While my CLK 320 is in the shop (A/C makes weird noises at idle) I have a red 2006 C230 to play around with, my dad told me that these new ones have a brand new 2.5L V6 with 201HP (I checked the MBUSA site and this is true) and this particular one has the sport package which is just asking for me to run it to its limits :p but anyways, I am pretty sure this one has the new 7 speed automatic because when I shift it manually it goes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, D so I assume that means 7 forward gears correct? My problem with this is when I am driving about 20-30 MPH (3rd gear I think?) and then drop the hammer the car hesitates for a bit, drops a gear and the RPMs fly to about 3000 before it even starts to accelerate and this takes about 2-3 seconds which almost got me rear ended when I stupidly came out of a corner and merged with traffic assuming that I could get up to about 60MPH before the car behind me caught up like my CLK could easily do, boy I felt stupid lol. So is this normal for the car to be constantly adjusting the gears? One weird thing is on this amazingly steep hill near my house, my 1991 300E and 2003 E320 both have to down shift to get up the hill at anything about 20MPH, my CLK is able to hold its gear the whole way though but this C 230 actually UP SHIFTED! lol!

i had the 230 w/ 7 sp as a loaner a few weeks ago... THAT CAR was ALWAYS searching for gears. Even when not on the gas. I even had a friend of mine in the car, she knows nothing about cars, and even asked what was wrong with the car.. ha ha

although, playing with the triptronic was quite fun, as its another 2 gears worth of tapping. AS for your hesitation... I was screwin around with manually shifting, comming to a red light, light turned green... I floored it, car felt as if it just "turned off" about 2 seconds later, it powered back up... Was no where near REDLINE either.

u guys had a rental.....its not ure car, i have an 06 and its fine, not searchin for gears....stopping or anything. this has been discussed like 9999999 times

both guys are from San Diego. Maybe they both got the same loaner car with the bad transmission

7G takes a little getting used to. If used right, it works beautifully.

its possible, that being a rental were driving them "too hard" and i would imagine that previous people who have rented the cars do the same. i have never once drivin my 320 nearly that hard, SO i cant be sure that the same problem doesnt happen to the other cars ;-)

LOL! Maybe we did get the same one, was yours red too? :p anyways I experienced the exact same thing with it feeling like it turns off or whatever and found it quite annoying but the overall car was still plenty awesome, I just called my mom and she said my dad took it back already (my CLK is done) and I was kinda dissappointed last time we had a POS loaner and they took 17 days to replace the bumper, this time I got a fun car to drive and my car is ready the next day haha!

mine was not "orion blue" but something about the same color... black/blue. I must say, i liked the 230 loaner... It lacked power, but never the less, still enjoyed driving it. TOO bad the gas milage was about as worthless as my c320, with much less power.

What part of SD do you live?

there has been mixed reviews. some people also believe the car is looking for the right gear and other people believe it drives just fine.

from what ive been reading i believe performance wise the car probably does try too much to look for the right gear, and as for regular driving it would obviously feel fine.

I drove both cars and drove them hard I did! I bought the 06 because the V6 had a better heavier feel and more top end, and I did not want a 4 cyl. in my Sport Sedan either. Furthermore the 06 has the latest and best technology Mercedes Benz has to offer in the C Class. Infact the ONLY negatives I hear about it are from people who own the previous 4 banger models and don't want to let go and admit they now have a car with an engine they no longer make, even though I still think it was a damn good engine ( the supercharged 4 cylinder). Or they have an older 6 cyl. and just can not get used to the newest and best technology Mercedes Benz C Class has to offer in a 6 cyl., C230, C280 or C350.

Come on and get with it, we all love Mercedes Benz's. So get over the fact that the 4 banger is gone forever and the new V6's are here!

Teach it not to shift.
You need to discipline it.
Just leave it in neutral and floor it for a few hours.

I'm kidding btw.

DAMN IT! i forgot to read the "im kidding" part... i just got my car towed to the MB dealership... smoke started coming out... i wonder whats goin to happen now...

^^ kidding by the way... ^^

not that stupid...

well now this is being discussed 106X10th power infinity times. Geez....

I had a 06 C230 rental. I was in gridlock traffic on Friday evening going 5 north. I pulled out of the traffic slowly to get off the parking lot (5 fwy), I thought I could floor it, and get moving. Nah, about 1.5-2 second COMPLETE LAG! Suprised the hell out of me.

I do like the way the car sounds. Much sportier than my 02 C230 Couple.

Ed

If used right? Its a friggen automatic. You press, its supposed to go, simple. If you wanted to 'think' about how to use the transmission, pick the manual.

This has indeed been discussed a gazillion times, the tranny does hunt a lot.

You couldn't give me that engine. 201 HP, and its slower than both the 189HP 1.8 and the 192HP 2.3 engines that were in the C230 previously. And gas mileage? Its no comparison...the supercharged fours win that argument hands down.

i think when it comes down to is emissions. compared to the kompressor to the v6, the v6 emission level is way better. it's more smoother too. you have to admit tho, starting a kompressor in a cold morning sounds like you have a major header leak somewhere.

When driving normally, it does shift quite a bit but most of the time you don't feel it that much.

The 2-second left shift to go to the lowest possible gear really works well with the 7G. It dosen't bother me that it sometimes needs a little input just before I'm about to hammer the throttle.

How exactly? The V6 is fuelling 6 jugs vs. 4 on the Kompressor. Emissions technology now has devolved into who can light the cats the fastest. The SLK motor that powered the 2002, sure, your 2006 probably has a better ULEV or whatever rating...but against the 1.8? I think I'd bet on the 1.8, it just burns sooooo much less fuel, and the design isn't that old.

The whole 'refinement' argument I could care less about, the last MB V6 was no paragon of smoothness...I think its become something of a snobbery issue. Not just with Benz, but will any low end, premium plate car. Does the four sound gravely on startup? Yep, you bet. But it lasts all of 25-30 seconds. Once underway, either engine is pretty civilized.

I respect your choices and your opinions...I just don't share them.

i will take a window sticker off a 2005 c230 vs a 2006 and show you the difference in emmision levels. it's not opinion, it's fact. and your the guy saying the c-class are going 6000 under invoice in spring?

Its adaptating to your driving, it could take a while

I must agree with the rest of the posters. However there are a few times when I agree with your conclusions. Why fight facts with silly rumors, why fight technology with the past, the SC 4 banger was a good engine, but it is gone, period, end of conversation.

PS: Please point me to the dealer that has $6K off MSRP on a 2006 C230, many thanks.

What silly rumors are you refering too?

BTW, the 6K thing had to do with waiting until the end of the model year. Its happened every year at my dealer, and it will happen again. ML's, C240's and a couple of C wagons were allways left over. Since the C240 is gone now, at least there won't be a line of 15 cars they can't give away. This year, it may be C230's and C280s, or perhaps the R Class, which has supposedly bombed at the dealership.

I'll take a nice big picture this year...and stick in my sig for you guys. You can cry each time you read it.