Funny story:

I have wanted to purchase an M3 for about 3 years now but I lived in Colorado and it was not practical so I had an X5 4.6is BMW (one fast SUV). I recently moved to San Diego CA (Escondido) and I decided it was time to buy the M3 I have always wanted.

Little did I know all of the BMW dealers in So Cal do not negotiate price on their M3s because most of the do not have any and other mark them up over MSRP. Anyway on to the good stuff: I went to purchase an M3 in Encinitas and they had the car I always wanted but when we took it for a test drive I ran across an E55 AMG and we raced from light to light and the M3 could not beat the E55. At the time I did not know anything about Mercedes because most of the cars look very similar, but was very impressed by the E55 acceleration. The dealer would not give me enough on my trade-in and would not lower the price of the M3 so I left the dealer ship.

On the way home I thought I would stop at the Escondido Mercedes dealer and take a look at the E55 even though I knew it was most likely out of my price range. Got to the Mercedes dealer and looked at the E55 and sure enough $87k a little more than I wanted to spend. So I asked my sales person what did they have that was comparable to an M3 and he showed me a beautiful C55. First of all I have a new born and was very excited that the car had 4 doors. My first thought was that I could be responsible and get a 4 door and the wife would like that but wondered what I would be giving up by buying the C55 over the M3.

My sales person told me all about the car and then I asked for a test drive and off we went. WOW the C55 accelerates just as fast as the M3 but the manual shifting is much smother than the M3s SMG paddle shifting. For about $4k less than a comparable M3 you get all of these extras on the C55: NAV, better stereo, 4 doors, better manual shifting, dual climate control, heated seats, and much more.

I was sold! After some haggling I got the car for 3% over invoice (I was happy with that) and they gave me just as much for my trade-in as the BMW dealer. I have never purchased a car on the spot like that without some research but after doing some research now I see that the car just came out as an 05 model and many people seem to really love this car. All I can say is that if someone out their has a family and wants an M3 the C55 is just as nice and much more practical.

On the negative side I have now had a chance to really open the car up on some twisty roads (great acceleration) and the cars handling is not that of an M3 and that the brakes do not stop the car as well as I would like. Under hard deceleration while entering the corners the car lifts and wants to float because the suspension and brakes do not work together as well as they should.

Sine I am a newbie could you guys answer some basic question for me?

1. Does anyone make a better intake for the car? Pick up a few hp?
2. Does anyone make a better sounding (louder) exhaust with a few more hp?
3. Does anyone make a better shock and spring set up that does not hurt the every day ride much and maybe even lowers the car 1” - .5”?
4. What other Mercedes share the same wheel size? When looking for new wheels many companies do not have the C55 listed so what other models have the same wheels sizes?
5. Anyone make a computer chip that is plug and play and that can be removed instead of soterd on?

I love this car it is great.

 

congrats on the new car!! I was thinking of the new M3 also, but needed a sedan for my new baby!!

Let me know if you decide to upgrade wheels, Im looking for some C55 rims, and I could come get them since my inlaws are in oceanside!!

edit: damn, listen to me. he just got his new car, and Im already being a vulture for his rims!!!

 

congrats on the new car.

search for Carlsson, Brabus, Lorinser, RENNtech, Kleemann, etc. if you looking for mods. There are few shops around that can help you out. First one would be the site owner EVOsport.com. Second which is more accessible to you is Autowerk in SD. Some of the members have gone to them to get their mods done. Search for C32 for rims because pretty much if you can fit on the C32 you can fit on the C55 as the C55 still use the same brakes. The Wheel Supply is also a good place to shop for rims.

 

Congrats. Please share with us your new C55 photos. What color is it ? Did you enjoy the "keyless go" features?

 

congrats man! 3% over invoice is a great price! Can't wait to see the pics.

 

Congrats on your new C55! Let’s see some pics!
I was interested in the M3 as well but decided to go for the C55 because: that hand made v8, bmw's 3 series is about to be upgraded and I did not want to buy a brand new M3 and have a new model come out in 6 months.

 

as we say in Boston, "Wicked smaaaht decision kid"

 

Congratz on your new car

 

I still insist to see some photos of his new car.
Thanks

 

Congrats for the new car and post some pics if you could.

Please check your PM box

 

I looked at the M3 for a minute then decided no way it was either a C55 or go back too a Porsche like the 997s but I am 30k richer and very happy

 

First of all congrats on the C55!

I can get pretty much everything you are looking for.

Renntech makes a Carbon fiber airbox along with their ECU upgrade you get about 20HP and 24lbs of torque gain over stock.

Exhausts for the C55 are pretty limited right now, but i think a lot more will be coming out soon.

For suspension, there are still some springs that should be coming out soon specifically for the C55. But for coilover kits, there are KW variant 2 which has s height and rebound adjustment. Carsslon and Bilstien also have those adjustments. Or you can go with a H&R coilover kit which is just height adjustable.

For wheels, just like Frank said, look for wheels for a C32, or CLK55 will work also. Or you can go with a Custom wheel like HRE or Iforged.

There are no ECU upgrades that are soderd on. All they have for this car is a ECU reflash to your existing ECU.

Hope that helps a little bit!

 

true true true

 

Congrats on the new car. Once you go mercedes you never go back

 

 

hey man congrats on the car.

EVOsport sells a Powerchips ECU. they post lots of new stuff for benzes and do R&D work so look out for their posts when they introduce data on new products. RENNtech makes a carbon-fiber airbox and ECU. Kleemann makes several things including headers and exhasut system, even a blower but that's maybe excessive. brabus will be coming out with a B55S performance kit soon which will likely include camshafts, valvesprings, exhaust and catalysts. there are other tuners but these tend to be popular ones. however, Supersprint will be releasing exhaust components like a center pipe and catback exhaust. Eisenmann is also currently developing an exhaust...and the "race" version i can bet will sound crazy on that AMG V8. Eisenmann's race-version exhausts are killer on V8's man. i've heard one on a V6 C320 and it sounds awesome. i can only imagine what the V8 will sound like...

not really sure what's avaialble for the C55 yet in terms of suspension. H&R will likely come out with a shock/spring combo (called a "cup-kit") and probably some basic height-adjustable coilovers. however, look out for coilovers which are compression and rebound adjustable such as Bilstein PSS9 (not readily available for the C32 so not sure about C55 in the future), KW's higher "Variants", and Carlsson's RS suspension setup (based off PSS9). i would recommend this because since you have a newborn, you may want to play with the settings to get the desired comfort instead of being limited to the spring rates preset by the tuner when lowering it. for my C32, the H&R coilovers did drop the car quite and the ride was stiffened up. i welcome the newfound stiffness as i wanted a stiffer setup from the start, but if your car is used as a family sedan then you may want damping adjustability.

hope this helps. good luck wiht your choices.

kevin

 

i think that is true... sometime mbz are just unresistable

 

Kevin just went on the Eisenmann website and did some listening there race exhaust on the SL55 sounds fuc**** mean...and the prices are reasonable. I may wait and get the C55 unit when it comes out..