Per 1: I do not experience the engine noise level you did. Mine is deathly quiet at idle...a friend who owns an Acura remarked on how quiet my Mercedes is. Sounds like yours needed some tuning or something. Was it idling rough?
Per 2: Mine did about that kind of MPG during break-in. I'm getting high twenties to thirty mpg on long distance highway trips now at about 14 grand on the odometer...the higher figure being on mostly flat wide open highway if I stick to running on cruse control. In town it's low twenties at best, but the only time I've had it in the teens is when it's been stuck in traffic jams for any length of time. I had it go down to 10 mpg a few weeks ago, but that was after a short drive to a recycling center and a long, long time spent in line to get in. I let it idle while in line because I needed the AC on.
I babied my car for the first two-thousand miles. And even now I generally keep a light foot on it. I'm running the transmission in Sport mode lately but I haven't really noticed much difference in mileage from Comfort.
The gages: The design of the gages was a major factor in my Love At First Sit (along with the overall design of the dash and console). Clearly they don't appeal to you, but they stroked some chord deep down inside of me and I think what it is was that they look vaguely like the sort of gages I saw in cars (and clocks) during my childhood years, which were roughly in the late 50s early 60s. I Love the look of the gages in this car. I like them better then the all digital displays I've seen in other far more expensive Mercedes products.
I don't think the C300 has brake by wire brakes.
The iDrive button was instantly intuitive to me...but I'm a computer geek. Tilt up to go up to the top menu...down to the bottom...rotate to go between menu items...press to select...back button to go back... I still haven't bothered mastering all the voice commands because the iDrive button is so easy to use, and it's right there under my hand when I'm resting my arm on the arm rest. I hear the one button system BMW uses is way more cumbersome, but I've not experienced that one first hand.
The double opening arm rest doors Are a tad awkward. I'm still a bit more astonished though, every time I open them, to see what looks like a separate slot for a cigarette pack under there. This is the first German car I've ever owned...are Germans really That keen on cigarettes they expect their cars to come equipped with cigarette pack holders?
I keep hearing complaints about the sluggishness of the car when it comes to acceleration and down-shifting and I agree it's a tad...leisurely...at times. Particularly when I need to accelerate quickly in traffic, as in passing or merging onto the highway. There's a subtle hesitation there and I wonder if the root of it is in the adaptive shifting software or the drive by wire software. Once the car gets going it's like nothing I've ever owned before, and I have never, Never owned a car so rock solidly stable at (much faster then I want to publicly admit to going). But sometimes I have to really press down hard on the accelerator to get it to down shift when I feel as though a firm downward pressure should have done it. I wonder if the engineers have stacked the deck there in favor of high MPGs over quick acceleration.
I have not experienced the cornering nervousness you have. I have the Continentals on 17" wheels, which everyone says isn't the best, but my car seems very tight and stable in the turns. I may not be pushing mine as much as you were pushing yours though. But mine is fine in the corners and one of the first things I did after buying it was take it down some twisty Maryland Piedmont backroads. It took me a little while to reacquaint myself with how rear wheel drive cars behave, but as I learned to drive on rear wheel drive cars it was more like coming back home, except the car is much, Much nicer in the curves then anything I ever drove when I was a teenager. Probably because all those cars had solid rear axles.
Last edited by bruce_garrett : 05-03-2008 at 02:25 PM.
Reason: Spelling error
With regards to car magazine reviews, I have noticed that a few American magazines gave the W204 a bad review when talking about handling. However, Canadian reviews were very good - is this because the Canadian cars have a different suspension setup (more aggressive agility control setting)???
No.
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2006 ML350 white/ash
2008 C300 Sport mars red/black
2004 986S seal gray metallic/black/black
1. Great brakes
2. Steering is a bit wafty on gradual curves - I noticed this on a test drive and on one particular curve along my daily commute. It makes me a tad nervous sometimes, but if I use 2 hands it's not as bad On maneuvers I have been pleasantly surprised with it's agility - it does what I want and responds well.
3. putt-putt noise at stop
4. Driver door doesn't sound as solid as rear door when closing
5. groaning rear spring when getting in and out
6. lag in acceleration - not consistent, and it does take off nicely from stop if I don't punch it - I think it takes some "practice", not like other transmissions (7G) - I commented on this on the last survey I got.
7. Looks awesome - just hand waxed today, beautiful beautiful.
8. Most comfortable vehicle I have been in on long trips
9. Better highway mileage than my Pathy.
10. I like the MB Tex, BLK on BLK works
11. Ergonomic controls from steering, and within reach on console
12. MM system is awesome, NAV has been pretty good except for the "turn right (long pause) in 800 feet" I've taken a couple early turns. Nice voice.
13. Gauges are fine, I do prefer the digital display. We have speed cams here.
14. I like the MB. For now, it's distinctive, I see 3's and 5's everywhere. I have seen 2, maybe 3 w204s in the last 6 months.
I have a very tough time believing anything you say. You're maybe a little too picky with the guage needles....and now your ML handles better than the new C-Class.
Believe whatever you want. I never said that my ML handles better than the C - though it'll dust the little sucker in straight line acceleration. What I said was that on this particular corner, YES, my ML 500 did better than that particular C at even higher speeds. I drive that corner practically every day from work and I can take it at 75 easily with the ML. In two days with the C, I couldn't get the thing to take that bend past 60mph. That's my experience. I did say it slaloms very well, didn't I?
And, BTW since it's usually my money I get to be as picky picky picky as I wish. I'm sure you agree on this, don't you?
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The gages: The design of the gages was a major factor in my Love At First Sit (along with the overall design of the dash and console). Clearly they don't appeal to you, but they stroked some chord deep down inside of me and I think what it is was that they look vaguely like the sort of gages I saw in cars (and clocks) during my childhood years, which were roughly in the late 50s early 60s. I Love the look of the gages in this car. I like them better then the all digital displays I've seen in other far more expensive Mercedes products...
I don't have any problems with the overall design of the gages. In fact, the design is quite attractive and I can understand how that drew you to the car. The problem I have is really with the width of the speedometer dial - it's larger than the graduations on the speedo and since it's end isn't pointy, I found it very awkward to read the speedometer.
Then this would probably be attributed to the fact that Canadian cars might have better OEM tires... (they have different wheels from the get-go)
Possible. But more likely the serious US cars mags like Car and Driver test so many true high performance sports cars, not just sports sedans. So they tend to very finicky and demanding about performance aspects and less concerned about practical considerations.
... I see 3's and 5's everywhere. I have seen 2, maybe 3 w204s in the last 6 months.
I'm sure by now you see them all over the place. The car is so darn good looking that it's hard not to want one. She has to be a man! Every time I see one, I can't help but just give a thumbs up. I love this car!!!!
I'm sure by now you see them all over the place. The car is so darn good looking that it's hard not to want one. She has to be a man! Every time I see one, I can't help but just give a thumbs up. I love this car!!!!
True, true - I've seen 2 or 3 more lately, but they are not quite as ubiquitous as the BMW - although I do see all kinds of MBs, just none like this one... probably some personal bias there
I don't know, I drove to a BMW dealer, and on the way there passed by a MB dealer. Saw my C350 there and thought, what an aggressive good looking car. Went to BMW dealer with the full intention of getting the 335i coupe. I just didn't like the styling - too stoic and meek. It's not butch enough. Has anyone else besides myself notice the BMW cars get better mechanically but keep on getting uglier? And MB cars keep on looking better with each generation? My friends have a Lexus IS250, BMW 335i, and we park those cars side by side...in person, no comparision. My C350 is the most handsome car there by far. Even my friends agree. I find that, the C350 is a good balance - not as boring as Lexus, not as sporty as BMW, but good middle, and plenty fast, especially when shifting manually. Gas mileage is terrible though, I get sometimes 9 miles per gallon, but I do have a heavy leadfoot. For a guy who was shopping for BMW or Infiniti, and never considered MB, I am very happy I drove by the MB dealer on the way to the BMW dealer.
On maneuvers I have been pleasantly surprised with it's agility - it does what I want and responds well.
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