Just a quick update on the car. Last week I did around 1800 miles, from Nottingham down to the tunnel, down to Stuttgart, around the black forest, up to the Nurburgring for DN16, where I met CSLSuperFan, back to Folkstone, over to London for a gig on Saturday night, then up to Nottingham. I did the trip with a 997 C2 and a 997 turbo. The car was absolutely fantastic, quiet and comfortable when needed and quick when required. The sound through the tunnels was fantastic. The guy in the C2 said that he couldn't so much hear the car as feel the sound coming up through the wheels and tyres of his car through the road. Regular cruising at 100mph+ with the top down. I saw up to 130mph top down by which time the stereo needed to be turned up a bit. Top up I saw 160mph a couple of times, the car felt very solid and planted and there was plenty left to give.
The gearbox being an old fashioned auto was a bit slow around the corners, and with the torque converter it made the engine response feel a little bit dulled.
The car used no oil or water on the trip, fuel consumption was pretty good I thought at around 22mpg, on the way to Folkstone I managed 26mpg. I was trying to pick fault with the car and comparing it to others and I did find a few very very minor annoyances. The weather was pretty warm, up to 26 degrees. When on long drives I like to have a nice cold drink. The centre arm rest is not refrigerated so drinks do not get cold. This is the same as on my 996 where I put the drinks in the door bins, but on the 996 the dashboard drinks holder is directly in front of an air vent which can blast chill a drink in a short time. In the AMG the drinks holder is well designed to be away from the stereo and away from the air vents, so much so that I couldn't get my drinks cold. The other very minor issue was the steering wheel controls for the volume for the stereo, the graduations are too course on it meaning that sometimes ended up using the knob on the stereo to get it exactly was I wanted. Proper first world issues there though.
After long hauls the Porsche guys were getting out to stretch their legs and take a rest, I was always very comfortable with the massaging seats used for a change. They only massage your back rather than sides and legs as another Merc I used to have. The speed limiter was very useful on long stretches through Belgium and France, just set it at 80 or 85 and keep my foot on the accelerator. The stereo is good, it does play MP3 CDs so I had 6 CDs which can have up to 99 tracks each in the changer and another one which can have more tracks in the head unit. Luggage space was plenty for the journey, keyless entry and start worked faultlessly. I did forget to release the handbrake a couple of times but the car warned me, I am still not used to these foot operated ones.
The adjustable suspension was also very useful, being able to raise the ride high by a fair was was useful for steep ramps going in and out of car parks. The difference between the standard and sports setting on the suspension firmness was noticeable but not massively pronounced, the suspension was never harsh or jarring. I wasn't ever going to push the car hard around the corners, but the turn-in and front end grip weren't of sports car levels, it suffered particularly on the really twisty sections of road but the brakes were really superb with plenty of power and never a hint of fade.
After I got back on Sunday I went out for an hours spirited driving in my DB9 to give a direct back-to-back comparison. The DB9 has the sports pack which gives firmer suspension and this really shows. The suspension on the DB9 is massively firmer, so much so that you can feel ever line on the road. The seating position is much higher than in the AMG, you really feel like you are sitting on top of the car rather than in it. The engine is more responsive, partly due to it having a manual gearbox and being a more straightforward NA setup, there isn't the massive low down torque which means you often drive the AMG below 2k rpm, but when the DB9 hits 4500rpm it really surges forwards in a way that the AMG doesn't, the AMG is more of a relentless push than a surge. The DB9 felt generally sharper to drive, but I am not sure how this would translate to driving for 8 hours a day for a few days. Fuel economy wasn't so great, 16.5mpg from my 50 miles drive mainly on relatively twisty roads.
MC