balajc

Well...it is not my car. My mom's But I will get to drive it once a while.

2003 C320 4matic
- Silver w/Charcoal Leather Inserts
- C2 (Sun-Roof, Auto-Dimming Mirros, Rain-Sensing Wipers, and Rear Sun Shade)
- Heated Seats

I think MB looks the best with Silver I will take pictures!!!

tom incredibie

even though its your moms, CONGRATS! i still got 2 more months of waiting. come to think of it i shouldnt have gotten full leather and i shouldve gotten 4matic instead. bleh. btw no c4 package?

balajc

I have sat in C320 with leather and no leather...didnt feel anything...

We simply picked a car out from stock...almost every dealer's stock cars has C2 and no real leather. I have yet to see a car with C4 on it. The only option we did not really care for was the heated seats....

trench

You'll grow to like them when you have to sit on those cold leather/MB-tex seats in the middle of winter.

Cheers, BT

MarkL

Not sure, but you make it sound like you think C4 is full leather -- actually, it's the bi-xenon headlights and headlight washers...

balajc

yeah I know C4 is the lighting package.

balajc

Well...we picked up the car and the car is very nice. There are a lot of features and it took our salesman about an hour to go through each one of them :p

One thing sucked! I did not realize
"NO 6-CD = No CD Player at all!!!"

I got screwed on that one I figured a CD player is standard on a 40k+ car...guess not. I learned my lesson this time. I am going to go back and have them install the 6-cd changer. It defintely will cost more than $400

CarlssonPower

I got screwed on that one too... Actualy I knew that the car doesn't come with CD player but I thought I could easily install a CD changer at Best Buys for $300. But guess what! Every store I went told me that MB use special fiber optic cables and none of the aftermarket CD changers can hook up with the car! Then I had to go back to the dealer and then installed the CD changer for almost $1000. u_u

bagwell

your thinking is CORRECT !!!

balajc

$1000 is ridiculous!

The factory-installed is only $400. Let's give them the benefit of doubts and give them $400 for parts. They are telling you it costs $600 for labor only!!!

I am gonna call all the MB service departs in my area and get quotes. Anything above $600 is BS. If I am gonna be charged $1000 for just a 6cd changer, this will be the last/fisr MB in my family. (I personally would never own a MB)

Matt230K

Just because the factory can put the CD in for $400 does not mean that the dealer can. The dealer cost on the CD is more than $400, and then they are going to mark it up to sell it to you. Then you have to pay labor to get it put in, whether you just bought a car or not.

My dealer orders every car with CD now, so you have no choice but to get it, at $400 though. The parts department loses lots and lots of money by not selling CD changers anymore, so I doubt you would get much of a discount.

Class C

Second that!!:p

Benzer

Some Folks think only a real Benz deserves and actually looks GOOD in silver. Us lowly C class with silver or black are only "pretentious". I remember this thread posted little over 2 months ago. And I still laugh at the comment whenever I see a silver C.

Have fun

CarlssonPower

CD changer cost about $850, installation was $145. I called 4 dealers and the price was about the same so I went to the one closest to my home. (Fletcher Jones Mercedez at Newport Beach, California)

The sales person told me that the $400 factory-installed option is ONLY available at the time you purchase the car.

Lynn

Buy the changer from Auto Class for $399. Also buy the appropriate fiber optic cable. You really don't need the mounting bracket. You can use Velcro. Fellow member session has posted the instructions for installing it yourself. If you are not cmfortable with doing it yourself, any reasonably competent auto audio shop can do it. They will probably charge one hour laber, although it take much less time to do the installation. At the shops near me, labor runs from $40 to $55 per hour.

balajc

WOW~~~I just got a quote from my salesman. 6-CD installed price is $895

I am gonna call other dealership and see. Like Lynn suggested, I can buy the 6-cd + the fiber optic cables from autoglass for about $450. The installation at most is like $100 or so. I still save about $300 bucks.

My mom worries about the warranty though. If the 6-cd changer goes bad in the future, it is not warrantied. Even though the part is MB, but the labor is not dealer-installed....

any suggestion?

Drew_ML

For peace of mind, and if your mother doesn't mind paying, the dealer is the way to go. If something does happen, it will be covered under the warranty of course. This is why I had it done by my dealer. However, let's just say that I didn't pay anywhere close to what your dealer quoted you. You may want to see if your salesguy can help you out.

Yes, it does require quite a bit of labour to install and version code, however, $895 is a bit high.

balajc

I got another quote from a second dealer nearby and I got $900.

Not much discount there~~~Looks like $900 is what I have to pay if I want to go the dealer route...

Damn, my $1300 discount looks like $800 now...not a decent deal anymore!!!

balajc

Hi
I just called a car audio shops and they told me they have a 6-cd changer that they just took out of a C230 Coupe.

Will it work on the C320?

trench

Yep.

Cheers, BT

oyster

Hi all,

I was wondering if there are any owners with both 4matic and BMW xi cars in their garage?

My mom was thinking of getting the C240 4matic.

How does the MB allwheel drive work?

Please don't flame my ignorance on MB products.

I wonder what are the pro and con of both cars?

Oyster

young

don't know anything about the 4-matic system. but i assume that they're all pretty similar and work well.

the xi has a 40/60 front/rear ratio. (the bmw site says 38/62). this is supposed to make the car feel more sporty - more like a rwd car. to me, it's subtle, but it is true. compared to the awd subaru that i had before, the bmw handles more like a rwd.

it has DSC - dynamic stability control which you can turn off/on like ESP on the mercs. but, i always leave it on (as on the merc).

the awd on the xi (w/ all season tires) definitely makes it more sure-footed in snow, slush, ice, wetleaves, etc. than my sportcoupe w/ winter tires. just going down my driveway, i sometimes slip around but the xi handles it w/ aplomb.

i'd have to say that you'll probably be happy w/ either awd system and that other factors should drive you one way or another.

you didn't say which bmw you were considering but i assume you're talking about the 325xi. imo, the bmw feels a little faster than a c240 which i've driven (both autos).

Mike T.

I don't have either of these cars, but they are rather different.

Firstly, the M-B is only available with an automatic gearbox. To me, that is a show-stopper, at least until I'm older and lazier

Drivers that enjoy a more involving driving experience, particularly with a manual gearbox, will naturally go towards the BMW X.

In the old days 4MATIC was like any number of lousy part-time "auto" systems still available today, which default to 100% drive on one axle and only become 4WD when the drive wheels are slipping (poor, poor design, not fun at all or safe when driving hard on low-traction surfaces).

Now, 4MATIC has a non-adjustable torque split of 35-65 or something like that, with rear bias of course. The electronic aid peculiar to 4MATIC - called 4ETS - is said by the M-B marketing men to adjust/balance that torque split, but it's a nominal effect only done as a negative feedback loop, by braking the slipping wheels rather than by positively shunting the power from the spinning wheel(s) to the one(s) with traction as a viscous coupling would do. So the electronic traction aids now substitute for proper limited slip differential on the rear and centre diffs. When accelerating from rest on ice with full throttle, the various electronic traction aids will make the 4MATIC car seem like it's relatively slow, where a car with proper LSD would comparatively rocket ahead, on the edge of available traction.

Maybe integrating manual LSD functions (preferably Viscous coupling/Torsen) into a car with all the nanny-driving aids like ESP, ASR etc is too complicated. But I don't think it should be, others do it or have done it.

In my opinion, Mercedes' chosen 4WD path has a lot to do with cost saving. Using open diffs and the same hardware and cheap add-on software for the ABS to effect traction control is definitely way cheaper than the technically more rigourous alternatives. And this is fine for normal driving conditions, and it means that the car is affordable (more or less) for people like me

But if I were to buy a 4WD car, I'd expect the best drivetrain that money can buy. A viscous coupling in the centre diff and a Torsen in the rear, with all the electronic driving aids on top of that would be what I'd look for. Don't look for 4ETS in a WRC rally car. I'm looking for that WRC kind of a solution. Audi has it (excepting the lame TT "Quattro", which is not Quattro at all, but VW's far cheaper and less techhy 4Motion in drag ).

Check out the BMW specifications for their 4WD system. Then ask the Mercedes dealer for detailed technical specs on theirs (you probably won't get any, just the rubbish marketing stuff in the brochure). Compare the two. Then decide what type of driving you'll be doing and whether a more technically rigourous 4WD system is needed for most of your driving. The choice will become clear.

For 95% of drivers, 4MATIC will be perfectly fine and meet their expectations. It is a very inexpesive option (about the same cost as a sunroof), and a simple system, after all. Just don't expect too much of it.

P.S. Buy 4 snow tires on steelies (or alloys if you're rich) for winter driving - that'll make all the difference. A 2WD C Class with 4 snowies would cream a 4MATIC C Class on all season tires...

Drew_ML

The torque split is 38/62 fore/aft, similar to the BMW's system.

Mike, this is completely untrue in my experience. As far as first hand experience with MB's systems, I have quite a lot of it. My family has owned two of the previous generation 4-matic E-classes, and of course my daily driver is the ML320, in addition to the C320 4-matic and E430 4-matic.

In two separate advanced driver training sessions that I've attended, I drove the Audi A4 Quattro (with the Torsens) back to back with the BMW 330xi and the C320 Sport RWD, among other cars.

The surface that we started out on for the first part of the track had the same friciton co-efficient as packed snow/ice. Guess what? The BMW 330xi accelerated faster than the A4 Quattro from a dead stop, even with stability control and traction control active. Even the C320 Sport RWD did well, albeit it was slower due to the traction control system limiting rear wheel spin for the initial few feet.

The A4 Quattro that was at the track did not have traction control nor stability control but it was slower since it was slipping and sliding around so much more that to keep it on track, the throttle had to be lifted.

The simple reason is that when tires spin or lock up, they lose about 20-25% of their traction. In contrast, traction control helps to keep the tires at their tractive limit.

BTW, all of the cars on the track were fitted with the same Michelin Pilot Sport A/S tires.

I have a video clip to demonstrate what I'm saying regarding the A4 and the BMW 330xi/C320 Sport.

Quote:

Don't look for 4ETS in a WRC rally car. I'm looking for that WRC kind of a solution. Audi has it (excepting the lame TT "Quattro", which is not Quattro at all, but VW's far cheaper and less techhy 4Motion in drag ).

Ha, that's partly because any sort of electronic aids of that nature are banned by the FIA. Additionally, they want wheel spin in the WRC to maintain momentum in corners. This is not directly applicable to our real world conditions.

Guess what? In a back-to-back comparison between the BMW 330xi, the C320 4-matic, the Jaguar X-type 3.0 V6, the VW Passat 4-motion and the Audi A4 Quattro, the C-class came out on top as the best handling car in adverse conditions, with the best integration of stability control, traction control, permanent all-wheel drive, and driving dynamics.

Quote:

A 2WD C Class with 4 snowies would cream a 4MATIC C Class on all season tires...

Hah, I'll take you up on that! :p

vodc4

i heard audi is the best in AWD....