Yeah the light is still on. When I get some time I will bring it in to have it checked and/or cleared.

It really is unfortunate that so many people seem to be unhappy with the shifting of the 6 speed. Is this more specific to non C7 cars? Mine with the C7 package shifts beautifully

I also don't think I would tolorate a car that had many squeaks. My C230 has no squeaks or rattles. My old VW Corrado, which I had for 9 years and 200,000 miles never squeaked or rattled. The Corrado was supercharged and never had any engine or supercharger problems. Make sure the dealer finds all problems before the warrenty runs out.

 

Negatives:
1) Position of brake pedal. It is too high and requires me to lift my foot to apply the brakes (as opposed to keeping your heel on the floor).

A. What size shoes do you wear? I have no problem with the pedal placement, very comfy. Mine is a 12.


2) Audio system. This has been well documented and yes it sounds bad. ( I am a musician and recording engineer). The stock system has a lack of deep bass and has a fuzzy midrange. The highs are not crisp. It even sounds poor listening to AM talk radio. O well, you can’t have everything.

A. Don't forget that this is a budget minded car, If you need more, bump up to a CLK. you can always upgrade to a nicer sound system for less than $1k.

3) Seat back adjustment is poorly placed.

A. Agreed, I set mine once and never moved it sence.

4) Seat belt is too far behind the seat which makes it a tight squeeze to reach.

A. Welcome to a Coupe. Ever drive a mustang, it is much worse. The seat actually has a lot of rear travel. Taller drivers are unlikely to have a problem with this, although chubby srivers might.

5) Glove box with cd changer has little space left

A. This is a great ploy. Some of my friends with large boxes have WAY too much crap in them, it's just embarrassing.

6) Cup holder. Just waiting for that to break.

A. Some do break, however it is the same cup holder a the E Class, maybe not the 2003 though. They don't drink and eat in cars in UK as much as us fat and proud Americans.


7) Height of armrest at its lowest setting is too high. Makes shifts difficult (especially 1 to 2 shifts) because my forearm and elbow are too high.

A. what are you, about 5'3" tall with size 6 shoes? Try raising the seat. Can you even see over the steering wheel? 6' here.

8) Lack of a dedicated temp gauge. I like to know at a glance what’s happing and don’t like to scroll through the computer to find out.

A. Are you really driving so hard that you need be conserned with the engine temp? Geez, maybe you should put in an oil temp and axle temp gauge? Better yet I could make you a deal on a Class 8 Instrument Cluster. This would get you a voltmeter and a boost gauge, that's the ticket. All in fun baby!

The ticking noise a carry over from the SLK not just a CCoupe issue. I have always thought that outside the car sounds like crap. This ticking noise is completely gone in the 2003. The 1.8 actually sounds pretty good outside the car, no shame at all.

 

My $0.02:

I thought the shifter was kinda crappy, even with the C7, until recently. I have 2K kms on it now, have passed the required break in period, shifting is getting progressively better, and tonight when out cruising I actually enjoyed shifting and it was quite effortless.

As for the engine noise, I enjoy the sound of the 1.8L, except a few mornings when it was colder it sounded quite harsh but went away after driving for a bit... going to let it warm up longer from now on.

 

No I wear a size 11 1/2. It may be hard to explain and everybody is different but the position of the brake pedal is not comfortable for me. This is not a big issue (I can get used to it).

Technology marches on and because of the fibre optic cables, it is difficult to upgrade the audio system (while keeping the steering wheel funtion). I need a cassette player as well as CD.

Yes you are correct. My last coupe (VW Corrado) had automatic shoulder belts (never had to reach for it) so I forgot of the inherent problems with coupes and seatbelts.

My problem with the cupholder was meant to be more humorous than anything else. It seems German cars always seem to have interesting and fun ways of dealing with cupholders but they are prone to breaking. My Passat's cupholder broke the first time my wife put a diet pepsi in it :p .

I'm 6' but with 34" arms. Everyone is comfortable in different postions. I have to put the seat almost all the way up to get a very comfortable shift position for my arm. At that height my head is almost on the roof liner and the top of the windshield is in my line of sight. Again, this problem is just something I have to get used to. I only mentioned it because my Passat with the armrest level, was also uncomfortable to shift. The Passat's armrest could be placed below level, which left enough room for my arms.

I understand what you are saying, but I have never owned a car without a dedicated temp gauge. When I start out in the morning I try to be careful not to accelerate too hard untill the car has warmed up. I am just used to glancing at the gauge. I have also had problems with cars in the past the would run slightly hot when there was a thermostat problem, etc, and I could tell at a glance that something was wrong. I assume that if the coupe's temp gets too high an alert message would show up.

Remember on my original post I had mentioned that the negatives were nit pick kind of things and it seems that all cars have some weird idiosyncrasys. I'm having a lot of fun driving the car. It handles great and the engine pulls geat.

 

Hokusbenz, I had that problem too until I noticed there is a little flap that moves when you engage/disengage the cupholder...I put something in that second spot and it actually prevents the thing from closing all the way...removed the foreign object and it all worked fine.

dave

 

Just my $0.02:

Yes, the supercharger does make some noise, but personally I like it. I didn't buy the car to know what other people thought of it...I bought it because I wanted a quality car that I enjoyed at the price I wanted...personally, my '02 coupe does all of this. Yes, I bought for the brand and perceived quality and all I have to say is that the one minor problem I had was addressed quickly and perfectly by the dealership...I've never had such a pleasurable experience with a car dealership. Anyway, just thought I'd share...and I love a car that feels as nice at 105 as it does driving at 45.

dave

 

Dave, it feels great even at 130 Wish we could do this in the US without being considered and treated as criminals.

 

I wish I could have gotten higher...but traffic always seems to get in the way. It was fun though, was playing tag with a Passat...I love when people like to play tag on the expressway.

 

Here is a funny update. If you remember I had listed the position of the center armrest as a negative in the C230 (was in the way when shifting). Someone had posted earlier in this thread about the fact that the armrest is adjustable. I was messing around with mine yesterday (Saturday) and realized that mine only adjusted 1 postion ( the earlier post and the manual stated 2 positions).

I happend to be driving within 2 miles of my dealership when I realized this so I stopped in and talked to my salesman. He came out and checked the car. Guess what, the armrest on my car is broken. You can't get it into the lowest position. He had the service manager look at it and he said they would have to order a new one.

Well now I realize why I was having trouble finding a comfortable position for the armrest to allow eaiser shifting.

 

True, it gets a lot of oohs and aahhs. But the #1 attraction has got to be the pop-out effect of the key if you let go of it before it's completely plugged in. You can take out a back seat passenger with that projectile :p