I'm looking at getting a 98 CLK320 - the guy has it on ebay right now (http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...tem=2419605773) but he lives close to me and is happy about selling the car directly for $15,900.

CD: Currently, it does not have a CD changer - is it fairly easy to replace the radio with an aftermarket in-dash cd player? Or are there complications with amplifiers/speaker arrangement? Is getting a changer the easiest thing for me? The car doesn't have a fiber optic system like the 1999+, right? I'm checking with you guys because I don't want to run into the same problems I'm having right now with my 1992 500SEL - no one that I have called knows what needs to be done to replace the current (dead) stereo with a cd player. I guess I'll go ask in that forum. One guy told me that they might have to rewire to each individual speaker and bypass the bose amplifier on the 500SEL...if they were to do that on the CLK, would there be any effects on the sound quality?

Transmission: I was driving normally at around 40 and I guess the car was in 4th or 5th gear. I suddenly floored it all the way and it seemed to do an unusual thing while gearing down. It sounded as if it went from 4th to 3rd, stayed there for about 1/4 second then settled at 2nd and finally accelerated. I was reading a review and the guy said that he encountered a problem where he tried to take over someone but the car took a while to shift down. Has anyone else seen this type of problem? Are these issues because of the previous driver's characteristics? Hopefully that means when I get the car and it "learns" how I drive, it would adapt accordingly. I also notice something similar on my sister's 1998 ML320 but I don't think I ever floored her car all the way. My mechanic will be taking a look at it tomorrow (Tuesday) but I'm not sure if he can feel something like this without actually driving the car.

 

anyone else with a 1998 clk320?

 

This might help it from a previous post of mine.

I have a 2001 CLK. I have changed out all speakers and have managed to be able to use the stock deck and the CD shuttle along with an aftermarket head unit. The only fiber optics that I've come across are between the head unit and the stock CD shuttle. With my setup the steering wheel functions still work and the stock system works perfectly.

My aftermarket head unit is mounted above the stock deck. I have placed six inch Boston Acoustic Pro's in the front doors. USD wave guides for high-end mounted underneath the dash facing the driver and passenger. And two 10 inch Punch woofers(subs) mounted under the rear deck in the stock locations. I'm using a free air application and it works extremely well. The stock head unit works through the auxiliary input of the aftermarket head unit. So by simply switching the source of the aftermarket head unit I can access the factory tape player and CD shuttle or switchback to the aftermarket head unit for single CD source.

I chose this route because I wanted to keep the stock look of the vehicle but felt that the stock head units output voltage was too low to support aftermarket amplifiers. Trust me with this I tried by using a line level converter off of the stock deck and it did not sound very good. When testing the stock deck I used a syliscope and it started to clip early which was apparent by the uneven sine wave it produced. In comparison I was uable to make the aftermarket head unit clip. It's sine wave was always perfect.

Although at lower volumes the stock setup sounds decent it's only when I'm looking for extreme sound quality that I use the aftermarket head unit. For every day driving or just background music the stock setup is excellent. I was only able to achieve about 80 percent sound quality of what I could with an aftermarket head unit.The only indication of an after market system is the new head unit otherwise the car looks stock.

 

I just bought a 99 CLK 320 and I have been having little problems come up all the time since I got it. I would definitely call your closest MB dealer and schedule a Pre-sale check. I don't know how much it will cost but judging by their other services it will probably be about $200. This would only be worth it if you are seriously going to buy it. If any problems are discovered, you might be able to negotiate an even better deal. The price you mentioned is a really good deal so you don't want to let it slip by. But please, for the love of God, get it thoroughly checked out first. You don't want to be like me and come here to post all of my sob stories. I would much rather be spending my time on mods than repairs.