I should've just got the C63 Live and learn.

Redline S2K

What year s4 did you get? I worked for Audi for 6 years. I have a weakness for them but their electrical reliability once they're higher in mileage makes me shy away from them.

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sam_spider

It is a 2012, I got it in May of '12.

Only issue I've had is with the exhaust, one of the hangers keeps dropping and then it rubs on the chassis making weird vibrations go through the car. Since that's a Stasis part I can't really blame Audi, and they've fixed it.




I wouldn't have bought the car without the Stasis tune/parts as an S4 just isn't quick enough in stock form for me. It's been a great car, no issues and very quick.

I still have the S2000, my goal is to keep it forever, or as close to forever as possible

fusionchickenleg

I've driven quite a few C63s in anger, and as thousands of reviews all state, the exhaust note is bloody glorious, and the low end torque and power are all just win.

That said the transmission is the weakest point of the car. I know it's a luxo freeway bomber, but the transmission could really use some work. I frequented the C63 forums a while back and saw a few threads echoing the same sentiment.

C63s came with two transmissions, both shift the fastest when you're in Sport Plus mode and weld the go pedal to the floor and let the trannys shift on their own.

08-11 C63s have the 7g tronic tranny, which shifts a bit slower than the newer tranny in the above scenario.

12+ C63s get the new MCT tranny, which shifts pretty quickly in the above scenario.

Where both trannys fail hard IMHO, is their responsiveness in manual mode. On upshifts in the first 2 gears you have to time the RPM perfectly to execute the upshift pedal "tap", otherwise you'll bounce off the rev limiter. On downshifts the pedal-tap-to-actual-downshift event is hit or miss, and when it connects the reaction time is pretty slow.

Again this tranny flaw is really not a big deal, but for the money this car demands I couldn't look past it, especially considering how good BMW's ZF 8 speed gearbox is, in terms of its responsiveness to driver inputs. Dunno if it's due to all the torque the AMG engines make, as I experienced the same tranny symptoms with the 5.5 biturbo E63. YMMV.

Other than that the car is a blast to drive. If you can handle the thirst it has for fuel, and don't really drive the car in manual mode, then I think you will thoroughly enjoy it.

WolfpackS2k

When the time comes that I "have" to drive a sedan I'll seriously consider one of these. Have loved this car since the day it came out.

hellaSleepy

I had my C63 with the P30 package(Stiffer suspension, LSD, Alcantara steering wheel) for about 8 months now. Only mods I've done is a Eurocharged V5 tune, which they claim about 540HP crank but I believe it's more around 500HP.. & a secondary cat delete to enhance the AMG bark. Fusionchickenleg pretty much covered everything. The car has gobs of torque & a very wide powerband, the car just pulls & pulls, especially with the tune.

It's not perfect though, IMO the pre LCI C63 has the worse interior out of the competition (M3,ISF,RS4), it's a whole lot of plastic everywhere & just feels plain cheap, certainly not what you would expect from a Mercedes. The transmission responses are very slow & very annoying, it is probably the only thing I really hate about the car. Also any C63's made before 2011 are all prone to Mercedes headbolt failure on all M156 engines, as you can imagine its a very costly fix. The 6.2L is very thirsty, when I'm driving normally in the city I get about 10-11mpg. When I drive aggressively I get about 9mpg, my record has been 7mpg so far LOL, on the freeway I've gotten up to 15mpg but that was on C mode & babying the hell out of it. I honestly miss driving a stick shift, so I'll most likely sell it for M3 or try out a B8 S4 later on this year

fusionchickenleg

Ahh I knew I forgot to cover something important lol

A mod who dailys a C63 on the Bimmer forums drove the new M4 and said the car had more off the line torque than the M156 in the C63...though the 6.2NA pulls a bit harder up top. That would be a sick replacement for your C63

waltk88

After close to 30k miles behind the wheel I still love this car. Mine is an 08 that's totally stock with the exception of a Wavetrac LSD.

The good:
That M156 engine is just epic! It makes sounds worthy of a supercar and delivers incredible throttle response. It also revs nicely, pulling hard all the way to 7,200rpm. If the stock 451hp is not enough for you, an ECU tune can add another 60hp! The reason so much power can be unlocked with a tune is because Mercedes intentionally dutunes output in the C63 application of the M156.

Front seats are great - huge lateral support but may be too tight for wider guys.

Steering feel is really good. I think it's more communicative than E90/E92 M3 steering.

Power oversteer is very accessible and controllable. Steering, ample torque, relatively narrow rear tires, and LSD work together to make the C63 an amazing sideways machine.

The bad:
Transmission only takes suggestions from the driver in manual mode. It's hard to predict whether pulling the left paddle will actually result in a downshift or if the command will be ignored. The box is actually pretty good in auto sport mode. 0It even performs well on the track. I was impressed that under hard braking for corner entry, it would make multiple downshifts, blipping the throttle on each one. The shifting algorithms are smart. The box just doesn't really want to take orders from humans. Driving in manual mode also causes overheating of the tranny on the track.

Ride is firm. Even the base suspension beats you up quite a bit over rough surfaces.

You can't cleanly power oversteer the C63 without LSD. If ESP (stability control) is turned on, it will just flash the warning light and cut power if you try to throttle steer. With ESP turned off, the inside rear wheel will just spin wildly. I think LSD is must have, and I was disappointed Mercedes didn't make it a standard feature.

Terrible gas mileage.

Rapidly eats rear tires. There's so much rear toe-in with stock alignment that rears are gone in 5k-8k miles.


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fusionchickenleg

I typically get crap for this, but the n/a AMG exhaust note is my favorite exhaust note in the world, I've heard most supercars in person thanks to Cars and Coffee, and the C63 takes the cake easily. I would sometimes put up recordings of the C63 being driven in anger when I'm working...it's my background music.

lol'd