psun786

i am sure with introduction of C230 & a tag of under $3,0000. MB was able to attract a different crowd of ppl to own a MB.

but is C230 a true MB? standard model with no leather, no CD, no power seat etc....a hatch back? what u think?


ENDING POLE 8/16/02 something to say~

well, i don't have to say any more coz 41% of ppls agree dat c230k is as cheap as they looks (maybe not the owner, who knows and who cares other than themselves)~ and 59% of ppls don't~

forums are places where ppl can post their opinions and see how others will react~ for those of u getting so angery @ my opinion, u guyz sure entertained me very much & i like to say thank u~ 84 posts on my pole~

hokusbenz

all you have to do is drive it and get that solid feeling that no other car provides.

greg230

i love my c230, but within the next 1-2 model years i fear i will be giving her up.... for a clk 500

Drove one today, and its AWESOME. the v8 sounds so luscious.

However, the 55 thousand dollar MB didnt feel THAT much different then my 230k. Switchgear is similiar, the feel is similiar, it was like a fancier version of my car, in fact it was a little less mb then mine, it lacked the phone, comand, and a cd changer

taylor192

ummmmm I'd like to say F**K OFF, but I'll phrase it differently.

First, MB has an A class, just because its not offered in the US doesn't mean there aren't cheaper priced MBs.

Second, My C230K is going to cost me $41K CND, which is more than a C240. Sure its not a $59K CLK, but its all about building brand loyalty and getting new buyers, and making more money, so:

If my first car was a Toyota, I'd end up buying a Lexus.
If my first car was a VW, I'd end up buying an Audi.
If my first car was a Nissan, I'd end up buying an Infiniti.
If my first car was a Ford, I'd end up buying a Lincoln.
If my first car was a Chevy, I'd end up buying a Cadillac.

Get the hint? Its about building brand loyalty.

dswildfire

my first car was a nissan

TimmyC230boy

Its a Mercedes for crying out loud. I mean dang it! I agree with Taylor192 but I will also rephrase it.
Do you even have a C230? I Are you some ***** from a Bimmer board. If I buy a used CLK or SLK thats under $30K is that a poor mans Mercedes?

Deb

Well, I'm sorry to say so, but if I understand your question, I think it is an utterly arrogant question. 1) I'm neither poor, nor a man 2) Leather, CD, power seats...can be had on almost any car nowadays. Those features do not make the car a MB. IMO, safety, engineering and solid drive are the features that characterize MB. I bought the C230k because it is a hatchback. I wanted a good, sporty hatchback and the c coupe was the one I liked best. The fact that it was a MB was a bonus.
Deb

columbus

Hey, I remark that resent!

I may be poor, but somehow I don't feel it when driving my C230K. A Jaguar with cloth seats may be a no-no, but a Benz is not about leather & wood to me. Being from Benzland, I've enjoyed too many without leather, which is overrated in my view. If the cloth is nicely done I prefer it over leather. Although I must admit that Tommy's smurf hide seats and shift boot are very tempting!!!
I drove a new E-class Avantgarde CDI last summer on the Autobahn, and frankly, the Coupe feels like it's in the same class as far as materials, solidity, and workmanship. Any quality complaints must be due to the complexity and the electronics. No excuse, but that will naturally increase chances something goes wrong. I'm sure that goes for the higher-end models, too, although I haven't done any research to that effect, lazy ******* that I am. So again, I'm a poor man driving a rich-feeling car, that's that. If that's not enough prestige for you, get a Cadillac!

preyx

Yes, just because C230k may be the least expensive (not cheapest) MB in the US, it doesn't mean that it's bought for the price. The sporty nature of the car was the big draw for me. And after driving a $55k ML320 for 3 years, why can't I have the option of getting a less expensive car? Deb hits it on the mark, that's a very very arrogant question to be stating on a board like this. You make it seem as if C230k owners don't even deserve to call themselves MB owners. So what if it attracts the "lower people"? It's great for MB, and it's great for the buyers.

MB-BOB

psun786, there are members from other forums on this site that would describe your C320 as a poor man's Mercedes, too.

Like you, I own a C320, and I've driven a Coupe as well. I'll tell you frankly, sitting in the driver's seat and looking forward, you can't tell a dime's difference between the two, plus they have the same build feel, same ride quality, etc.

There was a member with an E-Class posting several months ago that he traded his E on the C-Sedan, because it had the same feel as his E, and he enjoyed driving the C-Class more. So, where does that leave us? Basically, a MB is a MB. It's all good.

columbus

If my first car was a Chrysler, I'd end up buying a Mercedes?!? Hehe...

Accord

I am trading my S-Class in for a C-Class, why you ask? Because the C32 is a LOT more fun to drive than my boring S500.

Yes - the C32 is an AMG, but it is also still a C-Class.

session

i'd still love to know how you afford all this.

you are capitalism's poster child.

HARDL1FE

First off...

I'm 26, work VERY hard and the c230 is my FIRST car. It's not easy taken the TTC ( all you toronto peoples now what i mean ) for 25 years and then turn around and by a MERCEDES-BENZ.

It is insulting to hear the term "low end". My c230 ended up costing me over $48K... If you don't own a Mercedez, you'll never be able to understand the "Feeling" you have when you sit in the car and drive, the speed limit mind you so people can see. I haven't seen may on the road, which makes mine a deffinate looker. I even considered the 325ci, but the fact is BMW is everywhere, common is something i was NOT going for. I feel pride to the fact that i drive a MB, base model or option filled. The funnt thing is, even the base model is BETTER equipped than a BMW, LEXUS to some respects regarding safety/security...

Don't call this a "poor man's MB"... It's a slap in the face to MB, and the owners who take pride in their accomplishments.

Regardless of what model MB you drive, It's an MB, it will retain it's value for a looong time and put a sense of joy during my driveing time. $50K ain't cheap! Definately NOT a poor mans car...

Don't knock the hustle...

230

Thats like saying "Vantage, poor man's Aston Martin?"

Get real, I'm 18 years old and drive a nicer car than most kids my age that I know. Any mercedes benz is a high class car in its own right. Theres nothing poor about it (other than that damn tape deck in the hu:p )

TimmyC230boy

Last time I checked you can deck a C230 out for about $47K american. Yup Thats the poor mans Benz! GET REAL. The decked out C240 is only about 3 grand more.

This is to PSUN786: would it be fair to say that you have the poor mans C320, or dare I saw the Poor mans E Class, or How about the Poor Mans S Class. the coupers have the top of the light hatchback, you on the other hand have the cheapest 4 door sedan Mercedes makes. But you bye no means have a poor mans car.

As Tom Cruise was told in Top Gun, "Son your letting your ego write checks that your body can't cash" Think before you talk.

230

**** I love that movie, I'm gonna go watch it right now

"Speak to me Goose. Speak to me"

C230K

Do not think we should judge a car by the cost. We C230 Coupe owners got one hell of a deal, show me another car at our cost that has so much. I think the Coupe set the stage for other car manufactures, like 350Z Nissan, to drop their price and to be competitive and quite over charging and give us value for the dollar. A good quality car does not have to cost $40k plus to be good. Volvo's C70 is a good example, if they had sold the car for under 30K, they would have sold a ton. No, they charge 35K plus for a car that did not justify the cost, so now they have quite making that model, lesson learned. OUR car has set the standard for other to measure up to, more bang for the buck.

BlackC230Coupe

Poor man's mercedes? Every car company has a lower priced car than others. Who cares it comes standard with cloth. Lots of people perfer that over leather. The ML320 used to come standard with cloth also. I am not sure if it does anymore though.
This car has the same feel as all the other Mercedes. Truthfully its more worth it than alot of them. My Family has have over 12 Mercedes in less than 7 years and the C - Coupe is just as Mercedes liks as all of them. Not to mention the reliability of my C coupe has been great. On my newer car (CLK430) i already have the Check Engine light on and its only 5 weeks old. I never had one Error light come on with my C coupe.


Oh and by the way when i was buying my C coupe the salesmen was going to give me the C240 auto with a cd changer and leather (unlike my C coupe) for the Identical price as my C coupe. Both were brand new but i still chose the C coupe (to u poor mans mercedes) over it instead.

taylor192

I almost wrote:

If my first car was a NEON, I'd end up buying a Mercedes.

but it just didn't sound right... plus i didn't even know Dailmer-Chrysler owned MB until recently, cause its not entirely true. There are 2 companies, Dailmer-MB (don't quote me, I might be wrong), and Dailmer-Chrysler, so they are really 2 different divisions of a bigger company, not like the others where the luxury brand is a subdivision of the main brand.

I did miss:

If my first car was a Ford, I'd end up buying a Jaguar.
If my first car was a Mini, I'd end up buying a BMW.

slkride

from my perspective, i definitely think the c230k is a poor man's benz. all of my friends share the same opinion as i do. they actually laugh at the car because it reminds them of the wannabe bimmer 318 hatchback. i also think the c230k is like the bimmer's 318 hatchback where all you're doing is buying into the brand name. yes i know it's a benz but why did people look down on the 318? this is the same from the c230k. it will never be considered a real benz. the c230k = bimmer's 318 and we all know that we considered the 318 a poor man's bimmer. why is this case any different? people wanting to be into the mb crowd will mostly be the ones getting this.

dswildfire

major prob with the 318ti was that it was a chopped 325 with the same exact sheet metal. imagine a 325 with the last 7 in chopped off.....not pretty. do the same with a c240 with the last 7 inches chopped off....even worse. however the sheet metal on the c230k isnt the c240 sheet metal. so it's not a 318 wannabe. if MB wanted a car to fail miserably, they would've made a 318 wannabe. nonetheless, have you driven a 318ti? my ex-girlfriend has one. that car is still frickin sweet, and so much fun to drive. so don't knock it bub.

slkride

i'm not trying to compare if sheet metal was chopped off, etc. all i'm trying to say is the people do think of the c230k as a poor man's benz because people just want to be part of the benz group. w/ about 30k to spend, why not just get a g35? the performance and value is there.

even porsche has the same following. why do u think some people think the boxster is a poor man's porsche?

i'm sure the 318 is fun to drive, but so are other cars w/o brand name in the same price range. but what was the reason to choose the 318 other the others? answer: because it's a bmw and people just buy into brand name thinking they will now be moved up in a class higher.

it's sad but true. think about this for awhile and you'll see that there is truth to this.

dswildfire

cant reall say that it was "to get into the brand" with these folks. they already had 2 other benzes and another bmw before they got the 318 for their daughter, and they bought a blazer for the other one so i dont think brand was on their agenda. and the boxster, once and for all, cannot be legitimately called a porsche if the engine isnt in back. it's just not right. but thats just personal opinion.

there's nothing wrong with a g35. my only prob with it is that it's not right for a skyline to not have twin turbos, that's just not cool.

JeT

Frankly, I couldn't give a rat's a$$ whether people think its a poors man's MB. I like driving it...bottom line. If you don't think its worth the money, good for you!!

Besides, we've got three Mercs in the garage, one's an SL500 which belong's to my brother. We are not the least bit insecure with our financial position. And from what I gather most of the people that have a C-class also have other Mercs.

For the price we pay for the model I have in Australia, with all the options I could have gotten a 1 or 2 year old SLK or CLK, or an Audii TT. So the price argument is a load of bollocks. When I drive around an see other cars, I don't look at the car in terms of its price...I look at it in terms of its quality. And the person driving it doesn't even enter my head.

If you believe the price of your car determines what class of person you are then you are probably a very insecure person. If you and your buddies sit there laughing at other people's cars, you need to get a sense of humour and find something worthwhile to amuse yourself with! That's just been petty!