bkraft67

I loved my 2005 CLK320 and only sold it because I was commuting longer and needed better MPGs. I'd now like to own a slightly newer one with the same options, but have found these cars to be non-existent. My 2005 had Bi-Xenon, heated seats, navigation, bluetooth, iPod interface, and rear sun shade. All cars I've found from 2006 to 2009 are missing at least a few of these items. Usually the rear sun shade and Bi-Xenon. Occasionally I'll find a CLK with climatronic, keyless go, parktronic, or multi-contour seats, but they are still missing my "must haves". Did Mercedes just dump base CLKs on dealer lots to sell more at a lower price point? I'm looking at the CLK350, CLK550 and CLK55 AMG and am finding the same lack of what should be common options. I know most of these items can be retrofitted, but it just seems very odd that almost every other Mercedes of the era had most of these options, but the CLK got the shaft. I think it's one of the most beautiful and practical coupe designs, but I kinda want my Mercedes to feel like a Mercedes and not a cut rate version of one. There are still plenty of 2005 models with these options, but there are a few improvements and additions on the later models that I'd like to have. Maybe there is no answer to this, but just putting it out there.

gaazmon

It took forever to find one with Bi-Xenon and Navigation for me. I sacrificed on the color for the options just cause I got tired of finding 550s with no Bi-Xenon and no navi. All they usually had was keylessgo and heated seats. The ones with P3 (ventilated seats and multicontour) are unicorns.

C280 Sport

My 2005 CLK55 AMG had less options then my 2004 CLK320 Cabriolet and my 2009 CLK350 Coupe. Hard to believe right? lol. My 2004 Cabriolet had heated/cooled seats, leather, wood wheel, navigation, xenons, ipod. My 2009 had the same and also has a designo interior. My AMG... Well the first owner check 0 boxes. Ever see a CLK55 AMG Coupe with no navigation, xenons, Ipod hook up. Nothing lol. No headlamp washers. No cooled seats but heated. Anyways I had to add everything OEM but after the fact. Managed to do backup camera and Apple car play as well so thats cool. Idk why as well but many CLK's and C Classes got the shaft with options. My guess is its people being cheap?

nkx1

I think you're right that a lot of CLK's were pretty sparsely optioned. When I was looking for mine earlier in 2019 I noticed that, and every time I've looked since I've also noticed that. It also seems that a lot of the cars with the push-to-start don't seem to have paddle shifters (not that I ever use them anyway).

My 2008 550 came with P02 Premium Package (sunroof, xenons, headlamp washers, etc.), Nav, Ipod kit, and that's it. I wish it had push to start, radar cruise control, lumbar adjustments (or whatever those extra seat controls are called), and heated and cooled seats. I like the way the perforated leather looks, and the cooled seats would be nice in the summer. As a result of my sparsely-optioned car, the button panel in my center dash area is almost all blank!

The P02 package also comes with "cornering fog lamps." A few weeks ago, I noticed that my fog lamps would randomly turn on and off when I was maneuvering into my garage. I though, "oh great, another thing I have to fix". Then I finally figured out that they were supposed to be doing that when turning lol.

The one thing I don't care about? Nav. It's so outdated, that I have never even bothered using it. I just use my phone. I guess it looks a tad better in the dash than the standard head unit, but that's the only benefit I can see.

gaazmon

The W211 E class was similar with the options. My 04 E320 had leather seats, heated seats, ventilated seats, multicontour seats with massage and dynamic function, airmatic suspension, bixenon headlamps w/ active curve, and pano roof. By the time the facelift came out ventilated seats were only options on the 550 and 63, dynamic and massage seats were removed and only the 63 had multicontour seats (non-AMG models were left with the manual lumbar handle), airmatic was only on the V8 models, leather seats became a standalone option on non-V8 options (standard on V8 models), and bixenon was mixed into the P2 package (which was very hard to find, the giveaway was if the car had keylessgo). Most of the 07-09 models came with P1 and that was it luxury options wise. The 07 and 08 came with no-charge sport package and 09 came with no-charge AMG sport package.

Rudeney

MBUSA did not "dump" these cars. Dealers ordered them that way. It is up to individual dealers to order cars with the options they think will sell. Taking a MY2005 CLK and adding bi-xenon headlights, KeylessGo, COMAND navigation and the hands-free phone interface would have increased the price of the car by almost 50%. Dealers stocked their lots with cars that would sell quickly. CLKS's, especially coupes, were not hot sellers, and fully-optioned ones were even harder to sell. Cabriolets sold much better and many of those were more highly optioned. Especially the V8 models.

nkx1

Good point about the cabriolets being better optioned than the coupes. My comment was specifically for the coupes, as that's all I was looking for.

Rudeney

I do understand ordering some cars without sunroofs. There are some buyers who just don't want them. Same goes for things like the sport suspension. But what I never understood is why a dealer would order a something like a CLK550 cabriolet or even an AMG car and not add things like add bi-xenon headlights, KeylessGo and COMAND. When you start getting into the $60K+ price range, buyers are less sensitive to adding $10K in options and actually would expect those options.

nkx1

I can only speak for myself of course, but I'd rather have a sunroof and sports suspension than xenons or navigation. Keyless Go would be nice though.

Then again, I'm not their target market (or in the new car market at all). I'm just a cheap-a$$ who buys a decade-old car at a fraction of the price it cost new!

bkraft67

I guess the CLK just wasn't a hot seller, so they had to bring them in at a lower price point. And since they were rarely ordered by customers, the fully optioned ones are extremely rare. That being said, I found this extremely well optioned CLK350 in Indiana: https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/d...9878/overview/
It's a 2008 with Keyless Go, Climatronic, MultiCountour seats, navigation, heated AND cooled seats, power trunk lid, and paddle shifter. Glaring omission is the rear sunshade... but if it were closer to home, it would probably be in my garage already. Coupes of this option level are absolutely "hen's teeth". Looks like it spent time between CO and FL, and is a one owner car. So tempted!!!

C280 Sport

Same interior and options as my 2009. Except I have the wood steering wheel. I really like my 2009. I will keep it for a long time. Designo interior is a win! It was a pain in the *** to find but I would jump on it if you want it.

bkraft67

After browsing the Brochures from 2005 through 2009, it appears the rear sunshade was discontinued after 2005. Not sure why, as that seems to be a trademark feature of Mercedes of the era. The replacement E-class coupe got the sunshade as standard equipment. So this CLK350 is almost fully loaded... they just didn't check the box for Parktronic. I'm still on the fence about pulling the trigger on this one. I'll have to see what it costs to ship it here, and I'm not crazy about buying sight-unseen... and it's too far to fly there and drive it back in a reasonable amount of time. First world problems for sure. :/

nkx1

If you're going to buy a car sight unseen (or even if you see the car), it would definitely be a wise idea to get a pre-purchase inspection by someone you can trust (maybe search Yelp for that area to find someone?). It would be a pretty bad day to find out that the car had a bunch of problems that weren't apparent in the photos.

bkraft67

SOLD!.... to someone else. 😮 Any chance someone here purchased it? 😀

C280 Sport

The good fully loaded low milage ones go fast! Was not me who bought it lol. Wish I had the room lol. I love that color combo. If you see one you like jump on it!