Just checking out the specs on the '06 C230 vs. my '05 C230K. Looks like HP went up around 10HP, but torque went down about 10 lb-ft.

According to mbusa.com, the 0-60 time has increased by around .5 secs? Is that right? Anyone driven both an '06 and '05?

Although I guess that's good for my '05's resale value, it's kind of baffling considering the output of the E90 325, G35, and the new IS250...

 

i think as far as resale goes, thats a tough call. smaller engine, less HP, but higher torque give you a leg up on the 2006?


your car will be one year older, have a 4 cylinder, but have 10 more lb ft of torque. all in all i think the 06 C230 will have an easier time to sell than an 05 C230.


i also think the G35 really cant be compared with the other three seeing as how the other three offer a 3.5L (or will) and the G35 has nother less. the G35 should really sit this one out.

 

This has been discussed on the forum before, so a quick search should reveal a lot of opinions on this, but....

The responsiveness of the 2006 vs. 2005, is one of the reason's I decided to go with the 2005 and it's I4 Supercharged engine, rather than opting for the year newer model and it’s new/untested V6.

That plus they were willing to negotiate a super deal since the 2006 models were / are already out, and the dealer (back in August ’05) was willing to negotiate more on the “previous” years model. Of course with gas prices at $3 a gallon when I bought the car, the fact that the 2005 has a bit better gas mileage helped in making the decision as well.

Another thing to consider, the 2006 is the FIRST year for the V6 in the C230, whereas the Supercharged in-line 4 Cyl of the 2005 was the LAST year of that design, so one would assume all the bugs had been worked out of it by now. I’ve always apprehensive about the first year product of any car manufacture, even a luxury dealer like MB.

The other thing I noticed when test-driving both cars was that the 2006 automatic is a 7 speed, whereas the 2005 is a 5 speed, at first glance this might seem to be an advantage in the 2006 however, it seemed to me that the 2006 model was always "hunting" to try to find the right gear to be in. I also noticed that it never rev'ed above approximately 2000 RPM before changing gears. Therefore, it never developed the kind of torque and power that it is capable of before switching up to the next higher gear.

The 2005, and it's 5 speed gearbox, tends to rev a bit higher in each gear before moving up, and seems more responsive because of it.

So, yes the 2006 has 10 more HP but it’s down on torque, get’s worse gas mileage and is actually a tick slower than the 2005 and it’s Supercharged inline 4 Cyl.

If you are looking to trade in your car in the next 1-3 years, you may want to go with the 2006 due to higher resell, but if you are planning on keeping it for more than 5 years, as I am, it really doesn't make much difference.

Also, keep in mind that sometime in 2007 we'll see the W204 come out with a new body style and who knows what type of engine, and interior so both the 2005 and 2006 may resell around the same if you waited until after the W204 arrives.

Jay J

 

Interesting, yeah, I was wondering if real-world experience would reflect the .5-.6 sec 0-60 slowdown from the I4K to the V6.

I can understand why MB wanted to move onto a new V6, it's too bad they gave up performance to do so. The C230 Sport gets little respect as it is among 30k sports sedans. A lot of comparos you read don't even bother to include the C anymore.

Anyway, I'm sure the resale diff probably won't be that much down the road, and I love my Kompressor.

 

Well, the point is that even with less displacement, less HP, but higher torque from the supercharger, the I4K gets to 60mph significantly faster than the V6, according to MB's own numbers.

But in terms of resale, I guess only a performance-oriented buyer would even know that. The general used-car C-class buying audience out there would probably see V6 and higher HP numbers and stop there. Good point.

 

I love the C class. I loved it so much that this is my 2nd C. I had a 320 back in 2001. I love my car because its damn sexy and it has everything i need for about 30-35k.

If i wanted a fast car i would have gotten an s2k,or a sti. Owning a benz is a great luxury and im sure thats why we bought our cars. When comparing cars you win some and lose some. As long as your happy with your purchase, thats all that matters.

 

The reason the I4 is faster 0-60 is that it has a flatter torque curve so you are in the top 10-20% of maximum torque over a much wider portion of the rev range. This is one thing that people don't understand about HP numbers, it's not HP you should care about, it's torque as HP is just a calculation of torque at a certain rpm. Ideally, you want to have maximum torque from idle to redline, the closer you are to that ideal, the faster your 0-60 will be. The S/C is what gives you maximum torque for so long, the V6 can't hold a candle to that. Look at the older VW's and Audi's with the 1.8 Turbo, they did 0-60 times in the 7 second range with 150 HP. As for a 7 speed automatic, that's probably to make up for the weak torque curve, the S/C motor had enough torque where that wasn't necessary.

 

i love boost tho....

 

if resale value was super important, most people wouldn't buy the c-class mercedes. Based upon the information I have seen, the c-class would depreciate faster than cars like the 3-series bmw, lexus IS, etc...

i bought my car to drive, so it doesn't bother me

 

Blame it all on the crying here, and in journalistic circles that the C230 didn't have a 'refined' V6 engine. The move to the V6 was purely marketing...didn't help performance, and killed the gas mileage.

The six is also heavier than the 4.

 

It's surprising how the cars in different countries have different resale values compared with one another. Over here in Malaysia, Mercs have much better resale values than BMW and Lexus.

The worst is Saab, Audi, Alfa and Volvo.