With road-trip season in full swing, our 480bhp wagon heads for the Eifel mountains to give the car, and its recent upgrades, their most thorough test yet
FASTFLEET
LAST YEAR’S VISIT TO THE NÜRBURGRING (see evo 307) allowed the C63 to show just how much it has to offer, so more of the same was always on the cards for 2023. Hence why this month I found myself back at the Eurotunnel for another trip to the Eifel region, this time in a group whose cars included a BMW Z4 M, an E92 M3 Competition and, just to make a mockery of our fuel consumption, a Volkswagen Up GTI.
Another smooth Le Shuttle crossing complete, we hit the French autoroute then briefly tolerated Belgium’s corrugated roads before a fuel stop at Spa-Francorchamps. While not deliberate on our part, last year’s trip happened to coincide with a €0.30-per-litre tax reduction on petrol prices in Germany, making the fuel bill less alarming than I’d imagined. This time, though, ordinary prices had returned – one of many fuel stops had 98 RON at an eye-watering €2.40 per litre (around £2.05).
Thankfully, the C63 achieves remarkable fuel economy on journeys such as this, with long 130kph (80mph) sections bringing the average to just shy of 26mpg. OK, so it’s hardly a Prius, but contrary to what some seem to believe, the 6.2-litre V8’s consumption rate is far from permanently in the low teens. After crossing the border into Germany, a derestricted autobahn run to finish the journey did drag the aforementioned average down quite considerably, though…
There are some excellent roads surrounding the Nürburgring Nordschleife, so our first port of call was the same excellent route we’d stumbled upon last year, up into the Eifel hills on deserted, single-track routes with numerous switchbacks. While hardly the natural home for an 1800kg estate, the Quaife LSD and fast-road alignment that formed part of last year’s modifications make it remarkably capable on virtually any route.
This said, it wasn’t faultless. Though the C63 was bulletproof in terms of mechanicals and overall reliability for the duration of the trip, heat-related issues did make themselves known. Extended full-throttle, uphill runs with tight hairpins are great fun, but with peak speeds relatively low and the ambient temperature nearing 30deg C, the V8’s oil quickly got on the warm side. Even with its standard auxiliary oil cooler, the W204 C63 is known to run hot (no surprise given how tightly packed the engine bay is), but five minutes on these roads saw the oil temperature nearing 125 degrees. Though the ECU doesn’t pu
