barrysuperhawk

Er, because I bought my car to DRIVE, to get me where I want to be, not to be admired while sitting in my garage. If where I am going involves going down a sketchy road, most times "just saying no" is not really an option. So I just man up and do my best to miss the worst holes.

91RS

I drive the **** out of my car, but I don't ruin it doing so. I drive it when the weather is nice so I can enjoy it the way it was meant to be. It isn't a Range Rover. There's a reason my car has no water spots, swirls, dents, dings, or scratches.

barrysuperhawk

Respectfully, I must disagree. You seem to contradict yourself there, if you only drive in nice, dry weather, you have a show car, not a DRIVERS car. Don't get me wrong, I am not denegrating your choices one bit, I am quite sure your car is nicer than mine, hell mine hasn't even been waxed since I got it, unless you splashed some on it while polishing yours. Again, no insult intended. Unless you are Jay Leno, a car is not an invenstment, it is a tool, and if you spend all of your time polishing your tool, you end up with a really shiny tool that does little work.

My car isn't a display piece or a garage queen. I have had this car for 2.5 years and have put 75,000 miles on it, I DRIVE my car. Rain, shine, snow, and yes, the occasional dirt road.. I bought a Mercedes because I believe they are the best engineered cars in the world and at 145,000 miles, I trust this car to drive anywhere, right now, for as far as I need to go. When I have 245,000 miles, I will have the same confidence. I wouldn't have that confidence if I had a Hyundai, or a Chevy.

I drove a Geo Prizim 293,000 miles before I gave it to a friend a few years back. As far as I know, it's over 300k now and still running.

So that's why I want an AWD C32 [or AWD C55/63].

Nachtsturm

Sorry to say, if you have summer tires on in the snow even with AWD you are not going to be able to stop. AWD is not a cure all. If you are scared of getting caught in the snow run a good a/s tire.(i.e. Continental DWS) Then switch to a dedicated set of snow tires when the weather takes a turn for the worse.

I have driven many RWD cars all season long here in Chicago. Mostly on all seasons. With all seasons it is doable, with a dedicated blizzak set, no worries at all. My CLK does not sit in the garage during the winter because it is undrivable in the snow, it sits there because the copious amount of salt on the road. Yes, the ML is my winter driver, and does great with blizzaks.

Here is my old crossfire going up a hill in a good amount of snow. RWD for the win. I for one do not have the need to have an AMG in AWD. Just so happens I do. haha.