kunz

I just came back from the C-drive in my town. I came away quite impressed with the vehicle and so did the other drivers. Our road course was in a different location and we used a shuttle to go back and forth, which was cool. I'm still in med school and will be looking for a "graduation gift" to myself in a year or 2.

I know everyone loves the styling of the Sport, but i guess im one of the few people who prefer the Luxury. Alot of the drivers were mentioning that the low profile tires/AMG rims in the sport would be a waste on NJ's pothole-ridden roads. I have to agree, cuz i wouldnt want to scrape those 18"s.

Im really envious of all of you with a w204 and live vicariously through your posts

Here are some pics from the event.

ismeto

https://mbworld.org/forums/attachmen...4&d=1189894963


What talking about this Man

kunz

He was going through a rehearsed monologue about how long the C spent in engineering and testing, and outlining some key features of the car. His talk would coincide with the video in the back. It wasn't very informative, especially to people who have been to this forum. He ended with the signature slogan "Why did we spend so much time creating a new C class? Because we promised you a Mercedes-Benz". It was brief but he did make some interesting points:

1)He said that the car spent testing time in the worst road in the world-in Namibia. I wonder if someone can corroborate that...cuz its hard to be worse than NJ

2)The engines spent 500 hours straight at redline. If these are carry-over engines...was this testing for the w203 or w204 models?

All cars had Multimedia package, but none with P2. I wanted to see what the LEDs looked like. They did say that 4matic will be in showrooms in a couple weeks.

I have a couple more pics also

tattdawg

I prefer the Luxury model, too.

Y2KE320

Kunz: thanks for the info, I'm signed up for Sun morning.

pmb600

Glad to hear you enjoyed it. I was there today as well. What time were you there?

By the way there were just a few cars with P2. The Barolo Red C300 Luxury they had set up for the harmon/kardon demo was a P2 car. The LEDs are nothing special, they light up red, which I think is wierd. I prefer the yellow that Euro models get.

kunz

i was there between 3 and 5, and i guess i should have paid more attention to the static displays.

LaicepsYdobon

I was signed up to go for Saturday's 8am session but I overslept. Shucks ! Looks like it was a fun event. Maybe next time...
I did get a chance to drive a 350 Sport at my dealership but I had a sales rep. sitting in the car with me on public roads. I don't think I went more then 40mph. I still enjoyed it though...

Dema

We can get reimbursement in CA if rims get damaged cuz road.

pmb600

I must have walked right by you, I was there during the same exact time.

kunz

You should have gone whenever you had time, i was actually scheduled for 5pm that day but showed up at 3, nobody said a word. You could go today and it would be fine.

The street drive was really short...and we only got up to about 60. MB had a local cop on the road to make sure we didnt speed. Quite a shame b/c the road is really long and straight, and would have been a good opportunity to open her up a bit...oh well.

kunz

sweet...probably a good chance we were on the same shuttle busses.

am2121

I was scheduled for Saturday but cancelled since picking up my car this week. Nice pictures and glad you all had fun.

dezerter81

i was there to but wasn't too impressed

ismeto

Thanks guy good ingo

What colour you like much near real cars in C Drive

C43AMG

I was there Saturaday at 10am.I must say that I was very impressed with the vehicles.I couldn't get over how good the brakes were.The new "brake-by-wire" is very impressive.I think MB hit a home-run with this model.I love the aggressive front end.

kunz

good question...quite honestly i came back really confused about color because there really isnt a color that the new c looks bad in. I do know that i want the tan interior and i thought the barolo red went best with the interior, but pewter and black would go well also. Even the Mars red looked nice on the sport, nice work MB!

Y2KE320

I was there at 9 am this morning. While we didn't get a chance to fully test the capabilities of the car, it was nice to spend time going through the cars on display and asking questions without the typical car salesman breathing down your neck. I thought the event was well managed, professional and informative. By the way, the new C350 Sport seems like an excellent car!
I would make this a top consideration for my next car. I like the Dark Grey C350, it looked sporty and upscale.

pmb600

True, they don't want you to really push the car to the limits, which is understandable. Did you do the closed course? I think that allowed you to test the car more than you would be able to on a test drive.

I also like the dark grey, it's called Steel Grey. I think that Steel Grey and Palladium Silver will be two of the most popular colors for this car.

LaicepsYdobon

That's what I'm thinking about; the a 4matic luxury sedan with tan interior and barolo red exterior. I saw a promo clip that had a C class with that combo on it and it looked gorgeous !

SleeperX

I was there that exact same time. and that sh*t was horrible. They took us on a closed course in a parking lot. WTF! To make matters worse, my girl and I got thrown off the course and he wouldn't even let us ride in the car together after that. I will be headed to the AMG challenge next month and I am sure I will be able to actually drive the car to its limits. What a joke C drive was?

pmb600

Ah, I was there when they threw you off at the closed course. Were you the guy that got like 5 cones stuck in the car?

Y2KE320

I think it all depends on your expectations. If you looked at some of the participants, not everyone was a car enthusiast. The AMG challenge is a bit different and you also have to pay a thousand bucks to participate if I recall.
I have done other events like this (cadillac) and the amount of time to put the car through the paces is always very limited. I also participated in the Porsche driving experience and I spent 8 hours driving at Barber Motorsport track in Birmingham along with classroom instruction. It was great but also cost a few thousand dollars. My goal today was to look the car over, drive it (yes a short drive) without having to go to a dealership. So for me it was mission accomplished. I really like the car and next trip to the dealer I will already have enough information to make a good decision.
BTW, I did both events today.

SleeperX

Yes, I was a little pissed when they wouldn't even let my girl ride with me..

pmb600

I think the event was good and people shouldn't expect to drive the car to its limits for a free event. I can't even imagine how much money this entire event nationwide cost them. They also destroy the cars after all of the cities are finished. I realize this is all cost of doing business, but we can't expect them to let us destroy the brakes/tires/etc for this event.

The only complaint I have is that I think the street drive was just a little short. It was barely a mile of road and I felt like we were at traffic lights more than we were driving. It was a good road though since you got up to a decent speed. I got back in the line later right before I left because I wanted to drive a luxury model and the guy got kind of snippy with me, which I thought was rude and pointless, there wasn't anyone behind me in line. He let me drive, but not without making me feel unwelcome, which is not good to do to potential customers. I am loyal to MB, but others may not be, so I thought this was short sighted of him.

By the way did anyone notice the Cadillac dealer along the road, that is where my dad gets his cars, and they had a white 2008 CTS in front on the grass. It looks like a great car, I sat in one there last week, but it was sold so I couldn't drive it. I'm going to have to go back this week to compare it to the C-Class. My dad had a 2003 CTS and the interior was horrible, but it was a decent car. This new CTS interior might actually rival the W204 C-Class. I love the fact that it has the exposed stitching on the dash and doors like on the S/CL 600.