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I used to be a gear head about 10 years ago had a 550 rwhp Z28.
Now that I am older my tastes have changed. I prefer luxury, comfort and quality over buying some cheap used Camaro or mustang and dumping paychecks in it. Anyone teenager / gear head can buy a cheap used sports car and sink pay check after pay check into it and make it fast. Now that I am older I realize I wanted to do something not everyone can do and that's walk into a MB dealership and walk out with a 50k car.
I am new to MB and I am learning more everyday and I wish the C350 had been available in a sedan which it was not so I had little choice C300. Had I known better at the time I would have at least test drove an S4 and a 335i but caught up in the allure of owning a MB. Next time I will not make that mistake.
I'm in agreement with 2014C300.
While I do want to have a little fun with my ride, I would prefer something that is already well set in terms of comfort and performance...though I wish I could have gotten my hands on a coupe...
Personally, unless you go with an M series, there is nothing special about a BMW, whereas I always get comments on how nice my car is. And Audi cannot touch either MB or BMW for reliability.
Around here all you see are those huge jacked up turbo diesel trucks. I think most are ignorant to the fact that Audi, BMW, Mercedes are not as expensive as they think. I find it humorous to be honest when people I work with make snide comments yet they leave at the end of the day in a large jacked up truck. All u can do is laugh I guess.
Don't get me wrong I love my car. My wife loves her 2014 C300 as well.
I am more performance oriented than she is of course lol. I was just hopefull the tune would yield better results than what we are seeing. I wanted to keep my car and it full fill all my personal requirements. but if I'm only going to get 13.8 or so at best then not only am I not wasting my money I am disappointed because that is why I chose this car with this engine. Yes there was and is very little info out there about the results of a tune with the M276 other than with butt Dino's or Dyno's that yield questionable results, and still no before and after 1/4 mile results.
Not gonna lie I purchased a 2013 with the intent of more power promised by these tuners. Would have opted for a 350 at this rate. Feel kind of ripped off by false advertising.
I don't think it is "false advertising". In my opinion it is just the w204. Our cars are 400 lbs? Heavier? Than w205. The transmission leaves much to be desired and the M276 is low on torque where the 335i's torque comes in low "300 lb/ft" and stays throughout the power band.
I think I know where my money is going. C400. I was reading in another thread a tune yielded 417 hp. This is approaching Base C63 power. We are still earlier in the release of this car. People were saying with piping upgrades, inter cooler upgrades etc the car could yield even more if the bottom end could handle it. I need to research more about the internals. No idea if the TT V6 3.0 has forged internals. I would hope so. Also I read that stock boost on the C400 is only 9 psi for 327 hp! So that leaves allot of room. I could not find what boost levels were at @ 417 hp. I know I'm drooling at this point. The C400 smells like an easy 12 second daily driver. Time will tell. I can't wait to try and get one but I have 2 years on my lease and a little over 1 on my wife's.
Now that I am older my tastes have changed. I prefer luxury, comfort, engineering and quality over buying some cheap used Camaro or mustang and dumping paychecks in it.
I am new to MB and I am learning more everyday and I wish the C350 had been available in a sedan which it was not so I had little choice C300
I hear you on not wanting to dump a ton of money into upgrades anymore. I had about 10k in one of my cars before I wised up and realized I could just buy the performance I wanted from the factory and it would actually have resale value and a warranty.
As for the c350 not being available in a sedan- say what?
Originally Posted by genesisknight
Personally, unless you go with an M series, there is nothing special about a BMW, whereas I always get comments on how nice my car is. And Audi cannot touch either MB or BMW for reliability.
The interiors on BMWs aren't as nice as MB or Audi and they've been getting softer. In recent years they've been losing handling shootouts. If you're not at least getting the M sport package I'm not sure why I'd bother.
Originally Posted by 2014c300
Around here all you see are those huge jacked up turbo diesel trucks. I think most are ignorant to the fact that Audi, BMW, Mercedes are not as expensive as they think. I find it humorous to be honest when people I work with make snide comments yet they leave at the end of the day in a large jacked up truck. All u can do is laugh I guess.
LOL, right? Even normal SUVs cost a ton of money. Not to mention how cheap a used MB is. Weird is that my wife still makes those sorts of comments and she know I paid about the same for mine as she did for new CRV when new.
Originally Posted by 2014c300
I don't think it is "false advertising". In my opinion it is just the w204. Our cars are 400 lbs? Heavier? Than w205. The transmission leaves much to be desired and the M276 is low on torque where the 335i's torque comes in low "300 lb/ft" and stays throughout the power band.
I think I know where my money is going. C400. I was reading in another thread a tune yielded 417 hp. This is approaching Base C63 power. We are still earlier in the release of this car. People were saying with piping upgrades, inter cooler upgrades etc the car could yield even more if the bottom end could handle it. I need to research more about the internals. No idea if the TT V6 3.0 has forged internals. I would hope so. Also I read that stock boost on the C400 is only 9 psi for 327 hp! So that leaves allot of room. I could not find what boost levels were at @ 417 hp. I know I'm drooling at this point. The C400 smells like an easy 12 second daily driver. Time will tell. I can't wait to try and get one but I have 2 years on my lease and a little over 1 on my wife's.
FWIW the S4 and 335 go for quite a bit more on the used market, and the S4 is just more expensive new. That's a good part of the reason I ended up with one. If you're looking for a super powerful sports sedan MB really isn't the best choice until you get to the AMG line. Also the C400 is going away. Its being replaced by the c450 //amg. Probably perfect for what you're looking for though. It has the fun magnetic suspension and transmission settings from the AMG line with a pretty powerful engine. Just not crazy.
As for the c350 not being available in a sedan- say what?
The C350 is only sold as a 2 door coupe in the US. At least that was the case when I was looking around and similarly settled for the C300 as a result.
I have seen the C350 in sedan form while in Canada so this may just be a US market limitation.
Ouch, sorry to burst your bubble but the 350 is offered in a sedan. There's even a **** ton of them for sale on Carmax right now.
I opted away from it because forum vendors were claiming 350 power with a tune. Looks like I got sold some snake oil. 350 wouldn't have been much more, may have just taken awhile longer to find one with all the options we wanted. Oh well.
Ouch, sorry to burst your bubble but the 350 is offered in a sedan. There's even a **** ton of them for sale on Carmax right now.
I opted away from it because forum vendors were claiming 350 power with a tune. Looks like I got sold some snake oil. 350 wouldn't have been much more, may have just taken awhile longer to find one with all the options we wanted. Oh well.
Interesting. I didn't see any 2014 C350s in Sedan when I was searching nor any information from MB showing it as anything other than a Coupe. Maybe I missed out...
Ouch, sorry to burst your bubble but the 350 is offered in a sedan. There's even a **** ton of them for sale on Carmax right now.
I opted away from it because forum vendors were claiming 350 power with a tune. Looks like I got sold some snake oil. 350 wouldn't have been much more, may have just taken awhile longer to find one with all the options we wanted. Oh well.
The C350 in the Us was NOT offered in Sedan with 4 matic. Coupe only had 4 matic. I checked MBUSA.com many many times and the 4 matic option was missing. If I did not need 4 matic we would not be having this discussion as I would already be driving a C63
Even so I stopped in at my local dealer and even checked on 2 door C350's and the dealer told me they could not even get coupes in 4 matic for the longest time.
Yes the C400 is rumored to be going away. I do not know if the C450 will work for me. PA winters can be rough and I would rather stay at a max of 18" rims, the C450 seems to come standard with 19" wheels. I do not know if 18's are an option or not as the car is still not available. Also I believe it only comes with summer tires? Hate to spend 65k on a car and have no choice but to turn right around and dump another grand in tires for all seasons.
(In the past year I have bent 3 rims and replaced 7 tires because of PA roads. It would only be worse with 19's I'm sure. An extreme case of bad luck, poorly marked bump in construction zone got my 3 rims. And I caught a pot hole on the interstate and blew a p zero Nero , I then couldn't stand the noise from the pirellis any longer and the poor handling so I yanked them all off for Pilot sport A/S 3's
wow... i tell ya some people.. well you just made my mind up for me *****... I sent out my ECU yesterday. I will be keeping my opinions and results to myself..
wow... i tell ya some people.. well you just made my mind up for me *****... I sent out my ECU yesterday. I will be keeping my opinions and results to myself..
I'd appreciate your thoughts once you have a chance to 'play' with it a bit.
To bring this thread back around to topic...
I have now driven from Calgary, AB to San Diego, CA with this tune...a total of 2200 miles or so. I wasn't able to get to a dyno unfortunately, but I can tell you that there is a definite power increase like you wouldn't believe!!
We've been following the coast all the way down and I now know why people love the Pacific coast highway! Those twists and turns are insanely fun!!!
...I need stiffer suspension, gripper tires, and my gf to take some gravol...lol
The amazing part is, even at 'highway' speeds...65 to 75mph, I've been seeing an average of 28mpg on 91 octane which is 2mpg above stated specs.
All in all, this tune is definitely worth it. So much fun and instantly powerful even when already 'at speed' to get around on the interstate.
wow... i tell ya some people.. well you just made my mind up for me *****... I sent out my ECU yesterday. I will be keeping my opinions and results to myself..
Coming from The VW world (ECU tunes for days!) I’m very interested in getting a tune for the 300. Also Being a VR6 guy (N/A) I have never seen a N/A tune to claim this much of a power increase. So yeah, any Proof, I would be super stoked to see before purchasing.
Coming from The VW world (ECU tunes for days!) I’m very interested in getting a tune for the 300. Also Being a VR6 guy (N/A) I have never seen a N/A tune to claim this much of a power increase. So yeah, any Proof, I would be super stoked to see before purchasing.
Seriously? Did you even read the thread? Any and all "proof" exists in this thread.
Okay...for better or for worse...here's the charts...
The first is just my car on 91octane, at 3,500ft altitude, and 24c (75f) running pretty cool. I'm only a little ways from the shop and the car sat for about an hour prior to going up on the dyno.
2013 MB C300 w/ Kleemann tuned ECU
While the numbers look stupid low to my un-dyno-educated mind...
Here is a comparison to a stock 2012 Subaru WRX STI...
Tuned ECU vs stock 2012 Subaru WRX STI
My understanding...and I'm still learning here...is that I'm naturally aspirated...aka...not breathing assisted. The Subaru is forced air...they get air shoved in. NA cars are at a disadvantage...and fall off the power faster than a turbo charged car when at altitude.
Also, research shows that Dyno Dynamics habitually rate lower (avg 15% or so) than other dynos...
So the fact that I'm only 8.7whp at the wheels off from a turbocharged 305bhp car...I'm actually pretty damned happy.
When I get a chance tonight, I'll go out and find a lonely road and record some 0-100kph times...
...and maybe show my tail lights to a couple S4's...hehe...
Let me know what you guys think...
you are correct, I did not see this chart. It has been awhile since I have checked back on this.