fungwun

Hello, I am new to this forum and would appreciate some input on the practicality of purchasing a C32 AMG for daily use. Here in Canada we spend 8 months of the year in winter like conditions with some nasty pot holes. I am also mainly an automatic driver so not much other choices when it comes to performance cars. I am also considering volvo S60R but the auto tranny is crap.
Any comments would be greatly welcome.

Cheers,

fungwun

Roseylv

To be honest, I have never driven in the snow but I do have some input. First off some say the tranny on the Volvo is "heading in a sporty direction". How about the new S4. The S4 and the Volvo are both -full time AWD-.

Maybe some of the snowy veterans can comment....

rage2

I drive my SLK32 AMG year round in Calgary... way up in the mountains where we get a lot of snow.

Just buy a 2nd set of wheels along with winter tires.

fungwun

rage2:

Thanx for that, it sounds very promising. I am from Edmonton so I suppose we are arch rivals.... Just kidding, i personally love both cities. I'm still not quite sure what car to buy yet but your reply does make the amg that much more tempting

Cheers,

fungwun

dfc

Though winter tires help quite a bit, it's still tough getting around when the snow get's really big. Rear wheel drive is just a pain in the butt hauling around on sliippery road conditions. Get a S4 if you can wait. After experiencing my first harsh winter here in CT, I decided to give up my trip to Asia this summer and get a 4wheelie like LanEvo or STi.

arthur12345

i'm from nyc, and this winter is the first severe one in a long time. the c32's power was useless during those times - cant get traction, just a lot of wheelspin. i had winter tires and they helped but i think i would have been better off with a c320 4matic. plus i like to go skiing and even though the ski resort areas were plowed, i still had a hard time going up 15 degree inclines when there is ice. my next car will definitely be a 4 wheel drive.

rage2

Cool, we're quite close. Did you check out the v8less event this weekend at Bud Park? We had 2 SLK32's up there, and pulled the 4th and 5th fastest times of the day and brought home the team trophy . I also met and raced George Laraque 5x in his Z8 and beat him all 5 times... he called me up and wants a rematch after he gets his Dinan S/C installed.

As for winter driving, you know Calgary weather... contrary to what other users are saying, we just had a huge snowstorm in March/April, and my wife managed fine with the AMG with good winter tires (Michellin Alpins). Just don't floor it, and you'll move fine. Edmonton is pretty good at keeping the roads clean anyways, so it's rare that you'll drive through 2 ft of snow.

fungwun

Rage2:
No unfortunately I was not able to make it down to Bud park, I presume it was a great night? Yah, I don't know big George Laraque personally but he is a cool guy, good position player (i.e. goon), and very funny. Have you ever heard him on power 92? They make him say the stupidest things.

As for the c32, it still remains one of my favs but after weighing some of my other options, it is not so viable right now. The thing I hate most about MB is that they seem to skimp out on standard options (i.e. 6 cd indash, bixenon headlights, etc) I know that even the base model 3 series come with bixenon. I know that it is meant to be a performance car but even so, having to pay $4500 for the navigation system just to get cd is almost an insult.

I am currently looking at the volvo s60R (manual) or the audi A6 2.7T. As you may have guessed I am looking for good AWD perfomance. The A6 hits 100km in 6.6 seconds (nothing compared to the c32 but not bad for an AWD).

Thanx again

Cheers,

fungwun