Hi everyone I just purchased a 2005 Mercedes C55 last week and it has 64000 miles and so far I am loving it! Looking forward to meet everyone. I also have a 2005 Mercedes S55

 

Congrats and welcome. Can I ask why C55 when you have S55 already? Just seems like a downgrade. Don't get me wrong, I love my C55, but I've also been a passenger in a S55 and all I could say was oh my fkn god! Lol

 

I got a C55 because I already have 120,000 miles on the S55 so I want to keep the S55 as a weekend car and the C55 as a daily. Both 55 are nice but the C55 is so much easier to find parking since is shorter then the S55

 

Why C55? Because -21" and -750lbs lol.

I know what you mean about size. I test drove a C55 about 3 weekends ago. Even though I knew I wasn't interested, more then a few people have said the usual "You need a fun family car, get a Charger!" so I gave in and drove one 15 minutes before the Mercedes, and around tight back roads no less. I will say I was surprised by how it handled, but I wouldn't call it fun. The AMG was absolutely point and shoot by comparison.

 

Very nice! Congratulations! Please post some photos when you can! Where are you located Ray?

 

Always nice to see more join the crew, welcome

 

congrats. having owned both s55 and s600, i also appreciate the smaller/nimbleness of the smaller chassis...the C55 is terrific
PL

 

Congrats on the purchase. I don't know but I don't see the C55 as a daily driver. Yes, they are not overly fast and yes there are a hell of a lot of cars that are faster but for some reason the C55 is probably one of Mercedes AMG's best kept secrets. Limited production plus the fact that there are probably a lot sitting in the scrap yard so that just lessens the amount floating around.
Enjoy the car and please post some pics.

 

And because no air suspension or all those other fancy electronic do-dads to worry about failing!

 

Exactly I dont have to worry about the spending thousand of dollars to maintain the ABC suspension where as my C55 is simple!

 

I will post up pictures of my 55s soon as the weather clears up. But for now this was my old ride before going to the S55. 2001 CL600

 

So compromise luxury and technology for little space and poor interior quality? No thanks! To each their own however.

 

The beauty of Mercedes is that its range has just about something for everyone, and their varying budgets too.

 

This. It's oranges to tangerines really. Of course, that's ignoring that OP already said he's keeping both...

That being said, C280 it looks like you've never owned any great handling car(or at least not on yous previous cars list). I'm not even saying the C/CLK55 are great handling cars with their horribly undersized tires. Flat out, there are very, very few great handling 4400lb cars, it just doesn't happen. Even the new Hellcat Challenger which turns great numbers, turns great numbers for a 4400lb boat. The ABC suspension, while being great technology is just a band aid in a performance version of a gigantic car. Obviously if you want a gigantic car, you have to pay to play, but not everyone wants a car that size. I quickly decided I didn't, so I'm looking at 3 cars with plain Jane coil springs/shocks that will utterly run away from an S55 on a curvy back road with a simple shock/strut swap. I also don't want a butt massager in my seat, I just want a nicely padded seat. Some call that luxury, to me, it's technology for the sake of technology. Heck, I even hate heated seats, my butt stays plenty warm regardless of season(cooled seats I'd gladly accept though).

Basically, it's about the ride. The trip, not the destination if you will. You get in an S55, put it on cruise at 65, it never needs to down shift even to pass, and you just don't care how long it takes you to get there while you and your wife talk in a perfectly accoustically insulated car. In a C55, with your newly installed Dunlop Z1 star spec tires, you take the back road, the long way, and still try and get to your destination faster then the highway route would take you. 50* out? Don't care. Put the windows down, can't hear the exhaust enough.

Just like some say "Uhhg. The Corvette interior is garbage. You spend half your life in a car these days, the interior's the most important part." Get in a C6 Z6, listen to that 428ci with a stroke that dwarfs even the M156 running to 7100rpm's, and see how often you even turn the mediocre radio on(something I haven't been fortunate enough to do yet). Putting performance at the top of your list is one of those things, you either get(feel) it, or you don't.

 

AchMeinGott, I hear what you are saying, and I agree. But the funny thing for me is that I see my C55 as a nice daily driver, bordering on luxo-barge territory. Perhaps my perspective is skewed, as I've had the luxury (and good fortune) to enjoy owning two thoroughbred sports cars now - and may that never change too, because every car guy should own a real sports car at some point.

I can see how people would like to carve corners in a C55 (or C63 or whatever) but I see the AMG sport sedans as exceptional daily drivers, at least for where I live - poor road surfaces, and mostly straight lines (I would kill to have an outlet like the Tail of the Dragon or the canyons around LA near my home). So AMGs make good daily drivers here because the suspension is relatively comfy and they make lots of torque. And that's important for the point and squirt type driving that occurs when I mix it up with the hordes of the more plebeian cars out there, you know, the Camries, Accords, 3-series, basic C-Classes, etc.

I'd really like to swap my A4 Avant (even tuned, I find the 1.8T quite gutless, but that's probably down to perspective again from my other cars) for a B7 S4 Avant. Love the wagon body style, just want another V8 and fuel economy be damned. But I like the smaller cars too. Usually when I drive, it's just myself. Sometimes there will be one or two people with me, so there's no need for a massive car. And when we head out as a family, we have my wife's LR3, which is more than enough space.

 

911 C4 and F355 to name a couple. The C280 Sport handled good due to Brabus mods.
However, today world of the complex of ABC and Airmatic does not worry me because of companies like Arrnot and Strutmaster that make a high quality aftermarket suspension parts and back them. Makes owning a 600 or AMG more worry free when it comes to suspension.
The new Hellcat is a hell of a car.

 

Congrats on the C55! I use mine as a daily driver and prefer the interior to C63s I've ridden in... Enjoy!!

 

Saaboteur I completely agree. My C4 obviously wasn't at all modern by today's standards, but it was raw and fairly tossable at 3300lbs and wearing 255/285 tires. The C55 I drove was fairly willing to rotate itself right and left, but it was very quite, very isolated, almost disappointingly so with AMG's "BLUNT HAMMER" reputation. It is however the lightest 4 door with(still) respectable power, and more importantly very reliable so it fits my bill. Can't wait to get back in a 2 seater though.

C280 Sport, F355 huh? That's certainly a name you don't see every day. I didn't know their was such a replacement market for suspension bits. Bothersome the factory ABC suspension can be problomatic, but hey, it's just a chance to upgrade!

 

I guess I may as well join in this debate lol

Although I haven't owned a pure sports car, my stance on the C55 is that you've got a nice balance of a lot of things in one package, and you're not sacrificing too much of one for the other.

For example, you've got a 4 door family sedan that goes 0-60 in less than 5 seconds, yet it still has enough trunk space to comfortably fit 3-4 people with their luggage (filling all 5 seats is a little much but you can still go around town with that if you need the space).

You've got a few of the luxury things (or you can have) such as the Nav, heated seats, very nice IMO sound system for 2005-2006, but you don't have so many that things are breaking all the time. And I think I mentioned this in another thread, but the reliability vs. performance ratio (if that makes sense what I'm trying to say) is very good. Usually high performance engines and/or race cars aren't known for their reliability. Gotta pay to play when it comes to horsepower.

 

nice looking car I am sure you will enjoy it. nice pictures.