davidegai

Mercedes Switzerland has officially announced the 4MATIC version of its CL model, albeit without ABC. I wonder which car handles better, under normal conditions: an ABC equipped rear wheel drive, or an airmatic equipped 4MATIC?

FlavioB

Hi Davide,
since I live right above Lugano, may I ask where you saw that ? The reason I'm asking is that so far I never considered the CL because of the lack of 4matic.
I'm only buying 4matic versions since I grew tired of having to put on snow chains for the last 5 m before my house. And I live just high enough that while it rained in town it would snow up here.
Thanks

Z356

Davidegai: I just posted a thread on 4-Matic recently on the 221 S Form. My guess is that, assuming both on same dedicated winter tires, a 4-Matic CL will handle better in snow & ice. In dry conditions, the ABC car will be a superior handler in every which way over a 4-Matic CL. But that is my supposition since I have only had one 4-Matic (a 2000 E320 Wagon) and never a MB with ABC! I would love to hear from those forum members that own a MY07/08 ABC car (with improved second generation ABC) and others that have a MY07/08 S550 4-Matic with the normal AirMatic suspension. I have heard in this forum that the single most important option to order on the new S550 is ABC. Yet this option was rarely ordered, perhaps because of its hefty cost and production bottlenecks. So very few S550 in America have ABC (although it is standard in all S600 & AMG models). ABC is standard on all CL models to date. What say you? Z356

WSH

Lots of SKUs for CL....and they can't get current ones right in terms of wheels/interior trim/steering wheels, etc.....

Suspect Airmatic is fairly poor-handling in non-winter conds vs ABC, esp AMG-calibrated ABC/steering....and perf tires/wheels/brakes....

Would argue cost of living for a car nut is rather high, w/annoyingly complicated logistics in ex-CA locales.....need for 4Matic car w/girlie wheels/tires/chassis for 5mos/yr of poss <<45F temps....then need a proper AMG for other 7mos/yr...(and AMG decays during 5mos/yr of nonuse)....and who wants to drive those 4Matic POS during 7mos/yr of irrelevance????

Or need to get girlie winter tires/wheels for one's AMG (and store perf tires/wheels)....and not clear that a high-tq RWD AMG on winter tires/wheels is as secure as a 4Matic in slippery winter driving anyway....

Realized these hassles yrs back....and just moved to CA to simplify my car "needs"....and to signif reduce costs of my addiction to frequent new cars.....

FlavioB

Well, it's official. Mercedes will introduce at the Geneva car show the CL 500 (550 for the US) with available 4matic.
No mention so far of ABC but most likely not available together with 4matic.

jimand7

i wonder of they will release a 600 with 4matic or if it is too much torque

Germancar1

I'd be surprised if they re-engineer everything for Airmatic just for the 4Matic system. I'd bet that ABC will be combined with 4Matic for the CL and for the 2009 S550. Then again the SL350 uses a non-ABC suspension in Europe, where ABC is an option so they have done this type of thing before. Removing ABC on an what was previously an ABC only vehicle. Hmmm.....

M

JRAMGV8

wow CL 4matic, I would pass on that and get ABC suspension/Rear Wheel drive. Unless I live in an area where it snows in the winter/rains so 4 matic will be a user friendly.

Germancar1

The press official release still doesn't mention anything special regarding the suspension:

http://www.worldcarfans.com/9080226....dels-in-geneva


Hmmm...

M

absent

IMHO,500/550 series is the last MB in need of AWD,AMGs and 600s ,with all that torque and **** poor traction need it the most.

jimand7

exactly, my cl600 and my long gone e55k needed the awd the most however not as much as your sl65

WSH

Not clear that a 4Matic 550 is much (if at all) safer than a 550 w/proper winter wheels/tires in winter use in urban regions like NYC/Chic....

Prob a waste of AMG engineering resources to figure out girlie winter wheels/tires that semi-work vs massive brakes of perf cars best suited for 20" perf tires/wheels....

Suspect most affluent car guys in NYC/Chic have various solutions to their non-perf car-friendly weather 5mos/yr: either drive some "beater" S550 w/those girlie winter tires/wheels for 5mos/yr...and switch to AMG for other 7mos/yr....or just get a wkend house in BevHills to garage/use more interesting cars yr-round.....after all, topography/roads in NYC/Chic regions aren't very interesting, even in their ?12d/yr of CA-like 70F, non-humid weather....or just permanently relocate to BevHills/SF Peninsula once one's career and/or net worth allows....lots of NYC/Chic, etc guys seem to have wkend houses in BH....

jimand7

I bet 40% of the s550 sold around chicago are now 4matic ove it was an opton

Germancar1

I know the first time I visited Minnesota every single Benz I saw was a 4Matic. I didn't see any non-4matics like CLKs,SLs and what not all C,E, and S 4Matics. Strangely though I didn't see any Audis. Audi would seem to be the default choice there, but now BMW and MB offer AWD across a good deal of their range so there goes that advantage for Audi.

M

Txhurdle

Not much said about this lately, but it's official. 4matic only for 2009. Should really help sales up north.