I've already mentioned in my "bye bye M135i" thread that it will be replaced, for the next two years by a brand new MY2016.5 C63 AMG.
My initial thoughts are below, along with some pics. I'll add some more thoughts and pics as and when.
From any sort of front on angle the car looks great. The aggressive look is accentuated by the two bonnet power mounds. However the bizarre shaped boot mean that the side and rear profiles are a little less appealing. I was initially planning on debadging and dechroming the whole car, however I think I'll settle for removing the boot badges (done already) and vinyl wrapping the chrome boot strip in gloss black. I actually quite like the brushed silver pieces on the front of the car, which is rare for me.
Inside, the car is nothing short of stunning. The seats are sexy and supportive, the steering wheel is the perfect thickness and well finished (plus I love a flat bottomed wheel) and the quality of leather, metal and alcantara on the doors and dash are superb. I don't know why I wasn't expecting such a step up in class from the M135i - logic would dictate that the more expensive car should be much nicer inside, but it still caught me by surprise. Yes the iPad stuck on the dash is a little clumsy, and I'm not convinced I need both a touch pad and a spinny wheel to control the infotainment system, but none the less, the Merc is a lovely place to sit. The heated memory seats and panoramic roof only make the experience better! I've also got a tonnne of storage space - the door pockets and centre arm rest are cavernous.
One oddity is the lack of a gear stick - moving between R, N & D is done from the stalk on the right hand side of the steering wheel. I expected this to be weird, but got used to it pretty quickly. As well as Comfort, Sport and Sport+ driver modes, the merc has an Individual mode - this can be customised to your own settings; I've got mine set up with comfort suspension, sport+ drivetrain, sport traction control and manual gears (flappy paddles). This seems to give me the best of all worlds - good throttle response, nice exhaust noises and personal control over the gearbox. Best of all, the merc remembers what driver mode you were last in so next time you start the car you're all set to carry on. This was always an annoyance with the M135i - definitely a 1st world problem, but nice to not have the problem any more! The merc also remembers my auto wiper and auto main beam settings, rather than having to enable these every time I start the car - again, this is nice!
The headlights are ridiculous. LEDs that turn around corners and "bend" the main beam to avoid other cars while still giving you massive visibility. They also adjust with speed, throwing light further down the road as you travel faster. The adaptive Xenons on the M135i were great, these are better. There's a whole load of other clever tech built into the car - a 360 degree camera that basically shows you an overhead view of the car when you're parking; gimmicky but kind of useful, comfort access so I can lock and unlock the doors without removing my keys from my pocket, a G meter, an oil temperature gauge, shift lights. I can open and close the boot from the remote control. A lot of really unnecessary stuff, but I'm a gadget man and love this sort of stuff!
Ok, so what's it like to drive? Well I've only put 400 miles on it, so it's still very much in the running in period and I'm still learning, but the short story is that it's planted, fast and loud. It doesn't feel entirely dissimilar to the M135i, except that you feel much more connected to the road. I always found the BM a little vague around the limit and not particularly confidence inspiring when trying to apply traction in a hurry. The merc feels like it's grabbing on to the road, I'm interested to get it out on Snetterton and see how much quicker than the BM I go. Even keeping the revs under 4,500 (mostly
) the car is fast. Properly fast. There's minimal turbo lag, just a massive surge of power. With 275 wide Michelin Pilot Supersports on the rear and an LSD it puts the power down capably, although it's still entirely possible to break traction if provoked.
The gearbox is great - a 7 speed single clutch jobby, very similar in feel to the 8 speed ZF in the BM. 7th gear is very long to allow motorway speeds with minimal revs. Cold starts are pretty anti social. Maybe not quite M135i + sports cat + Milltek level of loud, but not far off, and with a nice automated blip of the throttle just to ensure everyone is awake. In terms of ride, it's pretty firm even in comfort mode. I'm on 18" wheels and will be in no rush to move up in size even if they do look a little bit lost in the arches. Having said that, it's no firmer than the M135i was on Eibachs, and is much quieter in the way it goes about riding the bumps in the road. This isn't a problem for me, I'm still young and stupid enough to enjoy a firm ride.
In short, I love the car. It took me a while to really bond with the M135i, but this one has got right under my skin straight away.
My initial thoughts are below, along with some pics. I'll add some more thoughts and pics as and when.
From any sort of front on angle the car looks great. The aggressive look is accentuated by the two bonnet power mounds. However the bizarre shaped boot mean that the side and rear profiles are a little less appealing. I was initially planning on debadging and dechroming the whole car, however I think I'll settle for removing the boot badges (done already) and vinyl wrapping the chrome boot strip in gloss black. I actually quite like the brushed silver pieces on the front of the car, which is rare for me.
Inside, the car is nothing short of stunning. The seats are sexy and supportive, the steering wheel is the perfect thickness and well finished (plus I love a flat bottomed wheel) and the quality of leather, metal and alcantara on the doors and dash are superb. I don't know why I wasn't expecting such a step up in class from the M135i - logic would dictate that the more expensive car should be much nicer inside, but it still caught me by surprise. Yes the iPad stuck on the dash is a little clumsy, and I'm not convinced I need both a touch pad and a spinny wheel to control the infotainment system, but none the less, the Merc is a lovely place to sit. The heated memory seats and panoramic roof only make the experience better! I've also got a tonnne of storage space - the door pockets and centre arm rest are cavernous.
One oddity is the lack of a gear stick - moving between R, N & D is done from the stalk on the right hand side of the steering wheel. I expected this to be weird, but got used to it pretty quickly. As well as Comfort, Sport and Sport+ driver modes, the merc has an Individual mode - this can be customised to your own settings; I've got mine set up with comfort suspension, sport+ drivetrain, sport traction control and manual gears (flappy paddles). This seems to give me the best of all worlds - good throttle response, nice exhaust noises and personal control over the gearbox. Best of all, the merc remembers what driver mode you were last in so next time you start the car you're all set to carry on. This was always an annoyance with the M135i - definitely a 1st world problem, but nice to not have the problem any more! The merc also remembers my auto wiper and auto main beam settings, rather than having to enable these every time I start the car - again, this is nice!
The headlights are ridiculous. LEDs that turn around corners and "bend" the main beam to avoid other cars while still giving you massive visibility. They also adjust with speed, throwing light further down the road as you travel faster. The adaptive Xenons on the M135i were great, these are better. There's a whole load of other clever tech built into the car - a 360 degree camera that basically shows you an overhead view of the car when you're parking; gimmicky but kind of useful, comfort access so I can lock and unlock the doors without removing my keys from my pocket, a G meter, an oil temperature gauge, shift lights. I can open and close the boot from the remote control. A lot of really unnecessary stuff, but I'm a gadget man and love this sort of stuff!
Ok, so what's it like to drive? Well I've only put 400 miles on it, so it's still very much in the running in period and I'm still learning, but the short story is that it's planted, fast and loud. It doesn't feel entirely dissimilar to the M135i, except that you feel much more connected to the road. I always found the BM a little vague around the limit and not particularly confidence inspiring when trying to apply traction in a hurry. The merc feels like it's grabbing on to the road, I'm interested to get it out on Snetterton and see how much quicker than the BM I go. Even keeping the revs under 4,500 (mostly
) the car is fast. Properly fast. There's minimal turbo lag, just a massive surge of power. With 275 wide Michelin Pilot Supersports on the rear and an LSD it puts the power down capably, although it's still entirely possible to break traction if provoked.The gearbox is great - a 7 speed single clutch jobby, very similar in feel to the 8 speed ZF in the BM. 7th gear is very long to allow motorway speeds with minimal revs. Cold starts are pretty anti social. Maybe not quite M135i + sports cat + Milltek level of loud, but not far off, and with a nice automated blip of the throttle just to ensure everyone is awake. In terms of ride, it's pretty firm even in comfort mode. I'm on 18" wheels and will be in no rush to move up in size even if they do look a little bit lost in the arches. Having said that, it's no firmer than the M135i was on Eibachs, and is much quieter in the way it goes about riding the bumps in the road. This isn't a problem for me, I'm still young and stupid enough to enjoy a firm ride
.In short, I love the car. It took me a while to really bond with the M135i, but this one has got right under my skin straight away.
