Where do you live? I just checked carsdirect and the taget quote I got was MSRP!

-Bob

 

In Los Angeles. I put in area code 90039. Right now price with NAV/Lights/Roof is about 47K but even better I think if you add DVD package.

 

I meant glove box CD package (not DVD). So can anyone help with my original question?

 

I think the experience you had was not typical. One thing you should check is to see if the car was set in "C" or "S" mode. If it was in "C" for comfort, the engine starts in 2nd gear and downshifts are slower than in "S" standard or sport mode.

Personally, my CLK 320 CAB and CLK 500 CAB have very responsive transmissions. I also have several friends with CLK's and no one has experience what you experienced in your test drive.

Believe me, the CLK 320 engine is tried and true, very responsive, reliable and should deliver hundreds of thousands of trouble free miles.

Rod

 

What SZABELIN is talking about is totally normal and one of the best features in Mercedes. If you read the owners manual, it explains the fact that unlike other automatic transmissions, by Mercedes once you take your foot off the gas pedal, the transmission downshifts and the car slows down. As a result you don't need to make too much use of the breaks, specially when you drive downhill.
Both my ML 350 and CLK 320 do the same and I just love this feature. Still if someone doesn't like it, it is possible to disable it and then you have a transmission acting like any other ordinary car. I am just amazed that the sales person didn't know about it.

 

How do I enable/disable it? Yes the engine and acceleration was impressive.

 

szabelin,
Only your dealer can disable this feature. But what I don't understand is the fact that you pay a Mercedes price tag in order to have this kind of transmission plus all the other qualities which come with the car.
Let me give you and example. Assume you have a five speed manual transmission and you are driving downhill. In order for you to remain within the speed limit, you down shift to slow down. All the ordinary automatic transmissions don't down shift and as a result if you don't make use of your brakes, your speed could go over 100 mph. Or on a flat road when you see the red light from a distant and you take off your foot from the gas pedal most cars just roll and roll. Mercedes Transmission notices that your foot is no more on the gas pedal and does exactly what you want, namely slowing down. Bottom line, this is the first time in my life that I see a smart automatic transmission which reads your intention and responds accordingly. It even adapt itself to your driving style. I don't know of BMW but all the other automatic transmissions that I have seen are acting really dumb compared to Mercedes.

 

celm77.....Until you wrote about the transmission slow down when one's foot is off the pedal, I hadn't really paid much attention to it. I'm just so used to Mercedes and it seems perfectly normal. Then, I was traveling this week and drove one of those awful, American built rental cars and I noticed that when I took my foot off the accelerator nothing much happened and the car tried to maintain the current speed. I now really appreciate the "thinking" transmission in my CLK.

Thanks,
Rod

 

Rod,
The only side effect is that once you get used to this kind of "smart" transmission, you are going to have a hard time to drive other cars with low IQ transmission...)

 

Hey everyone,

I hate to burst everyone's bubble, but Houston, there IS a problem! A BIG problem with the CLK transmissions! I am a Benz guy and have been one for life, always loved them and probably always will. However, I am seriously considering changing brands. I brought a 98 CLK for my wife and that one had problems, but since I brought it used I figured the first owner didn't take care of it and chalked it up to a freak experience. So we went out and brought her a brand spanking new 2004 CLK last November. It's been 11 months, and the car has been in the shop 3 times! A BENZ !!!! It's in the shop right now! 5000 miles into it, the transmission stopped working, and they replaced it. 2 days later the car wouldn't start, so they brought it BACK in and did some "modification". Now the car is at 10,000 miles, and the transmission went again! This time they are saying it's the computer control box or whatever, but they replaced all of that the last time! I don't even want the car back! I'm telling you, be careful of those transmissions! I heard of a C class having the same problem. You don't spend $50,000 on a car to have it in the shop three times right off the lot. I'm considering a lawsuit against the dealership under the lemon law! Not only that, but switching to BMW !!!!!

 

Tim P....you must be a BMW Dealer....

 

If you think I'm a BMW dealer, call American Service Center in Arlington, Virginia. Ask for service advisor David Little. Then ask if they have a 2004 Mercedes Benz CLK320 in service for Tim & Tina Peeples. Then ask what the problem is? Then ask how many times it's been in the shop before this? Then ask if they have been contacted by an attorney? Then tell me I'm a BMW DEALER !!!!!!!

 

Let me just add that I don't even like BMW's. I wouldn't reccomend one. What they did to the new 5 is just hideous, and any chance they had to compete with the Mercedes E class they threw out the window. I have always been soft on Benzes, and STILL get a chill up my spine anytime an S class drives by me. I may still end up getting an E class after I get rid of this good for nothing CLK. But I'm telling you, the transmission is for the birds. Slow response time, it started jerking and pulling and dragging and making God awful noises, and you know it had to be serious for them to replace the transmission. I wasn't even aware of forums like this until a friend suggested I go online to see if other owners experienced similar problems. What's the first forum I find? "Problems with the CLK transmission!" I hear BMW AND Merc have taken beatings in recent quality and service survey's and they better hope I don't get a survey in my mailbox anytime soon because they will get blasted big time. I'm not only unsatisfied with the car but the service I have received as well. If you are such a Mercedes advocate you really should have left it alone because now all the dirt is getting spilled. By the way, my other car, is an INFINITI, which I have NO problems with and which my service when I bring it in is always top notch and first class.

 

Tim,
I am sorry you had such a bad luck with your CLK. But I think your case is isolated because if the CLK transmission had a wide spread problem, Mercedes would have a recall.
When I used to go to college in Germany, over a period of 4 years I bought 3 used Mini Cooper and I had no problem at all. My brother went out and bought a brand new one. By 3000 KM he needed a new transmission and by 5000 KM the whole engine was dead! There are always lemons out there even by Mercedes.
In your case Mercedes should replace your CLK with a new one and I am sure if you persist you get it. With the BMW design I agree with you. The whole new BMW series are just the ugliest car one could buy.

 

I have an 05 CLK320 Cab, which is now 2 weeks old and 1000 kms (600 miles).

Love the transmission so far. It took the first week to get it to settle down to my style (Conservative, due to speed cameras everywhere.) As someone else said, it intelligently knows what you want when you back off.

I also enjoy the speed limiter as it doesnt just accelerate to the setting and back off, somehow it knows how to get to the setting in an orderly fashion.

I do however pray that i dont get any of the tranmission failure issues raised by others. I can only add that I see many CLK's out there and know several other owners and the transmission faults are not wide spread. Otherwise the Forum would be loaded with Threads on the matter. I have been reading this and other Forums for nearly 2 years and the complaints are isolated to only a hand full.
(my 2c worth)

 

I agree with you both. I probably just have a lemon. I am very happy with Mercedes other than this issue and hopefully they won't give me any problems in replacing the vehicle. I am meeting with you today so I will definitely post the results for all to see. Hopefully they take care of me like they should, and stand behind their product. Stay tuned!

 

Tim,

So sorry you're having problems with your CLK. I have to believe your issues are isolated as has been stated above. I have 2 '05 CLK's and many of my neighbors and friends have CLK's and there has not been one instance of transmission failure.

It's not likely your dealer will just give you a new car. It is more likely your dealer will let you use the "Lemon Law" calculation to depreciate your car against the purchase of a new car. I had a bad C class once and my dealer was very gracious about replacing the car as long as I would agree to the Lemon Law depreciated value. Get a copy of the Lemon Law from any dealer. Basically, it assigns a value for each mile driven and you deduct that value from the retail purchase of the car to determine the trade value. It's a very fair and reasonable way to depreciate the car. It's exactly what would happen if you made a Lemon Law claim and the independent board ruled in your favor. It makes more sense for your dealer to do this with you as opposed to having to defend themselves in an actual claim, which can take months and money from both sides to resolve.

I hope you and your dealer are able to resolve this to your expectation. Just try to have a reasonable expectation to begin with.

I hope this helps.......

Rod

 

Rob,

That's exactly what happened. They agreed to replace the vehicle and all I had to pay was the milage that had elapsed on the vehicle which amounted to pennies in comparision to what I could have paid had they not cooperated. My confidence in Mercedes is restored! They stepped up to the plate, stood by their product, and took care of their customer in the end. To me, THAT is what you pay $50,000.00 for a car for. Not just the look, the feel, the drive, and the quality, but knowing the company will stand behind that product if there ever is a "lemon" situation. Congratulations Mercedes! You have just retained a customer for life!

Tim P

 

I'm so glad to hear this had a positive outcome Tim. This again demonstrates why so many of us drive Mercedes Benz cars!![]

Rod

 

I also had a problem with my 2000 320 cab. After 1 year the transmission froze in first or second. Had to tow to lousy Jersey dealer. Lost about ten days use and they still hadnt fix it properly. Then at a routine service in Queens I had them check it again since it wasnt shifting well. The mechanic wanted to know who worked on it (sloppy job). The service rep wasnt sure but told him another dealer. Anyway it was resolved. A year later the fuel pump went out and towed again. The roof stopped cold right before warranty ended and the electric display faded out partially. After the warranty expired I didnt have the confidence to hold long term so gave back(lease). Now Im waiting for my slk350 in two weeks.
Am I nuts or what? This time im buying so if car is no good I get a lexus or acura. The RL looks liKe the best all around car. Wish me luck!

 

I don't believe in luck but I wish you well! The new SLK is hot. Hope it runs well. I'm sure it will . . .

Just wanted to pop back on and give everyone an update. I picked up my new E Class yesterday! I love it!!! They took really good care of me at the dealership. This one has navigation and the upgraded sound system with surround sound speakers. Plus my insurance went down $66 bucks a month! I only had to pay the difference in price between the two cars which was phenomonal. I'm very happy! You can catch me in the E class forum going forward. Thanks guys for answering all my questions !!!!

 

Tim......best of luck with your new E Class. You'll love having Comand and the upgraded surround sound system. I sure love mine. When I went from a Honda S2000 (worth @ $30K to an '05 CLK 500 Cabriolet, my insurance also went down a similar amount. I suspect it has much to do with the safety of the car and the reduced risk of a major hospital stay from an accident. I was pleasantly surprised that a car costing twice as much, was less costly to insure. Again, best wishes in your new car. Drive safely and in great health.

Rod

 

Chalk up another lemon...possibly. I have a 2004 CLK 320 Cabriolet, and I had a defective Electronic Transmission Control Unit that was replaced at 11K miles. According to my service tech, this is becoming a widespread problem on the '04 CLK.

Unfortunately, the saga continues. Ever since the Transmission Control Unit was replaced, I noticed the car intermittently shifted a bit roughly. It was annoying, but I put up with it for a few thousand more miles. I finally had enough and took it back in yesterday for service (not only to look at the transmission, but my fuel gauge indicator was intermittently disappearing, and my leather steering wheel was peeling...both of which have been fixed/replaced). Now comes word that they had to completely disassemble my transmission and it won't be ready till tomorrow.

I hope this is the end of it, and that I won't have any more problems....but it is quite disconcerting that a 1-year old, 2004 CLK with only 15,000 miles is having this many problems, especially with the transmission.

I'll update everybody after I pick the car up and drive it for a while.

 

It seems that some CLK owners on this forum experienced problems with the CLK transmission. Mercedes is using the same transmission in its C and E and S class too. It is not like they make a transmission only for CLK series or that they have different transmission for other series. The same is valid for the engines.
It is confusing to me that I don't read these kind of problems on a wide spread basis on S or E or C forums. Is it possible that we are talking about isolated cases or am I missing something here?

 

I have an update, and it's not good. I picked up my CLK Saturday and drove it approximately a mile to my home. I was absolutely dumbfounded when I attempted to put the car in Reverse to back it into my parking spot, and it simply rolled forward. I immediately braked and attempted to put it into other gears, all to no avail. I put it in park, cut the engine, tried to re-start it, and it would not start.

It was near closing time, but the dealership was gracious enough to send a tech over and he gerryrigged it so I could drive it back to the dealership without having it towed. He jacked up the car, got underneath it, and pulled a "MacGyver" by linking the transmission with a piece of plastic or something along those lines.

Apparently, I have a bad shifter now. This is getting ridiculous, and I will definitely pursue a Lemon Law action. I have not lost my faith in Mercedes-Benz by any means, but it does appear I got a bad apple.