C240 6SP

I have had my C240 6sp for a month now. Strictly, it's my wife's car but I kindly agreed to break it in for her. Done about 800 miles so far. These are some of my observations so far. No doubt they are very subjective.<p>1) I am really surprised at how the engine has "loosened up". When it was new, the initial acceleration was sluggish compared to say the BMW 325i. Now it approaches the bimmer. Let's see what happens after break in period.<p>2) The tranny is very nice. Again, the 325i is may be a notch better but I would give the C240 an advantage for clutch feel. Its very easy to feel the clutch "bite point" and its perfectly placed in the pedal range.<p>3) 1ST gear is very short. That's not a bad thing. It's just that it takes a little time to get used to. Reminds me very much of the same initial shifting problem with BMW 540i 6 speed. Minus the monster torque, of course.<p>4) C240 best torque is definitely in the mid-range. Passing power (eg. 55 to 80) is amazing. Better that 325i IMHO. In a related point, at high speed the engine seems to be wanting for 7th gear.<p>5) Power is sufficient, IMO. I just takes time to know how to use the engine / tranny to correctly harness the best performance.<p>6) C240 has electronic throttle. This and ECU may contribute to the less than exhilirating acceleration. Again, I suspect we have a situation here very similar to the 3 series when it was introduced as the 323 and 328. I have heard that BMW purposely tuned the 323 to increase the performance gap with the 328.<p>7) Suspension is very good. Stock Goodyear RSA tires are not. I wish it had Michelin Pilots or Pirelli.<p>8) Car is very stable at high speed. Since it is still on break in, I only did max 75 for about 10 minutes. Yes, it feels like a Benz. (FYI, I have routinely taken the old C-class to 200 to 220 kph in the 'bahn between Munich and Frankfurt.)<p>9) I cannot say I prefer Benz to BMW. I love them both, equally. They are fine cars and BMW being the UDM is not totally marketing hype. MBZ has evolved beautifully. Over good engineering, they have added flair to their styling.<p>Sorry for the long post.<br>