Germancar1

Dead horse at this point, I will never see the reasoning behind buying or not buying a car because of some exhaust tips, just sounds silly as hell to me. Especially since it is something that can be changed. If AMG folks are that serious about something like that then they should have no trouble changing the stock items.

M

Whoopsy

Well, maybe when you are rich enough to afford an AMG car you will understand why we fuzz over quad tips or not. Whether it's stock or not makes a big difference to a lot of people.

A CLK555 with dual tips on one side of the car looks almost exactly like a CLK500 with the optional AMG body kit, but if it has quad tips it will never be mistaken as a lesser CLK.

Hell consider this, some people insists on natural breasts, 'aftermarket' surgery could fix the size problem but it will never feel the same as natural ones no matter how good the surgery is, it will always be 'aftermarket'. See the logic better now?

Maybe to your dismay, but AMG people are serious about the tips and that's why they are offering quad tips on stock AMG CLKs now in case you haven't noticed.

Germancar1

I guess, seems silly as all getout to me considering how awesome AMG cars are in other respects. However "when I get rich enough" to buy an AMG I'm going straight for a SL, CL or S, not a "mere" CLK.

M

Ted Baldwin

..............Some would think tht the sales figures answers your question about the cars customers want and don't want. The fact that you missed the connection is revealing. Oh yea, pesky customers. How dare they!

Ted

c55m8o

Back OT...

Wow, even the Cabrio is 4.1 sec 0-60?! Dang. I didn't realize.

It was the favorite car of mine from last year's AMG Challenge by a -wide- margin. Though I think 3.9 or 4.0 is more likely for the Black then 3.8 (gains of 0.3 sec is huge down near 4 sec), I'll take either! (the momentum added from those bigger brakes is going to sap some of the gains from the lighter weight and small increase in power)

Actually, put the wide-body on the Cabrio and I'd prefer that. 4.1 sec and the handling I know that car has from the time I thrashed it around the track and set the day's record in it on the technical driving short oval, is good enough for me!!! ...I'm finally sorry for the money and work I put into my car that could have been better spent on a down-payment on either the cabrio or black.

Whoopsy

I see the breast example works.......Breasts always work on men, no idea why

Very true enough, AMG CLK is kinda low target. Maybe I suggest a CL63 as your target? powerful enough to be very fast but not as heavy as the bi-turbo V12 65?

But seeing you like convertible I suspect you would lust after the SL instead.

Fifth Ring

Anyone who would buy or not buy a car based on the number of exhaust tips really needs to save some big bucks and stay in the Pontiac family. There is not a single car on the road of ANY displacement, HP or cylinder count that needs more than ONE exhaust exit, or that benefits from having more than one exhaust exit. All modern cars bring the exhaust together at some point, and from there, they either run it back and dump it; or they add useless weight and complexity by re-splitting it and adding multiple resonators and mufflers and tips. The fact that the CLK63 has four pipes sticking out the back is a disappointment to me. If the car was all about function (high power and low weight) they would run one monster exhaust. It's one thing I respect about my C32. They run one, fat pipe to the bumper; but they couldn't resist tacking on dual exhaust tips.

Alan Smithee

While I agree that it's insane to base a purchase decision on the number of exhaust tips, and that the 'quad tips' on various MBs, BMWs, Audis, and Porsches (not to mention American and Japanese brands) are purely cosmetic...having two exhaust pipes running the length of the car is functional, as the alternative would be to have one large diameter pipe reducing ground clearance and disrupting under-car airflow. And there is some benefit to running each pipe to the side to allow for more trunk space.

magwheel

WHAATTT? I don't claim to be an expert by any means but going back to Drag Racing and Muscle Car days in the late 60s and early 70s, we were always told by the experts of that Drag Racing era that the more you could unrestrict an exhaust system, the more horsepower you could expect from your engine. Having another pipe running back I don't think would add that much more weight over a single tube system with its crossover and larger diameter pipe. Whatever the weight gain, it would probably be offset by the horsepower gain plus! In addition, if you tried to run your system through only one muffler (or whatever a fancy name they may call them now), you would restrict the flow even more over a dual system set-up.

Also, regarding just the header itself, the shorter the collector tube (where all the exhaust tubes join), the more top end horsepower you would get. If you had a long collector tube, you would gain added torque for a harder launch and more mid-range horsepower. (Just thought I'd throw this in!)

Referring to the CLK63 Quad tips, I believe that each dual tip is split off a single tube running back to each side and that it's mostly for looks and maybe the sound note. Personally, I think the Quad tipped exhaust system has a meaner look to it. To me, the LARGE single exhaust tube looks goofy. I see it time and time again on all these 'Fast and Furious' imitators who run around our town all the time pretending to be 'Indy 500' racers. BTW, I'm not trying to put these kids down. It may be that is all their financial situation allows them to do at the present time. It just seems to be a 'little' phony. Magwheel

blackbenzz

^^^ You have too many cars, you should give me one

magwheel

blackbenzz, Uhhhhh....... lemme think about that! Just in case......., which one do you want????????? Mags

blackbenzz

I'll take the oldest one off your hands... CGT!

1SICKLEX

This car is fantastic. I love it.

Whoopsy

magwheel, you the one with the rainbow car pic sig on Jabba?

I sure hope you are getting something flashy for your CLK63 Black, as I see your garage has turned into a boring sea of silver.

E55 PWR

Yes it does. SLR is WAY overpriced but MB already knew that, thats why you can get from a dealership for $340k new when MSRP is $440k haha. Why you'd ever buy an SLR when this car is literally 10x more exclusive and less than half the price is beyond me. This is definitely a collectors car in the making

magwheel

Whoopsy, How about Pink or Chartreuse? Sorry my garage is so boring to you. I couldn't afford any of the other custom colors! Mags

Jim Brady

I don't thing Sun Fussion Yellow is boring.

BEAUTY&SOUL

Its a CLK afterall!

BEAUTY&SOUL

Get the Bugatti Veyron ! ,and where is the Enzo on your list? or maybe they didn't invite you to purschase it ?

these cars are exclusive ,,,

Whoopsy

In that case , maybe you could ask for the car be not painted, just polished metal look :P

Germancar1

Ted linking sales figures without a single comment doesn't say a thing. Nor are you breaking out the figures for AMGs or any particular model Mercedes beyond their repsective classes. There was nothing to get because you post didn't say anything. Sales are stagnant overall, if that is what you're getting at then you're late. Sales are pretty much that way for everyone right now.

Furthermore to simply point to a sales report and to draw conclusions about what customers want and don't want without any thought as to why a particular model might be down in sales, doesn't take any effort at all.

You can draw a 1,000,001 conclusions from a sales chart, what I wanted to know from you is what do you think MBUSA or Mercedes-Benz in general needs to change.

M

Germancar1

Yeah I wonder why...hmmm..

Seriously though yeah the SL is my goal or a CL.

M

Germancar1

I agree. The SLR being so overpriced is why we didn't get the CLK-DTM officially. It was only 200K and was better performing than the SLR any way you slice it. The SLR Roadster is the SLR's only real shot at becoming a truly sought-after automobile. It might work. I personally see the CL65 AMG Anniversary Edition as the top of the line Mercedes-Benz, not the SLR. Now the SLR Roadster may change that, we'll see.

M

spifffs

i had a quick question, i dont own a mercedes with the 7g transmission, the car states that it has sport and manual mode, not comfort. i know manual mode can oly be driven via the paddles, can sport mode be driven like an automatic?

Whoopsy

Sports mode is just like any other automatic, it will shifts by itself to the appropriate gear it think fits the condition, but you can use the paddles to override the selection. Manual mode means it's working like a true manual, it does not up shift or downshift by itself.