I bought a 2003 black,C230K with C2 and C7 about 1 month ago. It now has about 1200 miles. My previous cars were a 2000 VW Passat, 1990 VW Corrado, 1985 VW Jetta, 1980 Honda Accord, 1978 Mercury Capri, 1974 Mustang (Yuch). Here are my impressions of the car.

Positives:
1) The build quality of my particular car is very good.
2) Clutch and shifter are very good. I know a lot of people have had problem shifters, but mine is very good. More positive than the Passat but a little notchier.
3) Handling is very good. The Corrado handled a little better, but you paid for that with a harsher ride.
4) Ride quality is very good. I think this car in it’s stock form is a great compromise between good handling and very good ride comfort, even with the 17” wheels.
5) Panoramic roof is great
6) The engine is strong and fairly quiet. I have not driven a 2002 so I can’t make a direct comparison. The 1.8 engine in my car pulls well in lower revs, and very good above 3000 rpm. The engine has a nice sound and cruises very well.
7) Looks are very subjective but I think its a great looking car (I get a lot of stares from pedestrians and other drivers).
8) The interior is good looking
9) Control system computer. Lots of usable information.

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).
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.
3) Seat back adjustment is poorly placed.
4) Seat belt is too far behind the seat which makes it a tight squeeze to reach.
5) Glove box with cd changer has little space left
6) Cup holder. Just waiting for that to break.
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.
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.

Overall the negatives are very minor quibbles ( and what car doesn’t have some negatives). The car is a lot of fun to drive. Unfortunately, my wife likes it too ( have to fight her as to who gets to take it some mornings:p ).

Let me know your thoughts on my list.

 

Mine just did

 

To address your negatives:
1. My last car was worse (Ford Ranger) so I don't have a problem with this.

2. You can't have everything but, an Audio 10 may improve things.

3. Yes it is. I think they swapped the passenger and driver's seat postions. I paid $1200 for C1 to spare this misery.

4. Yes it is. They should have stole the Acura CL design.

5. Look at an old C-Class's box or even an S-Class. Pretty big compared to those.

6. My wife beats the ***** out of mine and it hasn't broken. Make sure it's stowed when flipping the passenger seat forward though.

7. My seat is raised pretty high so it's not a problem with me. Sometimes I raise the armrest "just because".

8. Yes, but I've learned to live without it.

 

how do you raise the armrest ( center rest ) ?

 

8.) You can change the bottom to read out the temp all the time in the computer settings.. just go into the settings menu and its in there.

 

I think he means engine temp gauge, not outside temp... You're talking about the latter...

 

Jerry, it's a three position setup. You gently lift the armrest and it will lock into 2 additional positions. To lower it again, pull up on the larger release lever (the left?) as though you were going to open the lower portion of the armrest, but push down instead.

 

You have 9 positives and 8 negatives. I am surprised you still bought the car.

 

6. I never though of this, but I think the lack of 2 cup holders is going to be a problem when driving with a passenger. I know you can put a 2nd cup in the space once the cupholder flips up, but when shifting, my arm covers that space.

I do like the placement of the cupholder, thought it would interfere with my shifting, so far no probs.

7. I am 6'2" and I had the seat lowered all the way down and couldn't get used to shifting, so I raised the seat as high as I could handle and its better now.

The non-C7 shifter is longer... does anyone notice that the armrest is better suited for that shifter?

 

Hi everyone,
Viper, My positives were large and negatives very nitpicky kind of stuff

For some reason I am more comfortable driving the car with the seat low. When it is raised, the top the the windshield is in my line of sight. This isn't a large problem. My Passat's armrest could be adjusted lower than level, which allowed my arm to be in a good position to shift.

Yes, I would like a dedicated engine temp gauge. I know that you can set it to be visible in the center of the dash, but that defeats the some other items that I would rather have up most of the time.

The C230 sure is a fun car to drive. My only problem so far is a check engine light that came on after 150 miles. I called the dealer and they said if it's running ok, don't worry about it. Do you all think that makes sense?

 

Taylor,

Now that you mention it, the first one that I test drove was a non C7 and although I had to keep the seat higher than I would have liked, it was more comfortable to shift ( not the shifter which I didn't like, but the position).

 

Here's mine

Positives:
1. It's a Mercedes. People look at my car, and assume that I am rich or something. This could be both positive and negative.
2. This car's very good looking from the front angle.
3. Ride is good.. it's smooth while handles pretty good.
4. Trip computer usability. I like it.
5. Safety features, like lots of airbags.

Negatives:
1. Engine sound. It sounds ok from in side of car.. But when window's down, all that terrible ticking sound when i accelerate. I feel kinda embarassed when i drive by ppl or passing other cars with windows down. Dealer said it's supercharger whining sound, but i really doubt that since i couldn't notice it when i gave it a gas with no gear engaged. It could be just my car, but if it really is normal, a big negative for our coupes.
2. Squeak, Squeak every where. From the roof to driver's seat. Again, it couls just be my particular car.
3. Cupholder. It pops wihtout pushing that button. and hard to put it back. it just keeps popping out.
4. LIke everyone, I don't like how it shifts.

 

Is this light still on? It probably isn't a big problem as long as it is running ok, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't get it checked out. It might not be urgent, but you should still get it checked out and at least get the light cleared.

 

On the shifter, the regular 6 speed shift on our car is great! Both my Dad (the 76 year old, 5'8" primary driver) and I (42, 6'3") find very comfortable centre armrest positions. I keep it in the upper level and my Dad keeps it low. It's nowhere near fouling either of our elbows when shifting.

SB-ziV:
About the self-popping cupholder, get it replaced, that's not normal. Ours never releases unintentionally. Also, the space underneath the cupholder is perfect for a second drink, unless you have one of those monster huge stainless steel vats for caffeine addicts. A regular cup or can in there will not be fouled when shifting.

Our car is silent and has no rattles/creaks at all. The dealer will repair these for up to a year. Get on it now!

Your complaint about engine noise is interesting - ours is smooth and quiet except upon initial start-up and when the supercharger starts whining. The latter is a superb noise! I would suggest that you have the dealer look into this "ticking" noise.

BTW, the ESP/BAS error I reported earlier this week was diagnosed today as a faulty sensor on the master cylinder. Unfortunately, they did not have the part in stock...

Edit: friggin typo

 

That's their message: "don't drink while driving a manual car"

 

I love how mine shifts! Except I wish the reverse were a little harder to engage - gave it a couple of light grinds meaning to put it in 2nd...

 

how much harder do you want it to be? you already have to pull the shifter up to put it in reverse. just don't pull up and you won't ever put it in reverse.

 

Actually that part that is sunk in where the cupholder comes out of is the second cup holder. Look in the brochure it lists the car as having two cupholders.

 

i find my cupholder will pop open by itself sometimes if i put change in the "2nd cupholder" space before closing the cupholder back in.

 

I guess mine isn't that difficult to engage... I would prefer it to be "up-left-forward"

 

I love the flip-out cup-holder; it's gotta be the single most entertaining thing in the car

 

Yeah, I don't know why he's saying everyone doesn't like the way it shifts...my C7 shifts great. I just think the C is different from other cars, you can't cram it like a corvette, it doesn't have the wide lanes like a honda, but it does work quite nicely once you stop treating the car like something youve owned before. I love mine.

And yes, get that cupholder fixed, and find out why youve got squeaks...mine has none, whatsoever. That's something new to me...every other car Ive owned has had some sort of bizarre noise coming from somewhere.

 

The fact that you DON'T have this acceleration ticking is interesting. I feel the same way Sb-ziv does: embarassing. Like him/her, I don't hear it when the windows are up and it's most noticable when passing an object like a wall that reflects the noise back towards the car.

Edit: Should have said noise is noticed when "windows are DOWN".

 

i have the same ticking noise upon accel. idle it is quiet. i believe its normal for the engine. before buying I test drive two other cars and both had the same noise. also had a loaner and it was the same (auto and shift.) it is much more noticable when driving next to something (windows down). used to it now. upon cold start the first 30 seconds I hear it two with a little roughness (also normal). I remember reading this board before buying and was told to start the car (from cold) before test drive rather than have the dealer drive it from the back (letting it warm up). notice the same thing, rough start for 30 second (time to adjust the seat) and than smooth. all normal for the car/engine.

 

Good. I'm glad to hear (again) that this is normal. I posted this complaint way back in the spring when the weather started getting nice and I opened the windows/roof. It was getting confused with the known purge valve noise some folks were having at the time. Mike T's post threw got me thinking that maybe there was a problem with my car.

BTW: I listen sometimes when my wife drives away from the house and I can't hear the ticking from outside the car.