Let me give you a little background on my situation. I recently joined the Navy and have been giving thought to my next stable of cars. Previously, I have been an Audi guy, buy my experience with late model Audi has been frustrating, and when I change I wanted something faster, yet more comfortable. My brother owns a Lexus GS400 and that had given me some cheap thrills (being the fastest car I have ever driven) until it required major service. I searched around alot doing alot of research, shootin the **** with my mechanic and friend (deciding against anything but German and then against BMW) until finally it came down to Mercedes. Now I have always had a very deep respect for Mercedes but never realized that AMG's sporting character was in my grasp. Now with promotions flying at me and realizing that I will soon be getting a housing allowance and a food allowance I can afford to own Mercedes. But I wonder what to go with. When I buy the car I will be making roughly 2000 in disposable income per month. This makes for a pretty sweet arrangement.

My only requirements are that my car:
-Be a serious risk to an untrained user
-Be comfortable both cruising and at speed
-Handle well (This doesn't necessarily have to go for the stock car, mods are a must)
-Have enough whiz-bang gadgetry to make for a pleasant motoring experience

And so I ask you, the members of the C43 forum...In you honest opinion what is it that makes the C43 better or worse than E55. Feel free to overload me with your best kill stories, driving experiences...anything. I want to know anythign a test drive wont tell me.

 

I like the E55,then the C43 but the Lexus GS400 is a reliable excellent car.I know I'm gonna get killed here but don't wanna deal with tranny issues or anything and like gadgetry and comfort go LEXUS GS400.My 2nd chioce would be W210 E55 then C43 3rd.

 

Carl is right, I have become a DIY guy since I have owned BMW and MB. When I had Jap cars I never fixed or even had repairs on cars. MB's are great but they do require a lot more service with many tiny quirks. The C43 is very nice has less power and luxury than an E55, but handles much better and can be made into a HP monster with a 55 motor swap and supercharger.
Mario

 

i'm already a DIYer when it comes to the repairs i don't need specialized equipment for...better yet the Navy base in Norfolk lets me buy lift time, so I'm covered as far as quirks. i really loved the Lexus for it's unrefined, raw power, but with that power came so many problems..the car is a victim of some poor design issues. So for my first V8 luxury car I believe benz is the way. I have to ask, I am used to a lighter car, being it that I have been driving an Audi A4 for quite some time, but is an E55 all that bad..and if it is, can an E55 be helped to any great extext with suspension upgrades? i'm almost positive the a C43 will be a better choice for me, but the one time I drove an E55 I was instantly wowed, but that is another story.

 

I just got the '43 as my "ensign-mobile", and I'm so far very satisfied with it....didn't want the extra size of the '55, and I have always liked the 202 bodystyle. But if you want serious luxury with performance, I would steer towards something w/ a little more leg room.

 

You'll be surprised ,the E55 motor has so much TQ, I felt that it actually made the E55 feel lighter than my C43 when I had the 4.3L motor in it. Well instead of getting an E55 after driving one,I did the next best thing.I bought a 5.5L E55 motor and had it installed.Smaller body,better handling and braking and 5.5L power to boot. I still like the E55 though.

 

that would be the best option any luck selling that 4.3 yet?

 

BlckPhnx, I was lucky enough to get hooked up by Carl's with his mechanic, so am an extremely happy member of the "55" W202 club. But I'll tell you, I wish I had changed my MAF when I still had the 4.3L motor in. It would have corrected the lack of gas pedal sensitivity problem I had in the 1K - 3K RPM range.

Both cars are =excellent=. The W210 is only about 300 lbs heavier, so it's not that big an effect. Sure, the W202 is a bit more tossable, but the E55 is really up to the task too, and both wider and longer, helping stability. E55 has more interior room going for it too.

The reason I never ended up trading my C43 for an E55 when I was thinking [seriously] about it in the late 90s was a) my wife hated the dark burl walnut, and I wasn't too crazy about it either, and b) no fold down seats. Not having a SUV, my car with its fold down seats has been an asset. If I didn't have it, I definitely would have missed having it a few times over the years.

Regarding handling of the W202, click my "SpeedyBenz Custom Suspension" link... But few realize that suspension kit could work on a W210 too.

Regarding "whiz-bang gadgetry", the W202 definitely came with less. However a lot can be added with the advent of the legendary Steve "MBenzNL" (click my "MBenzNL on Board" link as an example). However, I don't know if he can install "Memory Seats", which the W210 has. If he can, I have to kick myself for not having him install it for me his last visit here.

And while I think the E55 looks meatier and meaner stock then the C43, the C43 sure looks purty yet seriously mean when you lower it IMO... (You can click my sig for all my pix.)

(wow, did I scratch up the bottom of that front bumper since it was dropped that low! It's getting raised and re-aligned as I write this)

 

Mr Show OFF!

 

make'n up for all those years I had an ordinary, even frumpy look'n car... :p

 

The E55 is a bigger car and it feels like a bigger car. The E55 definitely is the more luxurious of the two; esp the 00+ w/ the model updates. 00+ E55s have the more rounded body kit like the C43s, the blinking side mirrors, touchshift, and most importantly to me the steering wheel controls w/ updated computer/COMAND, etc. The C43 is definitely the more tossable of the two. I've owned both, and loved both. You can't go wrong with either one. If you are regularly carrying more than 1 passenger, I would have to vote the E55 as it does give you a bit more room. If it's just two of you, the room/extra weight might go to waste. As for power, the 55 swappers can attest to the the "greatness" of the 55 motors. While the 4.3L is nice, the 5.4L is sublime. The extra weight of the E55 is easily overcome with the 391ft/lbs of torque. Hope this helps.

 

wait.....is the competition between a 210 E55 and C43?

 

Can you send me info on the SpeedyBenz products. I was just asking my self a couple of weeks a go, "why can't the C43 kit work on my car". I would love to improve my handling, how does it ride and cost?
Thanks, and BTW great looking C55
Mario

 

Thanx, will look even better once the rims are round again...
(will be sending them back to Kinesis to be re-drummed)

I'm going to give you a bunch of linx to previous discussions:

(All three links below are within the same thread; one I wrote titled "The Ultimate Canyon Carver - Handling Nirvana")

- What is it?
- follow-up detail by Renn 208
- My experience flying across the country to check it out

(The following three links are within the my "Speedybenz On Board" thread on Club202 regarding my driving impressions; I have the same thread on this board linkable from my sig ... it doesn't have the feedback from Jeff and Renn on this board tho. )

- Turn-in (a.k.a. understeer? what's that?!)
- Detailed Imressions
- Amazingly Compliant and Controllable

And finally, How to contact Jeff

I wouldn't normally quote prices, but as Jeff has stated the price on several occasions on at least Club202, I'll post it here. $5500. I'd reserve the right for Jeff to say that was a special "early adopter" price tho...

 

Only thing left is LSD!

 

It was supposed to go in @ the same time. But TKX Performance, which remained close to where I live, split from RPM Racing ; where RPM Racing maintained the Kleeman dealership, but owes Kleemann money or something, and couldn't (or wouldn't?) get the parts for TKX Performance.

 

hmm although Im a die hard E55 fan... I would have to vote for the C43... other great feature is that its one of the original AMGs(officially available from dealerships) the C43 goes virtually unoticed by people as they are unfamiliar with W202 AMGs

 

E55

 

How about a FULLY loaded CLK500 with AMG appearance package and warrentied out til 2010.

https://mbworld.org/forums/classifieds/124924-feeler-fs-2003-clk500.html

 

old post ...I know...

 

toyota over an AMG????

 

I was actually going to post this thread but this is exactly what I wanted to now.

 

Y not?

 

well, if you are going that way I'd take a sc300 and a pile of cash...

 

ehhh i'd rather have the 2uz-fe engine at that point, if it's gonna be Lexus SC!