Well, after four and a bit months of waiting (was meant to be three, but I'm sure all dealers are liars just the same as all drive through McDonalds staff get the order wrong every time). My Mercedes E63 Amg has finally arrived
I'm sorry to see the Rs6 go, but as I posted previously I always found the Rs6 a bit sterile. It was an immensely capable car and I think that was the problem, it was so capable that if it was human it would have been Kimi Raikonen i.e.: very fast but a charisma vacuum. I'm sorry to say it but I just didn't gel with the car.
I've had the Merc now for forty eight hours so I thought I'd share my first impressions and observations regarding how it measures up to the Audi.
Firstly the Styling.
The Audi is without doubt the better looking of the two. With it's big 20" alloys it just looks more in proportion. The Merc has 19"s and although not exactly small, they don't fill the wheel arches half as well.
Although saying that, my new car is in white so it does stand out. The big thing I don't like is the way they have done the rear wheel arch, it just looks wrong, not a patch on the flared jobs on the rs6.
Next, the engine.
I'm sorry guys, but the rs 6's engine doesn't sound a patch in comparison to the merc.
To use a clarkson'ism, "it sounds like the god of thunder gargling on rusty nails".
To me the rs was just a noise and even with my milltechs on it still never floated my boat. The merc sounds like it has just come straight off a nascar track.
I honestly can't see there being any sort of aftermarket exhaust systems coming out for this car. It's easily as loud, if not louder than the rs fitted with milltechs. The good news is though that it changes to near silent once you reach cruising speed.
I had the old shape 63 and it didn't sound half as good as this new e63 (even with eisenmann race exhaust's) so the sound department have obviously been hard at work!
The big thing that I really enjoyed with the Audi was that funny bang/crackle noise that it made on the up shift when I gave it some welly. The good news is that so does the merc,
I haven't experienced this yet as I've still got seven hundred miles to do with the running in period but have read and heard via youtube.
Performance wise I can't really comment yet as I'm still running in (I hate it but these things need to be done as they kept pointing out to me at the hand over).
It certainly feels like it's got some major power there judging by the odd prod of the throttle I've had.
I suspect it will feel quicker off the mark as I felt that the rs seemed to get bogged down from zero, probably due to the four wheel drive. Midrange I have the feeling the rs will pull harder once those turbo's are on song. I used to have the old shape e63 and from what I remember the rs definitely felt quicker in the midrange. But this new 63 has about ten more bhp than the old one so I'll have to wait and see. It's got fifty or so less bhp than the audi but is about three hundred kg's lighter so it will be interesting.
Next, comfort and practicality.
The boots far bigger on the merc. I never understood how audi managed to make such a small boot in relation to the size of the car (avant). The mercs is half as big again (estate) and is therefore ideal for me. I'm in a wheelchair and have a young son, so carrying all our paraphernalia was always a bit tight in the audi.
I always found the seats in the audi way too hard. The mercs seats are way softer but this seems to come with the disadvantage of having less support. If I had realized at ordering time I would have gone for the active seats with the side bolsters that expand with air.
I loved the steering wheel on the audi. It was small and flat at the bottom. The mercs feels like it would be more at home in a bus! The mercs is covered with alcantara though which does feel nice I have to say.
Controls/interface.
Can you believe that you can't get a keyless entry/engine start in the merc? Every other e-class has it there in the options list, but not the amg. I loved that in the audi and am really going to miss it.
I hated the audi's mmi when I first got it. I found it overly complicated and annoying. I got used to it and eventually found it intuitive and simple. I now find the merc's controls overly complicated and annoying!
I went for the voice control option and I'm so glad I did. The big advantage this has over the audi's is that you can control everything from it and not just the phone. It actually works properly as well. The system I had in my old e63 used to get half the words wrong,
this one hardly ever says "pardon".
Build quality feels right up there with the audi. Some of the materials feel a bit cheaper than the audi's, but dare I say it, it feels better screwed together. I've not heard a single rattle where I did hear one or two in the rs. It's maybe because my rs had done 12,000 miles compared to 300. Time will tell.
Driving.
It never ceases to amaze me how cars get better and better as the years go by. Everytime I get into a new car I think "how are they going to better this?" I thought that when I went from my old shape e63 to my rs6 and I thought it would be hard to better the rs6's ride.
But Mercedes have done it. It's not as harsh as the audi's and soaks up the bumps a lot better while at the same time it has less body roll than the audi (I'm comparing comfort mode in both cars). The same seems to be true in all suspension modes.
Steering is lighter in the merc. I always found the steering to be overly heavy in the audi.
In fact I got an audi expert to fool my car into thinking it had a big heavy diesel engine up front so it assisted the steering more.
I can't think of anything more to add at the moment so I'll come back to this as things spring to mind.
Please don't think I'm trying to start a flame war here. You have fantastic cars. It's just that after owning one I found it wasn't for me.
I just thought some of you guys might find it interesting to hear from someone who has had both (all three if you count my old e63).
I'll post some pictures and maybe a video when I get a chance.
Feel free to ask me any questions that spring to mind. It's been a real pleasure being a member of this forum and I like to think I have made a few friends here. I'll keep dropping in and having a read every now and again.
Cheers guys.
