claygate

My parents had a 2000 E280 avant garde when I lived in England and I really enjoyed the way it drove. I know that the 190E is a different class sized car and is from a whole different generation of technology but how does it compare in driving experience? I see the vitals of the 190E listed as 156/158 hp depending on the source and 164 ft./lbs. torque. How is the gearing on the automatics, does it feel sluggish or can you floor and still get a nice push back. Obviously I am not running around looking for something with the amounts of power as a SL55 or something, but feels nice. What about handling, with a curb weight listed around 3000 lbs., atleast this is what I have found, does it suffer from understeer and plowing if you enter a sharp bend? My problem is that I don't really get a kick out of front wheel drive cars, I've been test driving the Acura RSX and it is by far the best front wheel drived car I've driven it still can't get rid of all the FWD characteristics. I've been searching to see some stories of the 190E owners here who can drive it as a daily driver reliably but when they want to go out for a drive on the weekend in the hills they can still get some enjoyment on the way to the lake etc. What other rear wheel drive cars would you compare to the 190Es? Early 90s BMW 3s, Nissan 300ZX... I hope that isn't taboo around here.

Chamorro

I have a 1990 2.6 auto that's always had either 205 or 215 tires on it, and I didn't have a problem w/ understeer at all. It does feel sluggish at takeoff (2.87 rear diff); if I want to take off quickly I make it go into 1st either by flooring it (engages the kickdown switch) or by using the shifter. On the freeway, it's great. It'll give you decent push any (sane) speed over 55mph w/o a downshift.

Keep in mind the 190 2.6 doesn't really compare w/ the cars you listed. It handles great, but it's really more of a cruiser rather than a sports car. Try to imagine a w124 300e w/ less weight, a little less low-end power, spoiiter steering/brake/handling characteristics, and less space.

I'll close by saying: I'm not sure where you're from, but I thoroughly enjoy driving my car on California HWY 17 (San Jose-Santa Cruz) and HWY 1 (south of Santa Cruz).