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.