cl_kruisin

Dare I ask, how do the CLk430's work for a winter car? Rear wheel drive, 275 hp, not a good combo for snow. Does anyone run their 430 in the winter? I live in E. Washington where we can get some good snow fall. I'm contemplating whether I should sell my 4 wheel drive Expedition. Any thoughts?

--Tom

2SYKbenz's

Tom-

I have driven my CLK 320 in the winter in the North East before. If you are looking at driving your CLK all winter I would recommend getting four studded snow tires for it. You will be able to drive the car as long as there is not substantial snow to go through. Don't forget however that you will be kicking up a ton of salt off the road and on to your CLK.

While it is not impossible to drive a CLK through snow if you have an SUV I would keep it. You will be able to go through deeper snow when the roads are not plowed and if it has 4 wheel drive you might not get stuck where as the CLK could.

karl k

Tom -

Sell SUV. Buy condo in Florida and live here during Winter.

CLKs will NEVER have to contend with corrosive salts in the sunshine state.

cl_kruisin

Don't get me wrong, i'm not complaining about winter. Infact winters the best time of the year! I'd be hard to snowmobile in Florida. Unfortunately WA just (re)started using salt this year for the first time in a long time. I heard about those acidic paint eating bugs that splatter on your car in Florida

karl k

Those bugs are real.

They are called alligators, and most live along Alligator Alley. In addition to paint, they also go after homo sapiens. Very Dangerous!!

Watch out for the rusty barbed-wire fences when snow-mobiling...

and enjoy those tetanus shots when tripped up by one.

cl_kruisin

Yes, I'd hate to think of the damage caused by a CLK/alligator collission. Not to worry, there's no fences on the top of an 8000-10,000 foot mountain peak.

http://www.switchbacks.com/files/Pho...01/000401j.JPG

Ebrigham

I only drove mine in light snow, and I was very impressed with the traction and stability. Of course, always put the thing in winter mode and don't floor it. Only real issue I had was on steep and incy inclines - it was no go as the ESP cut off the throttle. I didn't really drive this winter (I live in NYC), and if I had an SUV, I wouldn't sell it in case the 2002/2003 winter becomes the norm.

PS - I am selling a condo in FL if anyone wants it. There IS a gator in the development but I hear he is friendly...

cl_kruisin

Yeah, I'll probably just keep the SUV. Although it would be nice to have an extra $30,000 to drop into my CLK

I'm suprised with what some of you have said, I would have thought with 275 hp on a 3300 lbs car, would make it tough to keep it on the road. I guess I'll have to wait and see for myself next year. Although there's a chance for some overnight snow this week, maybe I'll get an early test drive!

--Tom