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New toy 2012 Mercedes E63 AMG Wagon

6K views 44 replies 27 participants last post by  Bridgette2013 
#1 ·
I bought it used and drove it back from Hershey PA yesterday. My initial impressions, it's lots faster than the CTS-V Wagon it has the P30 Performance package which up's the boost to 18.5 psi on it's twin turbos, makes me wonder if it's got even more boost because this car is scary fast. Last time I went this fast was when I use to ride motorcycles on my 6 cylinder Honda CBX in 1980. The handling seems awesome, very tight in the corners. The ride, the CTS-V wagon rides much better with it's magnetic ride shocks, I mean lot's better. Even in comfort mode you feel every bump in the AMG It has the Distronic driver assistance package which is very cool, also all the other bells and whistles. The sound system sounds better than the CTS-V. More to come and more pictures.

Oh ya and just driving along with highway driving I was averaging 25.5 mpg @ 65 to 75 MPH, naturally if I really got on it the mpg dropped way down. But just proves with direct fuel injection, variable valve timing and a low 1800 rpm @ 75 mph you can have both nearly 600 hp and good gas mileage.
 
#3 ·
Very nice car. Once you start modding the Benz, I've heard the MPG computer becomes very inaccurate - so maybe verify this by keeping track of it manually.

Rare car too, probably one of the top 5 rarest cars Mercedes makes. I would imagine modded, it is a lot fast than a CTS-V. Just don't break it, Benz aren't cheap to fix.
 
#8 ·
Did you trade the V wagon for the E63 wagon?

Thanks for the comparison. That AMG wagon seems scary fast.
 
#9 ·
AMG Wagon
1) Nice name plate.
2) Good ride.
3) Faster 1/4 mile time (same 0-60).

CTS-V Wagon
1) Aggresive yet stealthy looking.
2) Excellent ride.
3) $40-50k cheaper.

Why are you moving to FL Spearfish? I love Chicago but it's winters are getting difficult especially in the V.Just answered my own question. ;)
 
#10 ·
Thanks all, I'll stay here on the forums and will give you as accurate comparisons as possible. Good point about the gas mileage readout becoming innacurrate after a tune, the 25.5 average reading when I got back from my long 10 hour drive last night from PA seemed almost too good to be true, it was just consistantly reading so much higher than in my V which is generally reading between 19 to 21 mpg at highway speeds. I question whether this car could have a Renntech tune of something which brings the hp up to 669 and over 700 ft. lbs of torque, it just feels so fast, I took her out for a ride tonight and opened it up on a back country road, and yep, each gear it shifts it just throws you compressed into the seat backrest harder and harder the faster you go. I really want to put this car on a dyno, I might try to see if I can get it done tomorrow, I know a shop not too far away that has one, I'm just curious. This car feels a lot more raw than the V, of course my V was a automatic and that might be why, I just always felt like I was loosing so much through the torque converter on the V. I woulda been driving a standard one, but I need an auto because of a health condition. The Benz has no torque converter but uses wet clutches instead, feels much more like a STD and you can just really feel the raw power, I always felt like the V was filtered would be about the best way I can think of describing it.

But ya, I did trade in my V, it was just a deal too good to pass up, my 2013 CTS-V wagon with 9800 miles on it for the 2012 E63 AMG wagon plus 20 grand, the AMG had 12K miles on it and is really like brand new, it even has that clear bra tape stuff on the front end to protect it. The warrantee on the benz is still good for around 3 years or another 38K miles. I checked with the dealer to make sure the warrantee is still active and yep it still is.

I wonder if with the P30 performance package it makes it stiffer, because it sure is even in the comfort mode, although the roads around here are real bumpy, I drove it to Newport tonight for sailing and the roads are real rough going down there. In Comfort mode the car is a little bit bouncy going over rough roads, the V on the other hand with the Magnetic shocks is very smooth and controlled.

For my needs though, well worth the extra money on this car because I really like all the bells and whistles it has and find the seats with the active bolster system works really good for me holding me in the seat in sharp turns and there is no lower bolster on the seat bottom as on the recaros which I found tough to get in and out of, that's why I just had the stock seats in my V.

One thing I do need to figure out with this car is why I can't seem to close the tailgate with the FOB, it will only open it and then I have to hit the button on the top of the tailgate to close it, I hope I'm missing something here and there is a way to do it. It worked out fine on the V both opening and closing it from the FOB, I think this might be normal for Benz as it could be a liability thing or something, I don't know.

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Oh ya Spearfish, Naples is really nice, I do some boating up there. I live in Venice, which is north of Naples down I75 a couple of hours, I just got back from Venice, had to go there to pick up the Caddy and drive it up to PA to get the Benz, long trip, lot's of driving the past week, now I'm up at my summer place in R.I.
 
#17 ·
Ya, thanks, I'm enjoying the car. Not saying the V is a bad car or anything, this car just suits me better, time will tell if it holds up to the reliability test. I'll probably get a different car before the warrantee is up in 3 years, don't know if I'd want to own a older one of these cars out of warrantee, theres a huge amount of electronic stuff, the techs who work on these cars must really have to know what they are doing and I'm sure charge more than my shrink does, lol. I'm just going to really enjoy the car and hope and pray it is not in the shop too much, right now everything seems perfect with it though. I tried to post some pics in my original post, but it says I have no more picture space left in my quota. The car is Iridium Silver with the light ash interior and walnut wood on the dash and doors and a alcantera steering wheel and black pianno on the center console like the V. I really like the Paddle shifters.
 
#20 ·
How have I blown thousands and thousands of dollars for fuel economy? This car choice really was not about fuel economy, although it does help out having a much increased range due to a 23 mpg rating and a 22 gallon tank vs a 18 mpg rating and 18 gallon tank. But the choice was more about being more comfortable, having more breathing room and better quality interior materials. The extra speed of the twin turbo motor does not hurt either, I realize you can get the same speed and power out of a V with a pulley change and a tune, but then you've blown your warrantee and I like having a warrantee on a car for piece of mind.

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I really like the under seat storage bins in the Merc, the large center console storage, the side storage nets, the nice leather and oh, the Logic 7 sound system is great and has blue tooth audio, the NAV I like better than the Caddy too. I think once I change out the tires the ride quality will improve, although the tires were just replace 3K miles ago so looks like I'll be riding on the contis for a while, my plan is to put Michelin Super Sports on the car eventually.
 
#21 ·
I'm off to Florida for a new job. I could have found a job in Chicago, but yes, I'm done with the winters. Went to school in FL and knew I'd come back some day. I need some boating, fishing and year round sun in my life. Also, it kills me to drive a 'special' car in a Chicago winter. Fortunately my V should never see any salt or snow.

Saturday I set off in the V for the first trip down to Naples. Planning an extra day to drive around the Smokies and run the Tail of the Dragon and other nearby roads. The luggage system in the Vagon is sweet...I bought a few ratchet tie downs and a full car of stuff is completely locked down and secure. After a few days in FL, the next weekend I fly back to drive my wife's car down again with the dog. Trying to make the best out of 40 hours of driving. I just couldn't stomach $1400 for EACH car to ship them and then have to wait 2 weeks to get them on the other end. Murphy also makes sure something is F'd up when I trust shippers, so I'll drive them and make an experience out of it.
 
#24 ·
You sound like me with all the driving, ya I don't trust the shippers either, I've had cars damaged, they take a beating generally. You're gonna like Naples, awesome area. Maybe sometime when I'm back next fall we could meet up at Bradenton and we could have dual between your V and my Amg?

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Thanks, I get the feeling the car is well built and hopefully will be trouble free.

Love the new ride!! I like shiney things! Lol My business partner picked one up within the last 6 months and I've been in love with the interior after the first time I sat in it. He's at around 40K no issues yet. Hopefully you have the same luck! Nice ride again.
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To be honest I'm still not really sure what I got with this car, I do know it feels very fast, to me like over 600hp fast, but that's just my impression, the car did come from the factory with the P30 tune which is conservatively rated @ 550hp and it's a fact that it is around 4/10's faster in the quarter mile than the stock V Wagon according to what I've read (12.1 vs 12.5) but it feels faster than that to me. I do know the wheels were replaces with some real fancy AMG wheels around 3K miles ago and brand new Conti tires, I question if at the same time a Renntech tune could have been done which would have brought the HP up to 669 and would put the car in the low 11's in the quarter? I guess the only way I'm going to find out is to have the car dyno'd which I plan on doing. As far as MPG, I'm just saying what was on the average mpg readout when I returned from a 10 hour highway drive from upper PA, it was 25.5, I have no idea if this is accurate, if a tune in addition to the P30 is present on the car this figure more than likely is reading too high. It's showing a lifetime average mpg as 21.8 mpg which to me still seems higher than I expected. I'll slowly figure out more and more about this car. The one thing I do know is the car looks brand new, no scratches and of course the wheels are new so no curb rash. It was a bold move I took getting this car and giving them my V because I did really like the V a lot and now that I see my beautiful old car on ebay with all those awesome pictures I think maybe I shoulda kept that car too, but too many vehicles already though and as we all know cars are not a very good investment.

How is a modified AMG still under factory warranty?
I have never gotten less than 20mpg, and will never believe that a 700hp AMG will make 24mpg ever. I can confirm that the 500hp E's do not.

But, congrats on the car. I love me some AMG. I looked hard at getting a 2009-10 CLS63. I just thought that the V is a better looking car, and the interior on the Benz a bit grandpaish - though it has nicer materials. Well and then there was the fear of driving a 100k car out of warranty! The 2012+ AMG line in all trims are just beautiful cars. I'm glad they finally trimmed down the look of the wagons as well - they used to look way too boxy and bulbous. The newer E class wagons are really nice looking cars. I'm actually surprised that the ride is so much rougher than the V, but perhaps that is modified to go with the extra the power increase you have over the base AMG.
 
#27 ·
sick powertrain for sure! i really wanted (still want) the e63 sedan, but the price tag of 100k+ is too just much. When you start modding it, look up AMS Performance as they have just a custom tune (93 octane) that will take the stock 499whp 523wtq to 628whp 722wtq (Dynojet) that will put you in the 10's. If/when you want to sell pm me lol.
 
#29 ·
I hear you Mac, the AWD cuts 1/2 second off 0 to 60 making it in 3.5 seconds, I can only imagine this combo with a 700 hp tune, it would be mid tens in the quartermile.

I really thought it through carefully though, for one thing the more I looked at the new design (mainly the front end) I realized I really like the older more classic looking design better plus this great opportunity came along with the color combo I wanted and the real big thing was you have to specially order this car if you want it new, they said it would not be in until at least September and maybe even longer, I don't want to go through all that waiting again. I kinda like having a hood ornament too, reminds me of the older caddies I use to drive with the hood ornaments, this car I have most definately can be considered a luxury car, but then when you want it to be it can be a beast. The other thing I thought about the new AWD model is that much more to go wrong in an already very complex car, especially when it went out of warrantee with a few miles on it. I'm liking this car so much so far I may just end up hanging onto it as long as I can, I have a good friend who has a independent Benz repair shop and that would be the answer once this cars warrantee is up in 32 months, who knows maybe the car won't be in the shop very much, it seems well built. The other thing about having just RWD is at least you can still do smokey burnouts :) Ya, I'm glad I got this car.
 
#30 ·
There's a 2012 E63 AMG sedan with 7,600 miles for sale on cars dot com by a private seller in Denver for $55,000

Gray color, gray interior says its in excellent shape no scratches or dings or dents and he says he has title in hand

Sounds like a killer deal if its true

Figured I mention it in case anybody is looking for one

.
 
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