I’ve been an unregistered lurker in this forum since last October 17, when I ordered my C230K. I’ve decided to chime in now for 2 reasons: 1) my car came in on January 29 and I have to share my enthusiasm (it’s better than I thought it would be!), and 2) I have a really good answer to a question posted by young on sales figures.

If you go to autosite.com, specifically in our case to:

http://www.autosite.com/editoria/asmr/svolsc.asp

you get a list of Sporty Cars sorted by sales volume for December, 2001. The year-to-date numbers are also there. So you’ll see the C-class sedan at #6 with 5401 units and the C-Coupé on line #32 at 1237 for December. YTD on the C-Coupé is 7212, so now you finally have the data to support those feelings of exclusivity. Compare those numbers to the BMW 3 (or even 5!) and the Acura RSX and they are up to 10x our population, JUST FOR THIS YEAR!

In this context, a new fun thing to do while driving this car: if I’m first in line at a stop light, when the oncoming traffic turns left in front of me, watch people look at the car instead of where they (should be) going! This does NOT happen when I’m driving my Sienna van with the kids.

The car is Orion/Oyster, manual, C1, C5, C7, COMAND and K2c. Originally, we ordered Desert Silver, but after reading the many posts in this forum, we changed to that certain blue color. No regrets; everyone loves that Orion.

I am having trouble getting used to the notchy shifter and the clutch timing, especially the 1-2 shift. Both my wife and I have been driving manuals for over 30 years, and this setup makes me feel like I’m back in Driver’s Ed. I am looking forward to it wearing in and getting smoother as many of you have reported.

I’ll finish by thanking all of you for the information and insights you’ve posted on this car. And I have to credit mbtech208 for my name – he came up with “Oh, Ryan” during a thread on how to pronounce this word. Oh, my name isn’t really Ryan, it’s….

Dave

 

Oh, Ryan, not another Orion. Sorry, I couldn't help it. Congratulations on the car. I'm sure you'll enjoy it as much as I do.

I blame David N., tommy and young for this proliferation of Orion blue.

 

Dave, I hope that I wasn't one of the people who convinced you to switch the colors; there are too damn many of them on the roads already. :p

Saw that you have oyster. Did you get the darker steering wheel/shift boot combo, or the lighter one? Just curious about when the shift to the oyster-colored wheel/knob took place.

Shifting will get better, and you'll get better with it. There is definitely a learning curve with this tranny.

If you had gotten Desert Silver, I think you'd be the first ccoupe on here with it. Doesn't seem to be a popular color, for some reason.

 

Tommy - the shift knob, shifter boot, steering wheel and dash board top are all the same color and a little darker than the seats and the bottom of the dash. The production date was 12/17/01.

Dave

 

Oh, Ryan, welcome aboard, first, and thank you, secondly, for the info on the sales figures. As you have read, young, myself and others have been looking for some sources, and this information will help. Thanks again.

Um, I would like to see a Desert Silver Coupe sometime. My sedan is about the only DS sedan I've seen here so far (lots of E-Class in DS, though). Anyway, I'm glad you got the Orion, because it gets you on tommy's good side right off the bat... Don't listen to what he says... he would have teased you about the DS, just as he rides me about it.

 

i am so damn glad i have never seen a coupe anywhere other then my driveway, and the dealership. exclusivity is one of the major selling points

btw welcome to the board.... have fun

greg