RE-Agent

I've owned three Acuras (and two Honda sportbikes) and they make a great vehicles. That said my 230 feels like a whole different animal. Solid, grounded, safe and tight. I'm not saying that I won't go back to an Acura but I am enjoying the Benz much more than I thought that I would.

As for the snob appeal of the MB- I have had some of my old friends tease me about my new car ("Hey man, times must be good" etc). They never used to do that with my Acuras.
Oh, and another old girlfriend of mine saw me driving and said, "How does it feel to spend $60K on a car?" Yes, it is a stock 230K.

revstriker

I agree with you on the S, but not the others. The ML makes me turn my head (in the opposite direction - Those minivans are ugly :p ). The CLS is still new, so people that know cars will still turn to see one. And on the CL, even though the body style is older, it's still not a car that the average person sees everyday, so I can see that turning some heads. I agree with you about the SL and the SLK (although the CL I think would get more attention than the SLK). The G is definatlely a head turner. And of course, the Maybach.

Other "head turners" (like it or not): The Mini, Scion xB, Crossfire, Mustang, GTO, Charger...

Vader55

Hey RE-Agent,

It is not your fault you clip 3 on the back of your transactions ? Heck sometimes 6 if you double up (lol) Tell them not to hate the player,hate the game. Its all good huh

ps.I am a self employed subprime loan ***** :v

revstriker

LOL! It's interesting how people have NO IDEA what certain things cost. I've gotten a few comments on my MB, inferring that I paid a lot of money for it ("lot of money" is of course different to different people). However, these same people have never made any such comments about my Chevy Suburban which cost about $18k more than my C320.

With that said, yes, people may assume you paid more than you did for your car. But I still don't think anyone is sitting at a stop light watching a BMW, then an Acura, then a Lexus, and then a C class go by and think that the C Class is somehow in a different class than the others.

MB-BOB

They're all the same tool, and he's not a noob.

Battery!

I don't think anyone takes a second glance at the C-class luxury sedan.

The sport sedan has more aggressive lines, so it probably gets some looks when cleaned up because of the sharper look (mine does on occasion) - but it's not a car that's in a different league, other than having higher maintenance costs than any other $30k car.

Humbucker87

Ya I agree the C class normal luxury sedan styling is bland and somewhat outdated, but there's something about the amg body work, 17 inch wheels, low profile tires, and staggered wheels that makes the c230 and c320 (with sport package) stand out from the normal everyday sedan.

The car being clean has A LOT to do with what kind of looks it gets, and to me sometimes (not always) reflects the appreciation the owner has for their car. I say not always because sometimes my car gets dirty and I simply dont have time to clean it, and thats not to say people who dont clean their cars dont appreciate it.

mick1

it's tough on black cars but on silver cars, sometimes, you can't tell the difference, from a distance, that they have just been washed. The only things that would give them away are the rims because you can see the difference between dirty rims and clean rims from any distance

Humbucker87

ya...thats about the only thing i dont like about black cars. When I wash my car for that first day it looks stunning, but after a day or two it starts to look dirty again....ugh. Oh well.

Also today with a black exterior and interior this thing attracts so much heat. On a one hundred degree day getting into this car after it being in the sun for about an hour is pretty darn close to unbearable. Thank god my air conditioning cools this car off fast and works like a dream.

designergrey

I think that the key word is different. I also came from an Acura and it drove pretty much like every other standard issue vehicle.

My brother recently got a GS430 and we were driving each other's cars and his comment on my C230 was that there was something about my car that makes you want to drive it. I think he also appreciated the simplicity of my car. The new GS430 has a ton of buttons and gadgets.

Saprissa

it's all the same idiot from Delaware,
over 50+ screennames in the past 2 years, and he keeps coming back for more. Wouldn't be surprised, if he's got a least 2 or 3 aliases currently active on MBWorld.

Saprissa

rev,
you forgot the ever-popular C-Coupé !!

revstriker

No I didn't.

mick1

speaking about head-turners, the other day, I saw a Lamborghini Murcielago on the freeway. It was unreal. It looked like a spaceship on wheels.

Capt Nemo o2

LOL!!!

r3v1ls

Lately it's been really annoying with this guy starting soo many dif topics. I'm having trouble telling which 1 is good ol c230_617 and who actually is a newbie. We should have sticky on how to tell a BS thread from a real one...

b3d_sage

Yes, the 3-pointed star makes it better. makes it faster, too

Seriously though... people do tend to think you paid a lot more for your car than you did (although mine is a loaded-to-the-gills C320, over $50k to drive away with it new in '00) and especially the chics think so. The car is a pantydropper.

Also, when cleaned my car does turn a lot of heads, even people in Porsche's! However, that's probably due to the fact that it is very likely the ONLY one like it in the DFW metroplex. I have a freaking purple Mercedes.

revstriker

This is a good example. What turns people's heads is something that looks different, new, or unusual. For this car, it's the color. However, for a plain, normal color, C230, they're everywhere.

delbomber

Maybe not pre-05 SS's, but my car turns heads all the time, and has been mistaken for costing anywhere between $50 and $90 thousand. Yes, nine-zero. And this by people who drive very nice cars themselves. It might not have the goods under the hood to back it up, but the 05 230 (not to mention 320ss/55) is a bad-*** looking car...

I bought it for a number of reasons in addition to my personal attraction to it. I could care less what other people think (coming from a G35, which "turned heads" for about a week before there were, inevitably, billions of them on the road), but I won't deny the C's attractiveness gives a false, and sometimes undesirable, impression about how much it costs.

LorinserCClass

My car just blends in with the crowd I need like a big wing or a purple color to stand out or something :p

b3d_sage

well, I believe the OEM paint code is 449 (or maybe 9449) you should go to the stealership and get yourself some :P

LorinserCClass

Im po' peoples. I am just going to get the touch up paint and touch up the whole car w/it!!

trench

I was basing these opinions on some real world experiences with friends who aren't car-people, which is why I included the CLS. Car people like it, regular people are "meh."

Again, while I really like the CL, most non-car people don't seem to take notice of it. I think because the SL looks like a fast car, while the CL looks more like a two-door S. (They're even more surprised when I tell them how expensive it is.)

nukblazi

An interesting thing about the Sport Coupe, people don't see them all the time, and people associate "kompressor" with "AMG". People are always asking, "is that THE kompressor", having no idea what it is or how much it costs. It seems though that if it says "kompressor", people think it was a $60k car.

My '02 coupe has always gotten interesting looks much more than my 325xi ever got. Now that it's low as hell and with the wheels, and Brabus lip, I almost feel like I am being watched when I drive. Everywhere I go someone says something. Thing is though that if I see another coupe once a month around here, it's a lot.

In other words, it's just a misconception propagated through ignorance.

drexappeal

I'll give you a story that'll kinda give you an idea of what's up.

My cousin owns a white 2004 EVO VIII MR edition. He previously owned a black 2003 EVO VIII, until he traded for the MR edition (they gave him an unbelievable deal). His car was more expensive than mine (brand new).

Recently, he and his co-worker met up with me after work to grab some drinks. When I pulled away in my car, his co-worker (who is a female) leaned over to him and said, "His car is SOOOO nice. He must get a lot of girls with that car." He didn't tell me all of this until this past weekend, but I started laughing and my reaction was, "your car is more expensive than mine!"

The whole conversation came up because a bunch of our friends and the two of us were talking about "status" and how people view "status" based on material goods. A lot of people, view Benz's and BMW's as "status" symbols regardless of what model they have.

So, even though my cousin's car is just as much $ (if not more), really fast and really nice, it didn't garner the same "respect" as my Benz (although, because I'm into tuning, I give nice looking JDM cars just as much respect). What's funny is that, for a lot of the Benz and BMW community, if you have a "lower" model on the totum pole, our cars would be considered the "cheap" Benz (same as the 3 series BMW).

So in essence, it's all a matter of perspective. Especially being in Los Angeles, it's a completely different ball game.