mikefl52

I picked my new mars red exterior / grey interior C230 SS up from the factory in Sindelfingen yesterday and drove up to my where my German office is located in Muelheim (359 miles). It was quite an experience and I would recommend it to anyone. I am fortunate in that I travel to Germany on a pretty regular basis and so I could roll the trip to pick the car up into a business trip, the downside is that I have to work this and next week, but I have a trip planned over the weekend to the Harz mountains.

I flew out on Saturday and arrived in Frankfurt Sunday, a 1 hour train ride brings you too Stuttgart and opposite the Graf Zeppelin, a very nice hotel which MB pays for one night. I managed to get a good night’s sleep despite the excitement of picking my new car up. After a good breakfast (included in the package) I checked out and took a taxi (for which MB provides a voucher) to the Kundenzentrum at the Sindelfingen factory after registering and filling out some export documents (all really easy) I took a factory tour and bought a couple of things at the shop (you could spend a lot of money there!!!). The tour takes 2 hours but is well worth it.

The factory tour was really interesting since they took us on the “C Klasse” finishing line as well as the press and assembly shop. Just as a point of interest approximately 1/3 of the cars going through the line were coupes, so they are alive and well in Europe and just not exported to the USA because of the weak dollar. Also as a point of interest in the final assembly shop most of the cars were 4 cylinder models either diesel or normal gas, very few were 6 cylinder models and I did not see one C350 (I don’t know if they have started production). It’s pretty amazing that all the cars come together with the correct parts since each car is almost custom based upon country and options chosen and the fact that many of the pieces, seats, console, body are all put together as separate pieces and assembled in final assembly. Everything is tracked by a customer number, which is read either by robots or humans dependent upon the stage in the build. The build takes 5 days from go to the finished car.

By the time the tour was over it was nearly 11:00 and time for lunch at a restaurant in the Kundenzentrum. Again MB provides a voucher for up to 65EUR ($100), which as a single traveler you cannot possibly spend, but as a family you might.

The time had finally arrived to pick the car up and as I entered the pick-up area there were probably about 20 cars ready to pick up (E, SLK, CLS, coupes, sedans, roadsters…), but only one mars red car so I knew which one was mine immediately. A technician describes the features and then it is time for a few photos (the only place in the factory that you can take photos) and finally to leave.

I took a mixture of normal roads and autobahns, rather than taking all autobahns in order to vary the speed and also to enjoy some of the countryside, especially between the factory and Baden-Baden which is very hilly with lost of twisting roads, a good opportunity to test out the handling of the C230 SS and compare it to my current 2002 C230 SC. I have to say it is better in almost all aspects, but especially the handling, with almost no body roll and a very confidence-building feel on the road. The interior is also much better and the seats have much more support. I have seen many complaints about the HK audio system, however I had no complaints, both the bass (with a small amount of boost) and treble were to my liking and with the Logic 7 switched on it had a full detailed sound with all the music that I brought with me and have listened to up to now, music that ranges from, Yes to Sting, Dream Theater to The Strawbs, Cream, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Van Morrison and others. Not only that but I recorded al the CDs I brought with CD text and the COMMAND system shows the titles and performer of the CD and the individual track titles. I really did not push the engine, but it seemed responsive enough and is certainly a lot smoother, refined and quieter than my current C230 SC. The only real downside of picking up a C-Class is that there are no German navigation DVDs for the COMMAND system, so I had to resort to maps to make sure that I was on the right track. On the autobahns the mid range pick-up seemed more that adequate when I had to overtake, though as I mentioned I took it pretty easy. I can imagine that if I used the full rev range by dropping a few gears then it could be very responsive, something I will have to try out when the run-in period is over.

I did have to go alone since my wife has her own business and could not take he time off and my daughter was in school, but it would have been even more fun if they had also been able to go.

I have enclosed some pictures. I know it’s not everybody’s choice but I do like the mars red, it really stands out and I took the money and put it to some of the options that I chose: COMMAND, Sunroof, Entertainment, Lighting, Power drivers seat, Fold down rear seats (the best value option that the offer) and Satellite (which will be installed at the VPC as a factory option rather than a dealer option).

Apologies that this is so long, but as you can imagine today was a lot of fun. I will be here for another 10 days so if I get the opportunity I will post some more photos.

ctC230K

holy crap you lucky *******!!! i would give anything to be able to take a european delivery on a new mercedes. thanks for posting the story and take more pictures!

brabusCcoupe

That made for interesting reading. Very cool experience. I love the Mars red, great choice. Im very happy for you, Congratulations.

Burnt Toast

awsome my mars red brotha!

JDM

Very cool, Thanks for sharing the experience. Yes, post more pic's! Catch more of that German country side, too. Love the car. I can only imagine the enhancement of ownership that experiencing the factory setting can bring, not to mention driving the roads the car was intended for..

Guest0001

Nice Write up! Congrats on your Mars Beauty!

inFiniTE LooP

awesome, just awesome. i'll definitely be taking european delivery on my next benz thanks for the write-up. that new color red looks simply amazing, congrats!

nicedeboy

Congrats! I also have taken the tour many times and met a few of the designers. Since I know how to speak in different languages like German and French, it was really fun getting to know some of the designers. You will really like you Mercedes, just like I have gotten to know my late one. I had a 2001 C240 Burgundy. I really enjoyed driving on the auto-bon (sp), pedal to the medal. And they let me take home my euro-front plate to stick on the front of my car when it arrived in the US. Every time I take a trip to that part of Germany, I like to tour the **** war camps to remember what my Grandparent's had to deal with while they were still alive there.

Nuvolari

Congratulations on the purchase. Thank you for the excellent write up. I considered European deivery but just could not make my schedule work. I will however visit the factory in May as part of a Euro car tour that will include the Ferrari factory and some race tracks. Enjoy your new ride.

Phoebusvh

The story is pretty interesting to me. But several questions stuck in my head:
- So you can have a European delivery, but what exactly it means? You go there, got your car, and then how are you going to bring it back to America?
- Why Mb is paying partial of your traveling fee?

brizzz

Wow that is one nice merc....dark black tint will look sooooooo good on this color. Simply Awesome.

CitronC230K_03

how cool is that? congrats!

tyro

What he ^^ said!!!

LMing

conguratunlation~ I don't see any red C class here in montreal. looking good!

MCONDE01

awesome post...love that color too, I saw one on the road last week for the first time and I was very impressed.....enjoy your new baby!

mikefl52

Thanks for all the kind responses. I will post more information and photos over the weekend when I don't have to work and will take a trip.

It is certainly a worthwhile experience that I would encourage anyone to take if they get the opportunity. The 6 week wait for the car to arrive once it is delivered to the shipping agent is going to be purgatory though.

The mars red is as uncommon here in Germany as it is in the US, in fact I have not seen any.

If you go to the MBUSA website it has a good description of European Delivery, but in a nutshell you pick up the car from the delivery center at the factory in Sindelfingen (near Stuttgart) where you can take a factory tour, visit the museum, etc. You then drive the car in Germany for up to 15 days drop it off at a shipping company (Harms), there are a number of different locations you can choose from, and then wait six weeks for it to arrive at your dealership.

Why does MB pick up some of the cost - hotel for one night, taxi transfers and some meals (as well as giving a mandatory minimum 7% discount on the price of the car including options)? To be honest I do not know, I have heard that it is a governmental incentive to boost tourism, but I don't know the validity of that. I am lucky in that I travel on business to Germany and could therefore roll this together and not have to pay for the airfare.

mikefl52

Nothing particularly dramatic here, just a picture of the inside. I know most people like black, but I currently have a black interior on my C230 SC and I have to say that when left out at work (in Orlando) all day it gets hot. When I lived in Pheonix I had a car with a light interior and it did not get nearly as hot despite 100+ degree temperatures.

I do have a question for any MBWorld expert out there. How do you upload pictures into your signature? I have done some searches and looked at the FAQ but could not find anything on this.

Saprissa

CONGRATS on the nice car !!

I'm biased towards the C320, but even so, I like the fact that you got ALL the options.

Couple of questions:
- were any of the EURO only options available for you to choose from ? or were they all pre-ordered back at the US dealership ? Things like folding side mirrors, IMS, Parktronic or any other AMG goodies ?
- do you get to keep the German small-size license plates ? or are they just temporary plates while you drive around Germany ?
- any way to get the wider European plate rear bezel on the trunk lid ? (not many Sedans in the US have them, and you can still put on a regular size (US) plate on it.

Enjoy your time out there cruising the AutoBahn in your new MB !! Congrats !!


Carlos

Saprissa@aol.com

ctC230K

You need to upload it to a web host somewhere else first then put a link to it in your sig.

mikefl52

No, the car had to be completely US spec, choosing options just as you would if buying the car in the US. Even the speedometer is completely in miles (no kilometers). This was with my dealer, you may be able to find a dealer that would be more flexible, but they may aslo have there hands tied by MBUSA.
This is a good question. The plates the provided are not actually the normal German plates. They are German export plates, but I am going to ask if I can keep them as a memento since they cannot be used for any other car as they have a date on them 25 04 05 which is the date when the car has to be exported.
I did not try to do that, but you might be able to work something out with the dealer if you can get an option code for it. Based upon the factory tour the cars are built based upon the option codes which are stored in a central database. The cars then have a bar code as they go through the factory which accesses the database and assigns the ordered options.
CT230K - Thanks for the info, this will have to wait till I get back to the US.

CM208

you lucky man!!

my local dealer just called me and informed me the car is ready for pickup tomorrow finally (after 4 months of wait!). Is gonna be one hack of long sleepless night.

ctC230K

did you get the euro saftey kit in the trunk? with the triangle? make sure you take it out of the car before you drop it off at the port or else the shipping company will!!

Deutscher_Wagen

For someone who speaks 'so' many different languages... autobahn

revstriker

Good catch! Since autobahn is a compound word, I doubt anyone who can really speak German would spell it that way! :p

Deutscher_Wagen

würde ich auch behaupten