I had the day off and set my intentions of doing all of the test driving I wanted today. RSX vs. C230.

Went to the Acura dealership, it was early in the morning and dead quiet. The salesman was very cooperative and I tried out a Type-S. Smooth shifter, pretty quiet engine. I really was pretty nice to the engine, but I popped it to 4500 to 5K and the response was pretty good. After I finished approx 15 mins I was about to leave, but the guy brought in this sales manager. She asked alot of questions to probe and said that they are short on their monthly goals and wanted to talk numbers. Told her I was still comparing. She kept probing and it bothered me. Told her I was looking at the C230, so she pulled out a video made by Acura comparing the 2 models. They really slammed the C230, but I wasn't surprised. I was trapped for over 30 extra minutes, but I escaped unscathed.

Then went to the Mercedes dealership. Oh my god, what a difference. Told him I was still in the research/probing mode and the test drive was important to me. They pulled a black C230 with C2 and auto. My god it was night and day!! Car felt heavier, but a good heavy. Rock solid. I heard the famous 30 second rough warm up. The engine was so quiet (but that was with the windows up). The roof was a mechanical marvel. Engine felt like a V6 (probably due to the lb/ft of torque) Very smooth running engine. Could't push it too hard, since the route was short. The car had so much room in the front and back for it's size. I was amazed and sold by all of the features of this beauty. No other car but the 230. The surprising thing was the dealer fully understood that I wasn't ready to purchase yet, so he did an inventory check, a price estimate based upon accessories packages and I walked off. No pressure, no trapping. Probably the best dealer experience I've ever had. If I went with them, I would have to do a special order though. I went to Autobahn Motors in Redwood City. I was in and out of the dealership within an hour. Amazing.

Tiring day!!

 

Congratulations... you did it right, test driving both cars without signing anything and close enough so that each is fresh in your mind.

I'm VERY surprised that Acura has a video comparing the C230 to the RSX-S... I'd love to see that video. If anyone can get their hands on a copy, I can digitize it and upload it for others to look at. I'm sure it's not too kosher to sneak a copy out... so let me rephrase that...

If a copy happens to appear at my front door, I would not be surprised if a digitized copy appears somewhere on the 'net.

 

MB had a broucher that compared the two. At least it ws honest and did not pull the Acura down, pure class.

 

MBUSA has a comparison engine on their web site. It's actually a third-party engine and just lists the 'facts' without any editorial.