Hey All,

I am the proud owner of a recently purchased 2003 C32 AMG w/155KM's.

I have seen a lot of threads here about ownership of the C32, and did all of my homework before I purchased.
I have benefited from many of the different ownership tales of C32's on MBWorld and thought I should chime in my experience with the car over the last 6 months.

The car was purchased from it's second owner, it was a lease car. The second owner proclaimed she never drove it in winter, and it shows. The stock 17's have no rash and are in immaculate condition, and no rust can be found on/under the car.
I am in Toronto, Canada and it is amazing to find a car that was never driven in winter for the last 8 years.

When purchased the car had the SRS light on.
= Reset SRS with Mercedes STAR system
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During the first month of ownership I encountered a large fault.
The decade old OE water pump for the I/C + HE failed during a WOT run. The car lost throttle and gave me every warning in the book, notably ESP/SRS/Traction-control. After letting sit and restarting, the car rough idled and had to be feathered to keep from stalling. The IAT sensor had failed, likely cooked.
= Replaced IAT sensor ($30), installed CM30 water pump ($150)
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The second month I added a good looking trunk lip, 150lb's of sound and amps, and removed the exhaust resonator. Love the tight exhaust note, it's a tunnel car now.
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The third month I fell in love with the car:
Eurocharged stage 1: EC Pulley, EC HE, Jerry ECU tune #2, TCU tuning
= Kicker: Another C32 and it's owner showed up @ EC during my install and had taken my car on a test drive before I scooped it within 16hours of contacting the buyer after seeing a showroom quality car.

The extra power came just in time for Canadian winter. But the gains are incredible and the exhaust note changed too. The TCU tuning is excellent, the manual mode is great for winter. I have also noticed I can get the car into 5th @ 58KM/h from a previous 70KM/h limit.

I noticed the EC TCU tune not holding 1st gear sometimes and dropping into 2nd, but it happens predominantly when I have the ESP on, I get the feeling like the car's basic intelligence supersedes the EC tune during a slip.
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Current mods:
5500K OSRAM/Sylvania Cool-blue HID's
Needswings I/C ISO
LED Running lights (DRLs) and interior
Qi wireless charging in two spots
Ultragauge and Torque Pro on an OBD2 splitter
Carputer under passenger seat for wardriving and work
AMG grill trim and AMG license plate surrounds
Nokian WRG3 235/45R17 F, 245/40R17 R winters
3000/800w amp - 2x 12" Alpine DVC Type-R
P.s. This radical Bose optical system is ludicrous. Next steps will have to be a full and complete tear-down.
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Future (in order):
Rear diffuser or plasti-dip
18's or 19's for summer
Adjustable shocks, the rear is sitting low with weight propping the front higher
Remove all Bose equipment: tweeters, speakers, deck, archaic cd changer, rear amp, rear sub.
= Add 2DIN deck, Parrot or etc. - component fronts and the largest rears I can cut + amp.
LSD
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Final thoughts:
Love it. Couldn't have picked a better car to own.

 

Welcome. Nice ride. Any pics of the stereo install?

 

Thanks!
Sadly no - Right now it's just an RF P8002 amp and 2x Alpine-R's in a normal box, with a stinger SLOC tapped into the rear drivers door at the Bose amp in the trunk by the gas cap and 2ga to the battery.

It's just a hold-me-over until I save up to replace all the Bose components. I am using a tape adapter and bluetooth remote to feed the OE Bose deck from an iDevice currently.

I'll take some more pics soon of the minor exterior mods and the trunk when its cleaned of my junk.

 

Nice car
I love the canadian winters too