nlpamg

I was excited b/c I wanted to feel what it felt to be back on reasonable size tires/wheels rather than my loud/harsh 19's...

Here's my takes on the 2006:
The pro's are that the steering seems a lot lighter and a lot more sensitive (I don't know if that's just me b/c I'm used to having the 19's on w/235's in the front and 265's in the rear), furthermore, the engine is a lot quieter and sounds pretty good. Another pro is that the air conditioner doesn't really strain the engine as much and you don't feel it come on or see your revs at idle change.

The con's, sorry to say it, but I did feel that the transmission was a bit jerky (perhaps it's b/c the car wasn't broken in correctly or I'm just not used to it). Also, I can almost feel that the M271 has more low end power (I didn't take the car to the limits b/c I didn't have my radar detector on me and I didn't want another ticket). Off the line, my 05 feels faster (even though I have 19's). I think that this car off the line feels like a C240 in a way. Another con for me is that the fuel economy is reduced by at least 3mpg's. When I beat the **** out of my car and go nuts on the side streets, the lowest I can get it to is 14.6mpg. When I beat the **** out of this car on the side streets, it got to 11.3mpg. When I tried to baby this car and go speed limit on the freeway, the highest I could get it was 25.9mpg. When I do the same to my car, I get 29.1mpg. So the fuel thing is a big con for this car...

No offense to the '06 guys, I'm not bashing it, I still think it's a good car, but I don't think I'd take this over my '05.

I don't think I'm adding much new to the debate, but I figured I'd put in my 2cents and concur with the other reviewers...

MHPHOCKEY

I have a 06. I agree, it is slower than the 05 and the fuel is an issue in mine too. However, I feel like the V6 has a very good feel to it. This may just be me making my car sound better, but I really like the V6. The transmission was jerky at first when I got the car, but I dont seem to have any issues with it. I have 7500 miles and my father just got a new one (50 miles) as a loaner and I noticed the transmission. I honestly believe that they are two completely different cars: 05 = sportier and 06 = more of a luxury drive.

I dont know if that makes any sense, but I love my 06 and also have no issues with the 05.

Mike

mick1

Both cars are slow. My C320 is slow too

Rick

Krikey......another dragsedanster

e1000

those fuel mileage numbers are wayyy worse than my C350!!!!!!

TA-9FF

The 30mph fuel economy can only be achieved in an 06 when you're in cruise control mode set to 75mph. I've done 25-26 in city driving, and honestly, that's pretty damn good.

I agree with you on the 7G tranny being jerky. It's absolutely irritating, and I wish there was a MB Campaign to solve the problem.

After getting a Nissan Altima loaner...........all I can say again is.........be thankful you had a C-Class loaner.

b3d_sage

amen to that, borher Cameron!

(i had the very same altima right before Cam did)

1sikbenz

Dude, I've gotten a best of 36 m.p.g. in my 05 C230K S.S., that of course is on my nightly commute to L.A. with little traffic, & cruise control set on 63 in the slow lane, no A.C., it does take a while to reach it though, it usually starts out at about 28, then slowly creeps up from there.

b3d_sage

i managed to see 32 out of my C320 on the interstate once. No joke.

06C230

A few months after the 06 was released they changed the steering. The 05 has a stiff feel to it at low speed and gives great feedback at higher speeds. Some early 06's have the same thing also. However they went with a speed sensitive steering for the later 06's so the steering is real light for easy slow speed turns however once up to speed the steering is the same as the 05.

shahedC

The best I got on my 2004 C230 was 37 mpg, while driving steady on I-95 in little traffic.

Once, I got a 2005 C240 loaner, but didn't check the mpg on it.

eckc21

Last weekend a trip from Bay Area down south to LA gave me 32mpg overall. Of course it was with A/C and stereo turned on constantly throughout the trip, not to mention some traffic jams leaving the Bay and entering LA. Average highway speed about 80-85mph on I-5...not an ideal speed for fuel efficiency, so i think 32mpg is pretty awsome. This kind of number beats some japanese so called "fuel economy" 4-cyclinders cars. Mercedes enginners really know what they are doing!

drexappeal

Fuel economy on long trips with the 230 K SS is Awesome, so I totally have to agree with you on this. I've done trips to Vegas in Comfort mode, where I got 35 mpg and by the time I had to gas up (after already driving around the strip), I had over 400 miles on one tank! Although, I do have to mention that this was all on my stock 17 inch rims.

Since I'm driving to Vegas this weekend (on my 19's), I'll give an update on that when I get back.

BabyBenz6spd

I often floor the gas racing other "slow" cars and I've never gotten anywhere near the MPG you mentioned. If the engined is all warmed up, and I start to race people....I say I still get 20MPG at worest.

The worest MPG I got was during winter months and I need to make a lot of short trips, trip ends before the engine even got a chance to warm up. Probably like 18MPG.

You said you got 14.6MPG beaten the ***** out of the car.......you must be a mean driver!! and 19" wheels didn't help MPG either I would assume.

b3d_sage

actually, on my C320, it is. I have done a LOT of testing and discovered that right around there (i dont remember the exact range) is best.

nlpamg

One thing regarding my fuel economy is to take into account stop and go traffic in Downtown LA and on the 405 etc... The mpg dips incredibly.

BUT, one thing is that I have the car for another day... I must say, I have found new respect for this car. The engine sounds MUCH better than the M271. I think that this car will indeed walk/inch away from the 05's at speeds above 70mph. The 7gtronic is fine at highway speeds, only on city roads is it really jerky. I found better use of it in "manual" mode. I don't like the fact that MB changed it for 2006 where you have to hold it to the left for a little bit to get it to engage the best gear for acceleration whereas with the 2005's you can just tap it and it automatically goes to the best gear for acceleration.

I am starting to like this car more now. I really like the speed-sensitive steering...

I think I'd choose a 6-speed 2006 over a 6-speed 2005, and an auto 2005 over an auto 2006 now based on my experience...

b3d_sage

meh, just be glad you don't have an 01 where if you tap it to the left it downshifts once gear. If you hold it to the left it will keep downshifting and even hold the car at RPMs ABOVE redline.

TA-9FF

How the hell do you get 37mpg???? That's almost hybrid territory????

BabyBenz6spd

Tail wind + 65MPH + 6th gear = 30ish MPG very likely

robohopar

damn those are good numbers....all i've got i was like 28.5 coming back to vegas(I-15) but around the streets/freeway while moderate bashing on the throttle i get about 20-22...not bad i really dont care to much, if its gonna save me a total of $200 at the end of the year, i rather just drive the way i want whenever i want. But i gotta give it props it holds up great in almost every aspect!

oh yeah and as for the 06 loaner...i heard quiet a few complaints about the tranny's, ohh well

polarbexar

I usually get 31MPG on my 40 mile commute to work. And a couple of times I've gotten 37 driving from Tyler to Ft Worth. ( i like to keep the tirepressure a little high)
I kinda like the sound of the M271 too.

drexappeal

Phil has a 2005, so the auto tranny on the '05 is just like the '01 where you tap it to the left once and it down shifts one gear. He's saying that he likes the way the 2001-2005 auto tranny is and doesn't like the 2006 auto tranny.

The 2006 he is referring to right now is a loaner because his car is at the dealership.

b3d_sage

I am quite certain there is a difference in my tranny from some of the others here. I have read people saying that if you hold it all the way to the left until it downshifts to first, it will automatically hold the gears until redline, then upshift. Mine doesn't do that. If I put it in first and don't tell the thing to upshift, it will run the engine *well above* redline until I finally give it the go-ahead. I only did that once as a test to see if it actually worked the way other people had been talking about, and it stayed well into redline for a good 7 or more seconds before I finally went "CRAP! <tap right>"

TA-9FF

lmao.....I didn't notice that I had moved the shifter to manual last week by accident, and I was driving on 1st gear in 5-6k rpms for 10 seconds before I wondered why the heck I was driving so slowly.......then yeah...."CRAP!" <tap right, hold, moved backed to auto>

drexappeal

Interesting. I thought that all the auto tranny's from 2001-2005 were designed with the safety shift function where it takes it out of the lower gear when in redline.

You may be right.