Peter

Took delivery last night, per plan, at Mercedes-Benz of San Diego. All went well, no surprises! Again, my salesperson, Martin Datnow, was great. A man of his word. As a previous owner of a CLK320 I can say this is in fact a different species. More refined, better steering, braking - feels very immediate. A true sports car, no. My drive from San Diego to Los Angeles last night was terrific. Wonderfully mannered and comfortable. More to follow! I'll try to attach an interior shot as well. Peter

stockseer

Hi ... glad to hear your experience mirrored my own here in Florida. Thought I was missing something listening to the heavy criticism of the new CLK, when I thought my new CLK500 blew away my former CLK430 in terms of finesse and refinement; more plastic or not. The feeling over bumps and irregularities said so much more to be about it as a car, than the debatable styling. By the way, mine's also black/charcoal; maybe that minimizes the plastic concerns some have expressed.

My dealership experience was terrfic; Peter McGinnis at MB of Ft. Lauderdale; he's also their internet manager. Drove the car for the afternoon; now they're doing the tint (and radar wires) and a couple things, and then I get it back. Superb service, and marks about the 6th car from the dealership; no reason to change that I can think of. Thought I wanted a new SL, but after 3 hours with the CLK500, I'm thinking it's a better drive, and holds 4 people to boot. Good luck with yours!

vivianlove

Congrad Peter

MarcusBenz

Congradulations on the new addition to the family!

harish_m

Thanks for the post... More pictures, bigger pictures are eargerly anticipated What is this plastic, everybody's talking about... I hope it not too bad

Felix

here in germany the CLK is on the market for some months and it´s selling very good, the customers are happy. nothing to complain so far.

peter, as a previous W208 owner, how do u like the new pillar-less side of the CLK. it´s the most interesting feature, right after the new round-insturments, how do you like them?



here in the forum it´s the first time i heard of the "too-much-plastic-interiour" if it were a problem i really would have read/heard it in our german-car-press which is very hard. here a pic, and i really can´t see too much plastic, so who started this rumor??

Shine

Congrats ! Peter. you can easily tell the difference between W202 vs W203, the best than ever chassis MB build.
Enjoy the ride, and share any opinion.

northbenz

Peter - congratulations on another addition to the family. Anyone who buys two Mercedes in the same year deserves to get a price break!

I'm glad to hear that the improvement in the ride makes up for some of the blandness in the styling. Have to say that with the windows down with the absence of a central pillar the CLK's looks improve 100%. (All the CLK's I'd seen while in Germany earlier this month had their windows up.) If the Mercedes dealers have any smarts at all they will make sure their showroom models are so configured so that the Acura look-a-like comparisons will be minimized. (Actually though I did like the looks of the Acura coupe.)

Take a look at Felix's photo above and compare the rather diminuitive CLK in the background with its windows up to the impressive open-windowed CLK in the foreground. From Felix's photo, the darker colors of the CLK in the foreground also seem to help as well in promoting the visual appearence of the new CLK.

Safet

One thing about darker colors: They hide ugly curves.

If I were to get the new CLK, what would I get? I'd get the CLK500, black on black, and tint the windows black.

What I don't like about the new CLK500: the rear, the fact it's not much faster (if at all?) than the old CLK430, the plasticy look, the window controls on the drivers door (reminds me of my Jeep Grand Cherokee) the ugly curves (overpriced Acura), the C-class headlights, the seatbelt presenters, the ugly curves

What I do like about the new CLK500: few more horsepower, more rigid body, rack-and-pinion steering, better drive

I've heard the same thing from MB salespeople, the CLK drives better than the old one, but looks, forget it, it's just lost it's aggressiveness. And the power-to-weight ratio isn't much higher now for the CLK500 vs. the CLK430 due to another few hundred pounds of weight.

I think this forum will boil down to the following: people will say it's ugly, and those that got it will defend their purchase and say it's nice. Personally, it's not my cup of tea.

yipikaye

Something bother me about the new CLK is the tailight. I dont like the tailight, though they have a very nice headlight. Plastic interior is not a big issue for me as long as they don't get easily broken. btw, that's only my opinion. Congrat to you who have the car. love the car as much as you can

likuidM5

Oh, how wrong you are...

LILRAJA

yeap. It's not like they have to buy the car if they don't like it. Most of these cars will sell by itself. In europe the car is selling really well. The only time you will be obligated to keep the car is when you order a desiner edition with some odd combo that will be harder to sell. If u buy a black with black with some options and decide to not purchase it, trust me the dealer will not be on ur jock...

i think i like it enuff and once i see it i will like it even more.

LIL raja

Safet

Not a point of being wrong or right, just an observation: people who don't like it won't get it, people who like it will get it and defend their decision.

I'm in the camp of people that don't like it so I won't get it. I personally think the 208 is more aggressive-looking and looks nicer. Everyone's entitled to their opinion.

MarcusBenz

I agree with Safet, it is all personal opinion. It goes along with the saying, "You can please some of the people all of the time & All of the people some of the time, but you can't please All of the people All of the time". I am one of those who really love the W208 and the new style has not yet pushed my button, but opinions are like noses, everybody has one!!!