qwerty1024

A few notes on the pictures below: the variation in color of Plladium Silver is due (I think) to the camera's White Ballance. Pictures were taken mid-afternoon; the first set in the sun, and the second in the shade, hence the color variation of Palladium Silver. Another thing, some of the close-up image were taken at a wide-angle focal length, so this seems to exagerate the shapes in the foreground a bit. Anyways, just an attempt to explain the photos as I'm no photographer.





















Because I've driven the car less than 80 miles to date, It's not worth writing my detailed opinions on this C350 yet. This is my first new car in 8 years and it will replace my 99 Jetta VR6 (GLX) manual transmission.

Anyways... never mind the "too few miles" to say my (maybe premature) opinion: THIS CAR IS AWEOMSE. Sure, I'm comparing it to an 8-year old VW VR6 and it's easy to get impressed. Nonetheless, I love it.

Seating: I am most impressed by the seating position and seating comfort. EVERTYHING (well, everything I got to use in 1/2 a day) seems to be just in reach from the driver's position... very good visibility. The foot pedals, shifter and steering wheel all fit perfectly! I guess it would take many hours to get tired behind the wheel.

The power: well, I haven't tapped into it yet and will try hard no to for the first 1500 miles - I drive it in "C" mode until then. It is very smooth - quite boring, in fact - which I expected and I can cope with.

The 7-speed auto: yes, I gave up on the C300 manaul for reasons reasons not worth mentioning. The 7-speed auto is amazingly smooth, I think. In normal cruising mode I need to watch the RPM to get an indication of the gears being shifted. And what impresses me a lot is the 2200RPM @ 80 miles per hour on level ground! I still miss the manual stick shift. I haven't played with the 7-speed manual shfting mode yet ( the + and -). Will do so when break-in is done.

Handling: very responsive. Very quick steering ratio at low speeds! It feels firmly footed on the raoad, and yes, there is a bit of a body-roll -so can't comfuse it for a 3-series in that regard. I do not like the feel of the steering wheel - feels way more vague than my VW. It is what is it.

Rear Wheel Drive: probably my most imporatant criteria when choosing my next car. I'm tired of wheel hopping, torque-steering front wheel drives.

No, I didn't get exactly what I wanted. I wanted the gray leather interior and instead ended up with the black Mbex which I can live it...in fact, I don't dislike it at all like i though i would.

I'm totally excited and can't wait to put 1,000,000 miles on it

Thanks to the forum for having answered some of my questions since my first posts.

AsianML

Looks nice! Congrats.

Chaz00Blue

Thanks for posting pics! It looks great. I am so envious of all that have already received their cars. I am still waiting and it is getting tougher and tougher.

LaicepsYdobon

Wow ! My W203 has 3200RPM @ 80MPG ! I can't wait to get my new C-Class. Congrats on your new car and welcome to "the family"

qwerty1024

AsianML - thanks!

Chaz00Blue - I didn't order it, in fact, it was the first Mercedes dealership I ever walked into (funny thing, once there, I felt a bit "out of place") and a few hours later drove out. In any case, I'm guessing you'll be very excited when you'll get it and here's the best thing I can think of: since you ordered it, you'll get exactly what you want (or wanted at the time you ordered it). I didn't get exactly what I wanted (wanted the gray leather, but was okay with black MB Tex).

LaicepsYdobon - yeah, the low 2,200 RPM @ 80 MPH is great! I read somewhere that the C300 runs a slithly higher revs than the C350, but only by a few hundread I think. In any case, it gives then engine some breathing room while cruising.

C350Silver

Congrats! It's a beautiful car. I'm getting the exact color and model. I'm in Canada so no other options are necessary. I put my $1K deposit down and have to wait until January to get mine. By then, I hope I won't be paying MSRP. Did you get any accessories ie. trunk floor net, side net etc...and are those really practical or gimmicky?

By the way, did you get the ipod integration kit? If so, do u recommend it since? The 4" screen doesn't show the songs and artist...only the instrument gauge does. Too bad, cause then my passengers won't be able to see their music selections nor would be able to use the control knob. There have been other threads that favour factory installed kits over dealer due to some amp and volume issues.

benggolf

Awesome! I saw 2 C350s ready for delivery at MB Richmond Auto Mall parked side-by-side; one in Iridium Silver and the other in Palladium Silver.

The Palladium Silver is making me re-think my choice of Iridium Silver!

Hmm, how would Palladium Silver look with a 2-tone Black/Grey interior?

MB Fanatic

Beng, where the hell have you been man?

We missed you around here.

I love the new C class. IMO it looks stunning. I was at Laguna Niguel the other day picking up the CL550 and got the chance to drive a C350 with PII and MM system, and it really took my breath away.

It's a real winner.

benggolf

Lol. Been laying low trying to stoping flipping cars! Lately, the bug bite me again, so here I am!

See you are still a regular and active poster. Cheers to all.

Germancar1

Nice pics, good writeup.

M

LaicepsYdobon

[quote=C350Silver;2435528]Did you get any accessories ie. trunk floor net, side net etc...and are those really practical or gimmicky?
quote]

I have the trunk floor net in my car and its awesome. No more groceries flying all over the trunk. Just life the net and stick your shopping bags underneath and when you arrive home they will be in the same position when you left the store. And when I don't have anything in the truck I keep an umbrella under the net so I don't get caught in a sudden downpour. This is my first car with a trunk floor net and just like air conditioning and sat-nav this is going to be a necessary accessory.

C350Silver

[QUOTE=LaicepsYdobon;2435788]Thanks LaicepsYdobon, ok good to know, I'll definitely get the floor net then. Is the side net necessary also? By the way, do feel vibrations coming into the shifter? I also noticed that the wheel isn't as soft and supple as the previous generation C280. Maybe this time around, the wheel isn't wrapped with real leather....feels like a hard rough plastic. Oh well, it is what it is.

qwerty1024

[QUOTE=C350Silver;2435841
By the way, do feel vibrations coming into the shifter? [/QUOTE]

Can you please explain a little more regarding the "vibrations coming into the shifter" comment??? Please do so if you can because I've had a bit of a moment on this morning's commute, regarding vibrations.

While crusing at 75-80mph on what I normally thought of as a good asphalt, within 15 seconds I felt a vibration building up in the steering wheel, shifter, accelerator pedal. No joking matter, 30 seconds later the outside mirrors were vibrating!!! I slowed to about 60 and then accelarated back to 80 and the vibrations were gone. Note, these are not in any ways "violent", but more like higher frequency but strong enough to make the view of the outside mirrors shake!! I did not report on this in the start of this stread because I did not want to mention something I wasn't sure of, but this also occured when I drove the car home from the dealership on a different freeway. Also, there is "noise" that accopanies the vibrations... Hard to describe, but it is the kind of noise tires make when you move on the shoulder of a freeway and the tire noise wanrns you you are no longer on a driving lane - that's as best as I can descrive the noise that accompanies the vibrations. I doubt it is the road... i've driven on the darn thing for years, and even if it was different cars, there were never any such vibrations. I can only wait for next day's commute, use the same lane, and see what happens. I sure hope I'm being an idiot and it's not the car (it has the 17" AMGs, not 18").

LaicepsYdobon

[quote=C350Silver;2435841]I image the side nets would be useful also but I don't have them so I can't speak from experience. I'd say if you get either the trunk floor or the side net it should be plenty. Both of them might be an overkill.

Vibrations ? I haven't experienced any vibrations with the C-350 but then again I've only driven one once. When I get W204 I'm planning on getting the luxury steering wheel installed so I'll report back on that.

Lakerz4sho

I ordered my c300 from Laguna Niguel. The experience so far has been a pleasure. Are they good people to deal with? Minimal haggling and the internet sales manager accepted the offer that I made with no trouble at all, saying that if that was the price I needed to get the deal done, then he would do it for me.

AsianML

80MPG?

MBTex

Hmmmm...obviously got his time mixed up with his volume....

LaicepsYdobon

Douh ! Nice catch; that should have been 80MPH

C350Silver

I've test-driven the C350, 18" wheels, on a smooth paved straight road in city limits...I felt a slight vibration from the engine into the shifter. Normally, I would disregard it, but if I want to manual shift...it would be somewhat of a minor nuisance. I didn't want to burst the salesman's bubble since he can't do anything about the engineering designs anyways. However, I tried the C300, 17" wheels, immediately thereafter and have noticed the same thing. I have a Honda Accord right now. I can rest my hand on the shift and not feel any vibrations from the engine. Either way, I think the C350 is a great car and this is more of an observation than a compliant. Over time, I can overlook this fault.

In your case, I believe you were not cornering hard nor were you taking the car to its limits. You're describing symptoms very close to tire separation only because it would show when driving at speeds in excess of 70 mph. I'm not a mechanic though but do have it checked it. You have a great car.

MB Fanatic

Oh they are great people to work with. I have bought all my cars from them excecpt for the E55 (Fletcher Jones, I'll never go back there again). Laguna Niguel has some first class people working for them. Let me know if you ever have any issues with them, though I am sure you won't.

I always pay invoice for my cars and they dont seem to have an issue with it, then again I have bought a lot of cars from them. I used to deal with James Sullivan but he has since moved onto Fletcher Jones, and like I said I won't ever go back there.

qwerty1024

Conincidentally, I got the C350 from there as well. It was the nearest dealership that was participating in the Costco Auto program. Only been there once, at the time of purchase; everything went fairly quick, no pressures. I've only dealt with the asigned representative and the finance guy. Glad to you hear you've got good experience with them.

Lakerz4sho

yes.. john maxwell has been great to deal w/ online. so what pricing did you get and what did you order?

MBfan21

Awesome. And I like the interior. It does not look cheap at all.

LizzyP

Does anyone know how long it would take to recieve the new C-Class if I ordered it now?

Lakerz4sho

expect to wait ~2-3 months.