JustinTRW

I apologize if someone already pointed this out. Here are some words from the most recent Autoweek:

Mercedes-Benz C230 SPORTS COUPE
Mercedes builds plenty of fine vehicles. We do not count its relatively inexpensive C230 Sports Coupe among them. Why? Because this entry-level execution within the luxury market segment makes too many compromises in quality and performance. First off, it doesn't feel like a Mercedes-more tin filing cabinet than bank vault. Interior materials are cheap (check out that sunroof shade) and the engine is rough. Don't believe us? Test any other American-spec engine Mer-cedes offers and you'll understand immediately. Don't get us wrong; we like the idea of the C230. But the promise of an affordable sports coupe from the three-pointed star family must not disappoint. Period.

I'm sure most of you disagree. I think we had a discussion before about how Autoweek really does not like the coupe compared to other magazines.

Ted

That is why I dropped that funky rag. If it does not cost a quarter of a million dollars they dis it. The C230 Coupe is a sweet ride in anyone's book. By the way, it made the top 29 sports cars reviewed by Car and Driver. They had plenty of good things to say about it.

About car mag in general, I decided to join MB Club of America and get the STAR, a mag dedicated to MB cars and their owners. Why would I want to read reviews on Aston Martin & Bentley ?

JustinTRW

That is not necessarily true. They happen to love the Subaru WRX, despite its cheap interior/exterior quality. They feel its fun to drive status makes up for it.

I'm a subscriber and I think they hit most reviews right on the money. I have not personally driven a coupe, but it seems odd that they would take such a harsh stance. They usually do not take extreme views one way or another.

Iceman's C230

Far as i am concerned i love my C230, dispite what that Idiot's article say's. If that's his view then be it. I don't read too much into that $h!t. I really like to know though what he has parked in his drive way? He must be on BMW's payroll.

columbus

Bull$#!t - probably the same people who rave about a tinny filing cabinet with an Acura label on it. They're comparing the Coupe with its 50k+ bigger siblings. If I could afford a CLK AMG I'd bloody well go out and buy one, wouldn't I. For the money, I LOVE my baby benz. :p :p :p to the editors. I don't read that bombocloth rag anyway.

First Benz

A**holes! Everybody has one

dasMafia

thats a little rough, I agree that the engine is a little rough at start-up, but other than that... I think they drove a different car...

columbus

Love your sig; aren't we all?
Only, in case of the Autoweek article, the jackass with the keyboard is the author

kompress

In a lot of ways, this is not the OLD Benz. To me the coupe is a progressive, good-looking, fine performing BUT NOT traditional, conservative cars that many of us have become used to seeing with a tristar.

The quality implications are the only ones that bother me. I am in it for the long haul with this car. I hope it is good to me. To me it feels solid and what an M-B should feel like.

speedfrk

I emailed Mark Vaughn (west coast editor) at Autoweek, and he said he didn't understand where that guys comments came from either. But whoever approved it for publication obviously hasn't driven a coupe either.

DCX Engineer

The article was a little harsh. I am surprised he didn't rag on the Cassette Stereo. If my C230 is a tin filing cabinet where all other MBs feel like bank vaults, I can't wait until we start buying others models. This car feels so solid compared to what I've driven. As for the engine, we all knew it was 90's technology. I wonder what he'll say next year with the new engine?

I wish the CD stereo was standard, but the car had to be under $25k. I like the sunshade.

How else is MB going to attract a younger market to become future S-Class owners without this entry level model? Remember - you do get what you pay for.

- Will

greg230

they had a previous blurb about the coupe where a different writer praised it...

its no cl, but its worlds nicer then any other sports coupe in the sub 30k category. more safety and more luxury then anything in its category (fancy hatchbacks) and so-so performance.. its a great balance... even better when i get my damn pully

DoctorDeath13

Howdy Folks:
Just my 2 cents,,,,
IMHO the 230 is MB's most bang for the buck. If I were 30 years younger, I would be fanatical. Even now, I would dig sporting around in one. My "personal " car is an untagged 66 Skylark conv.but my sights are on a someday SL500. (a lot less bang for the buck). As said before. don't buy anything based on just a rag article. Have fun

FrankW

actually it is very simple why Autoweek don't like the C coupe as they like the WRX. WRX although the interior material is still very cheap compare to most of the luxury brand; its quality is still better than the products that Subaru use to produce. on the other hand, the C coupe is made by one of the most luxurious brand, so ppl expect the car to be as good as the C sedan, E, S, CLK, etc. that are sold at much higher price. since MB sell the C coupe relatively cheap they have to cut cost on material. if the MB had sold the C coupe for around 32k base price, the ppl at autoweek wouldn't complain at all.

it's all in ppls' narrow mind. i guess ppl at autoweek will praise the lord when VW's Phaeton arrives.


this is just ranting:
what i really want to say for a long time now is that ppl like Caddy Escalade and don't like Yukon/Denali. why the hell is that? those two cars are the same crap coming from GM. every switch and button is no different in the two infact they are the same. ppl likes Escalade because it is a Caddy which i think is BS. IMO ppl who will buy Escalade couldn't tell the difference from Denali w/o its badge. they just want to buy something that is more expensive to show that they can afford it.

greg230

besides the lack of wood (i have leather in my coupe) its appointed exactly like a c sedan

its not like every mercedes has suede headliners but the coupe.

zimmer26

Yeah, I'm po'ed about that article too, I think the only major mag not to rank on it is R&T- which to me is the best, seemingly least biased of them all. I can't recall MT, but C&D ripped it back in October i think it was and then there's that stupid *** Automobile article telling me that a Hyundai is better- WTF! They all rave about the quality and niceties of the GTI's interior for the $, hello we're talking an extra couple of k for more features, safety, horses, RWD. Its as if anything under 25k is "cheap" read WRX, GTI, and anything over is pricey and should do everything flawlessly, especially if it wears a luxury badge. Whatever, you should be proud of your car- the coolest one on the road.

dasMafia

...put the bottle down, and for goodness sake, turn off caps-lock! (and get a grammar text)

hphan

The latest issue of EuroTuner has some nice words to say about the C230K... can't remember exactly what they said (there were 4 short write-ups taking up just 1 page). But they pretty much all agreed that it was a great car for the money, and that anyone considering a GTI or Jetta should step up the extra cash to get one of these instead.

MB-BOB

I found the "bank vault" build quality of the Coupe to be indistinguishable from my C320 sedan. AutoWeek liked the sedan for this reason, but didn't like the coupe? Go figure.

I subscribe to AutoWeek for the one-week old F1 coverage, and general auto news. I couldn't care less what it says about the cars I drive (or don't drive). If you want consistant editorial adulation, you should probably drive a BMW, instead. The auto rags and BMW are already in bed together... You can join them and no one would notice.

dasMafia

no.... motortrend and the domestics are in bed together. (aztek, rendezvuos, thunderbird, original neon.... oi vey!)

I admit that C/D and BMW are a little chummy... (although they hammered the new M3 this month)

R&T... pretty neutral, and they hate minivans, trucks and SUVs.... WOOHOO!

automobile is just wierd, more a lifestyle rag than a real car magazine. fun to read though.

if you want something reaaaaaalllllly biased, try The Star or Roundel... holy **** thats a lot of myopia. (however, the current lashing of the new 7er in roundel is timeless, they've been ruthless for MONTHS on end now with no reprieve in sight)

speedfrk

The guy didn't even give the specs on the car he drove for the "review". But at 31,000.00 it was probably an auto, with a bunch of packages. Why they showed a rear view shot of the car instead of a front view is also suspicious. The car does of course look better from the front. Everybody slams the interior quality of the car, but I love it. I specifically wanted cloth seats and a hatchback with a 6sp, and no sunroof. So my car was 25,000.00 exactly as I wanted it, (except for the CD player) and I think it is a real bargain. I also think that as you start adding the very expensive packages on, it becomes much less of a bargain. (Although, the C7 package is a great deal.) If I was going to spend 30 or 31,000 I would probably get a 3 series BMW.

viper

That rag named AUTOWEEK should be renamed AUTOWEAK for the quality of their writing

FrankW

i like R&T because they hate trucks and also because they test the cars harder than other mag.

i just don't want to see motortrend at all though...the damn mag rate Ford Thunderbird motortrend car of the year this year and left C32 hanging heh if i were to pick i would choose the Altima or Hyundai Sonata as car of the year.

if i recall correctly the motortrend car of the year over the past few year has always been the only domestic in their test. i.e. this year the Ford T-Bird (i just don't get the crappy Lincoln LS interior), last year was the PT cruiser which the sales drop like a stone this year, and in 2000 it was the Lincoln LS that was the car of the year (my question for that is why wasn't the Jag S-type car of the year since it has the same platform as the LS and more luxury and power too)

usually i don't bother with the motortrend SUV or truck of the year but this time it pissed me off. how can motortrend rank GMC envoy the SUV of the year when they said Envoy is the worst performer in safety rating. i always though to be car or SUV or truck of the year they have to have good or better rating in safety. even more intriguing is that the truck of the year went to Chevy Avalanche. what is with the folding down the rear seat concept? so ppl can go into you car and steal stuff?

the only great car of the year choice from motortrend was back in 97 when they pick the BMW 5-series. every year after that the car of the year went to some car that got beaten by the ugly stick.

trench

I remember seeing somewhere about ten years ago funny one-line descriptions of the major auto-magazines. The only ones I remember were:

Car and Driver: for Yuppies who like to think they drive fast
Road and Track: for quasi-engineers who like automotive history
Motor Trend: for people who like to read ads disguised as articles

Pretty much sums them up, in my opinion.



BT

PS: I like RT best but I hardly ever get it - I usually only buy F1 magazine (even though the info in it is about three months old by the time it finally shows up from Europe)

Margo

It is sometimes downright ponderous to read some of the posts on this board. Spelling and grammar are hideous. It's been bothering me and I finally had to say something... anyway, I was in the dealership getting my car repaired yesterday (it pulled to the right, among other things, and needed an alignment, with only 3100 miles on it ) and a man in there asked how I liked the car, and asked if I saw the Consumer Reports article on it...that it basically trashed the C230K. I haven't seen the issue.. has anybody? What does it say about the car?