Carsy

Speedriven1

No.

NYbenzzz

i gotta admit that optima looks a lot better in australia than it does in the us.

i'd never ever get into a us spec kia optima.

but that kia in the video, not so bad.

You all gotta admit, you do pay a lot for what you get on a benz.

Shadwell

If anyone wanted value for money they wouldn't be in a merc...
If we wanted reliability we wouldn't be in a merc....

B2FiNiTY

apples oranges

BF3PDZ

How is your S205 going after all the mods you have done to it, I got mine a few months ago, almost the exact same car as yours minus the vision pack so I have been reading your post with interest.

Shadwell

Oh wow..... quick version and sorry for the thread hi-jack...

Well........I have finished the wet sanding and polishing... Looks so much better but a serious amount of work...

Finished all the dynamat, MLV, foam, plastic lube and interior panel re assembly.. (All doors, rear hatch, b pillars, rear floor, trunk and wheel well..)
Last was the doors; It's about an hour per door (once you know what your doing) , added dynamat to outer skin (metal panel inside face) & flat faces on inner skin (black plastic panel outside face), added foam to panel adjacent to harness to prevent NVH, added low density mat to the cavity at the top of the door cards (under the section you rest your arm upon, cut into small sections and poked through various apetures and opened out once in place), added foam to flat faces to reduce reflective faces, cable ties to control harness runs more closely and corrected assembly errors on route (harness not in correct routing / clips, loose assembly screw, missing thin foam gasket on door retaining clip)...lubed all plastic welded mating faces on the rear pf the door card (creaks when card is flexed.. solved), lubricated all the metal retaining clips to plastic on the rear of the door card for the wood inlay panels, and added felt tape to the door frame face where the window trim and door card faces met to prevent creaking... also added foam between door card top corner and window trim lower as this is a hot spot for creaking.... (this is all in addition to the foam that was perviously added around the wood inlay panels as they were the key culprit for nopise originally..
Its fair to say the early door cards were and NVH cluster f&ck..... Mercedes ought to know better as the construction process are long running (composite structure plastic stake welding etc.. ). The QC was also p1ss poor.. And this is from the perceived premium German plant..

Last weekend was the centre console; pulled it out to find all the elements in the Center console not screwed in place !!!!! .. Just clipped..
Each part (heater control panel , Media control panel and the clock are held in place with both brittle plastic retaining clips and there are present a number of screw fixing locations.. (element to rear of main center console panel.. )... 8 small self tapping screws later, copious silicone lube to all the plastic clip locations ( they creak when flexed / moved), a sheet of MLV under the console on top of th eair vents . transmission tunel, some low density mat inserted to the rear of the dash, and its back together... Noticeable improvements, much less creaking.
Once again ... ****e manufacturing process control and QC.....

Also pulled out the Center binnacle, tightened screws added silicone lube and foam tape, fitted low density mat to the appeture behind the binnacle, leaving space for air flow and heat management.... reassembled. Less creaking and drumming when tapped...

Dashboard side covers off, tightened the dash main fixing bolts (2 each side, one a little looser than others, others just nipped up).... Added small sheet of low density mat in the rear of the dashside.

It's currently awaiting replacement of deffective rotors due to pulsing brakes... Minor annoyance.. but the tech was cool on the test drive and felt it right away.. the Service manager and me have had som many chats they are SUPER helpful to resolve the issues as they recognise my patience has been saintly... and i have not once lost my rag and stamped my feet etc..

Future jobs vinyl in rear roof panel, side skirts and door mirrors...
Also looking to fit powered sub under passenger seat BUT it would need food vent mod to make decent room which is ok as that would cool the unit too...just a potential job....

So it is almost getting to the point of being acceptable.... and i have had a ball tearing it apart and building my own car... i reckon mine is more hand built now than an AMG... all it needs now is a wrist pin failure and I'm there..
Other than that starting to enjoy it... Tune is pulling well in the cooler winter air here (and scope to turn up a little), exhaust mods are exactly the tone I wanted.. A quiet grumble..no drone.... And now it looks good (glossy as) and rides more quietly, it's feeling premium at last...

Hope that little lot was interesting ������

Mike5215

Holy crap! Very ambitious. I get it though. As pretty as the C is, she's a creaky little tub, especially compared to every S Class I've ever owned. I think I've chased down all of the dash creaks, but I still wince going over a rough patch of road.

It's not just the 205, and it's not just Montgomery. I was watching a review of the new E300 and the dash was creaking so much the reviewer made a point of it, although overall they were very positive on the car. They wrote it off to early production problems, but we know better

But if you want a dead quiet car with true MB solidity, any 220 or 221 S or CL will do the trick. Not as pretty inside as the 205 but screwed together tight.

Shadwell

Hey Mike, I know, when you write it all down its nuts ..
I start to undertsand my wifes amazing tolerance of me when i think about it..


Keeping in mind mine is on 19's, Conti SC5 RF's still on AMG sport susp... (ie as bad as you can get for triggering NVH in body)...
Aussie roads aren't awesome either, and the highway section i use is bloody concrete too so no worse environment for NVH... (belgian pave non withstanding)..


But I an an automotive manuf. / design Eng of 20yrs, which resulted in high expectations of things being implemented to design condition, and a lot of experience pulling apart and putting vehicles back together (mostly proto's and pre-mass prod level which are the worst to get correct (many parts are in devel level not final mass prod level.. or hand finished level for verification)....


No new car I get escapes a rediculous level of QC.. kinda spoils the ownership experience=, but you can't unknow things.. (dementia aside.. )


My best mate has already said he wants to buy the car when i'm done... (cheeky sod )..

BF3PDZ

That was a crazy amount of modification involved just to get the car back to an acceptable level of standard. Actually I bought the S205 thinking that given my previous ownership of S class and E class surely the C class will be just fine. Well I am surprised and disappointed to hear the infamous suspension creaking from the front, and I just noticed the rear door on the driver side has started to rattle. Car is close to 4 months old, with less than 1500 km. However, my friend's W205 from the South Africa plant has been faultless, we bought the cars at the same time and he has done over 3000km, not a single creak or rattle.

Shadwell

Well I guess at least you know what to do if and when things come up...
No two cars are the same, perhaps yours will be very good?!?!
I still have things to improve, but instead of getting pissed off now I just get on with fixing it.. Just easier...

JBMCL

Where was your car manufactured?

BF3PDZ

I really hope my car will turn out to be alright. I will probably visit the dealer after the car is properly run in, at least get those special "German lub" applied to the front struts. Meanwhile my 10 year old W211 is still going strong, not a single creak or rattle.

BF3PDZ

The car is from the Bremen factory in Germany.

Shadwell

All wagons are German built.....

kleinebin

This is actually an interesting comparison. I have a C250 AMG line with all the options except Air Matic. My partner has the Optima GT.

The Merc is just beautiful, inside and out. The Kia interior is very hard plastic.
The Kia has cooling seats. This is a feature I wish I had for Australian Summers.
The lack of a spare on the Merc is no joke and left many of us in terrible situations, unable to replace them for days. I swapped them out for non run flats which cost an extra $1600.
My car has been in to the dealer to fix: Bootfree opening and closing, Burmeister sound system static, seat and doors creaking as well as acoustic glass.

I tried to talk my partner into a CLA200 or GLA200 but after the test drive I was adamant he shouldn't buy either. I drove the CLA as a loaner and they are sluggish and the interior no more harsh plastic than the Optima.

BF3PDZ

Speaking of wind noise, I am starting to notice it from the driver side, around the side mirrors and the top edge of the door. As for those CLA and GLA, they aren't worth the money, nearly $60k AUD for a new one is crazy, I rather get a slightly used C class instead.

kleinebin

Take it to your dealer. Mine said they tested it and then ordered the acoustic glass immediately.

Others have reported their dealers say there is no issue.

topsider

isn't the answer in the title of this thread?

Mike5215

This review of the new E from C&D dovetails:

"If the gee-whiz autonomous features define the E-class approach to luxury, we wish similar attention had been paid to more traditional premium qualities. As with some other recent Mercedes products, the overall feel of the car, from its steering to the way the doors and trunk close, falls too far on the light and insubstantial end of the spectrum."

This generation of cars seem like Mercedes Lite, especially if you're familiar with the previous iterations. That, and the *******ization of the AMG brand, leads me to think Mercedes and I might be going separate ways when the lease on the 205 is up. Sucks, because I have no idea who still builds real German luxury cars anymore.

mcbc220

Coming from an S, it may not be your cup of tea, but check out the BMW 4 and 6. Properly spec'd, they still have nice heavy doors and a sense of occasion. I bet the 6 can be equipped with a suspension that errs on the side of luxury. I test drove the 4 out of a sense of needing to check all the options, expecting to hate it because I hated the 3, but I was surprised to find that I liked it. It felt special in a way that Mercedes of this generation don't. Still not sure if it's for me, but it's worth considering. Agree on Mercedes lite. It doesn't quite feel like what I want to spend 50k on.

JBMCL

You would think the quality would be better in Germany..

BF3PDZ

Indeed, given my car isn't a first year production run, I thought all the minor issues would have been sorted out.

Mike5215

4 looks nice but the interior didn't cut it for me. Same for the 5.

I like the 6 series a lot. Interior was great, and the car drives nicely. But by the time you option out even a 640 you're in 222 territory. First world problems.

DapperStyle

I assume it's the use of aluminium that makes the doors feel light and insubstantial. It's one of the things I immediately noticed on the W205 compared to my W204 (but the 205 blows it away in terms of materials).