Rick

Scenario: Wednesday evening traffic. , I-95 through Delaware and into MD, near Baltimore.

Cohorts: C230 coupe(black), BMW323is(also black), BMW325ic(white), Audi A4(silver)...and me in my Orion C230 coupe

Ok, buzzing through the traffic at near light speed was a rush, but those BMW guys hated being left behind because of apparently inferior handling. When they'd finally catch up, the blonde in the Audi would lead (she can get out of a ticket easier than me or the other coupe guy), followed by a few quick twists of the steering wheel and either the NY plated black coupe or my own would make quick work of tailing her...leaving the beemer's wondering...and in our dust.

The one drawback was a grain truck with a loose hopper door. Every time there was a ripple in the road, he'd pepper the front car and I backed down. Fortunately the truck took the harbor tunnel...but the other C and I didn't.

So, here are the questions....
Were any of you NY guys in the black coupe? If so, was your girlfriend really saying "Nice color" or was I imagining it?

mmutlu

It wasn't me...couldn't have been...my gf hates orion blue

Dawyeah

I am very surprised that you mentioned that the BMW's and Audi's handling was inferior to your C230.

I have in my garage the following:

02' C32
00' Audi S4
01' BMW 325i

Granted that the 325 is not supposed to be better handling then the other two, it can hold its own. But I have driven C230 prior to buying the 325 and I must say that if I had to choose a car based on handling alone, I still would have bought the 325.

I do not doubt that you took them for a run, but I bet its the driver's lack of skill not the car.

My 2 pennies

Rick

(shrug) I would imagine the 323 and 325 convertible have softer suspensions than a 325i. And I could be wrong, but the A4 was piloted by a babe with attitude. She led, I simply followed and the other C gave chase too... but the beemer's seemed anemic...or maybe asthmatic!

Buellwinkle

I drove the 325i on a track setup by Lexus at an abandoned airfield comparing the C320, E320, 325i, Volvo S60, Lexus ES300 and the slowest, worst handling of the bunch was the 325i and the C320, E320 or 325i didn't have the sports package. Maybe a sports package would have help the bimmer. It's certainly not as fast as the C230 both in handling or straight line performance.

dasMafia

I've recently driven each of those cars, and the C230 is about on par with a standard A4 1.8T... nice car, but no screamer... the 323 and 325 actually have the same suspensions, for that matter they have the same engine (ok, they revised the intake and cam) the 323 was labeled as such to create a psychological distinction between it and the 328 until the 33o was released. The BMWs were poorly driven, and probably automatics (4-speeds)(sounds like they were E36 cars). I just drove a '94 325 followed by a '97 M3... they were amazing, they acutally had better steering than the new 325Ci i'm looking at, just too many miles. if you are truly that great a driver, I applaud you, and you did pick the slowest 6-cylinder BMWs from the past 20 years... so you may have actually been faster.

vadim

C230 Coupe - on a par with A4 1.8T??? Geez, maybe at 0 mph only... A4 has a lot more body roll, it's an FWD and it FEELS that way 100%, its engine is nowhere near the Coupe's supercharged 2.3... Are you sure you are talking about the right cars?

Rick

(shrug) it was an A4 Quattro driven by a cute blonde with an attitude to match...I can't speak for the beemer's...except that they seemed to get hung up behind us...none the less, it was a blast