Buellwinkle

The BMW dealer by me, Irvine BMW does not provide loaners, cookies, non service related free car washes and they certainly have built up a reputation over the years as having only but the very worst service and I've heard this from several people. On the plus side they discount more heavily than the dealer in Santa Ana who has good service but I'm not driving to Santa Ana or any where Diamond Bar for service, too far. I've driven the 3 series on test drives and on a track and to me it felt very mediocre all the way around, certainly not up to the spirit of the new c-class.

As for Jag, they provide loaners (not always Jag), have good service and good coffee but no cookies and certainly no free non-service related car washes. Sort of in between MB and BMW and certainly something to look at when my coupe's time is up.

xc240x

i myself have had 2 mercedes... my family has owned mercedes for years... everytime i'm ready to get rid of one of the benzes here, i always say, i'll never buy another one... but guess what? i end up trading in one benz for a new one at the Mb dealer... i guess it's the styling that makes me lie to myself about the reliability of mb... oh well, i usually get rid of the car before the warranty is up anyhow

Buellwinkle

Exactly, like a moth to flame, you know it's bad but it's hard to resist.

Freddy

Sorry, but why on earth would you want to replace the 230 badge with 180? Just because the engine is 1.8?

Accord

It only makes sense that someone will replace the 230 badge with the proper, 180 badge. The 2002 C230 has a 2.3 liter engine, the 2003 C230 has a 1.8 liter engine, thus the badges and name of the car should read C180, NOT C230. The only reason they are keeping the 230 name is because most people will be more inclined to purchase a car with a higher number.

BlackC230Coupe

i do agree with u.

But then on the other hand why is your isent your S600 called a S580?

it just goes to show us that MB is not that strict on how there model names represent litires. As they badge them incorrectly with some other cars also.

Accord

The 5.5L V8's are actually 5.4L. MB usually just rounds to the nearest number that sounds good .

BlackC230Coupe

the c240 is a 2.6L i am suprised they did not want to make that one sound better.

grn300m

Geez people get over it already. I don't think MB is likely to change the name of the C230 to C180 to appease all the 2002 C230 owners. GM changed the entire direction of the Impala from a Hot Rod Grampa car to a soccer mom car. Either way, it's still an Impala. If MB would have changed the name, then even more people would complain because it likely would stifle the following the car has today. It seems abvious the MB doesn't really name there cars by the exact engine size. The 2002 C180 and C200 in UK both used the C230 2.3 engine.

Freddy

Well, I agree somehow but what would the "real" C180 be called then? It has also a 1.8 engine but much less power. It would be quite confusing to have 3 different versions of C180, all with different power rating. And as mentioned before, MB has never kept their naming strictly to engine size. For example the 2002 C180 coupe did not have a 1.8 engine but a 2.0

Not completely true. The 2002 C180 and C200K had both 2.0 engines. The 200K was supercharged while the C180 was not.

vadim

Proper would be what they (MB)consider "proper". From the marketing standpoint, this badging makes perfect sense - three engine options with different power outputs but the same engine displacement are badged C180, C200K and C230K. In some (many) cases MB uses the closest engine displ. figure in the badge, so what? Why automatically assume that this is the way God wants it to be?

Returning to the thread subject: I wouldn't buy C180K Coupe, nor would I buy it if it were badged C230K - with the 1.8L engine.

grn300m

I stand corrected, still my point was that two different models based on the same displacement. My reference should have been to the 2003 C Class sedan and coupe using the same 1.8 liter engine with unique programming to 'tune' the engine.

C180 Kompressor Sedan
1796 ccm displacement

C200 Kompressor Sedan
1796 ccm displacement

C230 Kompressor Sportcoupe
1796 ccm displacement


My point is that MB broke the mold for C Class naming convention, if there ever really was one.

Boo2

Mercedes broke the mold in "general" when it made the coupe. This is all new to them.

vadim

Just like it was new to them when they created the M-class... then A-class... There's first time for everything

00A41.8T

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by vadim
I dunno... Does Audi4 1.8T sound weak? To some, yes, to others, no, some people couldn't care less...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

...cough.........not to my knowledge...

Seriously depends though, if you got quattro and tiptronics and are stock, it accelerates like a pig. But easily correctable with some mods...A chip really does help, as the 1.8T are limited in stock form...But seemlingly they made the 02's more difficult to chip...Me thinks why a lot of people get the 1.8T is because it easily modifiable, if you don't mind dealing with turbos (lag, cooldown, etc). As far as reliability? Decent. But hope you never have to deal with AOA (audi of america) in your lifetime because they're dumb as a door knob.

If I had a choice, I'd get a WRX to throw around, those are fun. the C32 would nice too but they way I drive, I'd hate to abuse that car.

Hope you folks don't mind be hanging around here, the audi forum is getting old....


When's the 1.8l coming out?