Frissen

apparently the Sport won't make it to Mexico... on the first 200 cars arriving this past month only Elegenace and Avantgarde made it to the dealer... they wanted me to believe the Avantgarde was the Sport, maybe the messed up my order or something... there is no Sport to be found in Mexico or MB's Mexico webpage so I settled for the Avantgarde but in the come and go I lost my place in line and have to wait for next ship at the end of the month...

and despite carrying a C280 badge they are indeed 3.0L...

I don't know what the heck I'm getting but hey its nice...

Remonster

Avantgarde is Sport, they are the same thing, MBUSA just thought Americans were to stupid to know what Avantgarde meant so they just renamed it Sport here.

Frissen

That is what the dealer told me, that Avantgarde is Sport, yet in the euro catalog I see 4 models, Classic, Elegance, Avantgarde and Sport.

The Avantgarde has the Sport Grille sans the AMG cladding. The interior is pretty much Elegance but with alu finish. On the euro catalog I clearly see the Sport having AMG cladding and sport seats in cloth plus fake carbon finish in black.

Anyway a settled on the Avantgarde... no AMG cladding but I just want it now... to take advantage of the 2008 MY through 2007...

my DD is not happy with the idea of a replacement...





its been good but well over 100k miles now

GINGER

avantgarde is NOT sport...sport is amg package with the amg bodykit and wheels etc, while the avantgarde's bodykit is completely different from the amg...if you see pics you'll understand what i mean

MikeRPA

wow , dont get it then , wait for teh sport it's a big difference i've seen in person on teh NY auto show , wait for the Sport im telling you .

R230_Nicke

Here in Europe we dont have the sport model.
Just Classic, Elegance and Avantgarde.

Thats why I orded the Avantgarde with the AMG pkg.

With Avantgarde I get the "SL" grille, alu interior.

With the AMG pkg (another 1,500EUR) I get the AMG bobykit, AMG sport chassi, sport steering wheel, sport seats, sport exhaust, paddle shifters, 17" AMG wheels (19" as soon as I get the car..), AMG brakes/callipers, alu pedals, AMG floormats.

If You get an sport model with all this included iI say wait for that model!

Remonster

In Europe they have the Avantgarde which is the sport model and then the AMG sport package which gives you an even sportier body kit and other interior styling changes. It's the same in the U.S., we have the Sport model and then you can get the AMG sport package.

My C300 will be a 6 speed manual in either Palladium Silver or the darker gray with the AMG Sport Package and those 18" AMG rims and probably no other options.

Frissen

Nicke's answer sounds quite logical towards the catalog I saw...

yet no word on the damn AMG package... of course I want it but MB Mexico is not willing to dish when ... I wish I could get it...

Frissen

C280 Avantagarde, here. So far nice with already discussed minuses like interior plastics, but driving better than expected. Will have photos later today.

pkancel

I thought the only two models right now were Luxury and Sport. To be honest, I like the body of the luxury and I prefer the luxury grill also. Looks like a mini S-class which I think lends better to dressing it up with 20s, rear spoiler. etc.

I dont like the badge in the grill on the sport, its just too big and I think it distracts from the front end of the car.

Shake

I think the sport looks much better. It already has the bumpers nicely done by AMG. You can easily change the grille later if you wanted to.

AsianML

Luxury and Sport are the only trims available in the US. Everywhere else gets the same, plus a few more such as Avantgarde and Classic. They may be the same as what we get here with a few cosmetic changes here and there, and the name change, obviously.

horizon

There are four styling packages:

950 AMG Sport
953 Classic
954 Avantgarde
955 Elegance

In most markets Classic is the standard that comes at no additional cost. The alternatives are then Elegance and Avantgarde. The Sport package can be added on top of either Elegance or Avantgarde, but 954 or 955 is a pre-requisite for 950.

Where the confusion may be is that different markets package the options up in different ways and may not offer the fulll flexibility as above.

The Avantgarde option may not be there as such, because a particular market may have the Avantgarde styling combined with the Sport package into one package and named the edition Sport e.g. UK or US

The Sport package comes with the same grille as the Avantgarde package, but then includes the following, which the basic Avantgarde does not:

- Different interior trims
- AMG body-styling
- AMG rims
- 15mm lowered suspension
- Sports seats
- Tweaked exhaust
- 3-spoke 12-button steering wheel with gearshift paddles and a more direct speed sensitive power steering.

In the US, I believe the Luxury edition is aligned to the Elegance package and the Sport edition to Avantgarde with the Sport package. Never still, Avantgarde and Sport are distinct from each other.

Sport supercedes Avantgarde and Elegance
Avantgarde and Elegance are mutually exclusive to each other, but both supercede Classic