Koru_Kinshi

So I was in the possession of an '08 C300 for a few days, and my buddy in his Sentra SE-R and I decided to have a friendly discussion about our vehicles' capabilities...


Here are the results.

Nissan SE-R Vspec vs. C300 w/7-speed auto

Enjoy.

C300Sport

Good to see we can at least outrun some of the light weight, high strung, "boy racers" out there. I honestly thought the Spec V would have been faster.

NickCats

I love the comment :

@morenomax yeah the merc will still win. That's not even a fair race though. The sentra is 14 sencond car at best and the merc I assume is somewhere around 11-12 maybe.There is a reason why the merc costs three times as much.

The C300 is an 11-12 second car ??? Now that's funny...

( I think the C350 is around 14.5 and the c63 is around 12.5 )

Nick

MB300AMG

Were you using the Console shifter?

Koru_Kinshi

Nah, I just let it shift by itself.

MB300AMG

Oh that's interesting. It would be cool if you tried out the shifter next time.

My car has become very responsive since i've started driving it and I usually find I am much faster with the console shifter than leaving it in auto mode.

BenTrovato

No offense to your buddy, but his timing off the start is atrocious lol ... and in the second run you can really how much time he's losing shifting gears. I'd like to take on a c300 in an se-r

Koru_Kinshi

If you're ever in the area, I would be happy to oblige.

palladiumw204

Ive raced many of the "boy racers" in my 6 speed manual and it is funny to see the surprised look on their faces...then again they probably think they are up against a c63 with the mods Ive done to my c300

mr inkredibul

What mods do you have done?

len56

its an option

palladiumw204

debadged...tinted tailights and headlights...rear spoiler and front carbon fiber lip and rims

imboom

So, basically stock then.

Either that or rear spoiler and debadging adds horsepower.

BenTrovato

lol it must be the rear tinted tail lights... i've never been a fan but now that it adds horsepower, i may reconsider

werewolf34

Are you South African by chance?

palladiumw204

not really many options to mod the c other than exhaust and chip, but the chip wouldnt even do much considering its a 6-speed aside from removing a limiter, the greater gains are experienced on the different shift points n stuff from the chip

LvdB

Why would you ask werewolf34? I'm South African - about to buy my first Merc. Is there maybe a certain stigma with regards to South African MB drivers?

alexlev

I love driving the car with the touch shift on but I've come to realize that the car lags between shifts. Downshifts are always nearly on point but up shifting isn't as quick. I am assuming that its just the way Mercedes programmed it to be . . I drove a 328i and I was blown away by how quick that car would shift between gears, and it would do it right on point.

LvdB

Quote:

Originally Posted by alexlev

I love driving the car with the touch shift on but I've come to realize that the car lags between shifts. Downshifts are always nearly on point but up shifting isn't as quick. I am assuming that its just the way Mercedes programmed it to be . . I drove a 328i and I was blown away by how quick that car would shift between gears, and it would do it right on point.

What auto box do you have - 7G-Tronic?

I'm about to take delivery of a C320CDi with 7G-Tronic auto box. I can't seem to get any feedback on any forum where people can point out negatives on the 7G. I'm assuming there aren't major concerns - Hope I'm right with this assumption! (I don't think the auto-shift-issue you described is too much to worry about). BMW do focus on performance, but in my opinion it has it's downsides too. With this said, my experience of late with BMW A/T (more specifically A/T fitted in post '07 BMW X3) is not good at all (FYI see http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/showthread.php?t=262130). Not to criticize BMW here, but these are facts! Harsh shifting patterns and gear hesitations, serious issues that the manufacturer does not have answers to. Reason enough for me to think it's time for change. Just hope my decision with MB (and the 7G A/T that goes with it) does not disappoint...