Well I'm a new owner of a 1999 C230 Kompressor and I'm 21. I got my car in the end of feb. For the record, I bought the car. It's not daddy's ride that I'm abusing like some of the kids in my area. Well anyways, I'm wondering if any of you young MB drivers ever encounter any kinds of probs like getting pulled over often by the police. I've gotten randomly stopped twice already in the last 2 months. If I drive at night and cops spot me, I'm sure to be stopped. I usually get tailed by the cops and starred at by random people, whether I'm dressed nice or like a bum comming from the gym, it's always the same.
Is this something that comes with the car? Or is age a factor? I really don't want to consider race but my parents are from Bangladesh (next to India) so I'm brown guy lol. I live in Montreal in Canada which happens to be a very diverse city so I really really don't want to consider people being racist.
Anyways, would love to get some feedback.

Lots of Mercedes jealousy out there.

Watch where you park it, too.

I get a lot of dirty looks/stares from middle-aged and older people. I'm 24 but I look like I'm 16 so I guess it comes with the territory. My car is owned and paid for by my dad (title's gonna be in my name shortly), but believe me I've earned it. I don't brag about my car to other people and I especially don't tell females what I drive (if they ask I ignore the question or if they persist I tell them a '93 Toyota Corolla). There's an old man in my apartment complex who absolutely HATES me because I have an MB. I think it makes him even angrier that I take really good care of it. I'll be out there vaccuming it out and he'll just come oustide and stare at me with the dirtiest look you've ever seen. Some of the kids in my complex mess with my hood star sometimes (hell it could be my neighbors, whom I'm cool with, just messin' with me).

Good to see I'm not the only one haha. The middle aged looks is the weirdest, they just stare you down and try to figure you out. I did notice the hating or jealousy, this one time I got a parking ticket and this guy comes up to me and starts saying that I deserve it for thinking I can park anywhere I want because I got a MB. Haha man I just parked at a bad spot, oops! But yeah people sure look at you different.

Young drivers? How about drivers that look young? A friend of ours has a W220 S430, and whenever his wife drives it, shes sure to get pulled over once in a while...

*ahem* Don't start hating me now...but lets just say teen with a MB here. People ask me what car I drive, I say quietly, "Red...SUV...Big red SUV. Nothing more" to avoid any problems. I've gotton **** from people before. However on the road, I don't get many dirty looks because there is probably a friend of mine right next to me driving his CLK500. Honestly though...I think it's very silly to define people by the car they drive.

I know this teenager, at 16 his first car was a brand new Nissan Maxima. He had that for a little while and then got a brand new C32 AMG. He just got rid of that and bought a brand new S55 AMG. He's only 19 years old. His parents don't even pay for the car. I'm sure he gets a lot of dirty looks.

Be proud and say what you have... Who cares what jealous people think!

Momo, I am from Bangladesh too, and I have definitely experienced weird reactions.

I got my first Benz while in my mid-20s, but I look very young, sometimes mistaken for a teenager.

Once, I discovered that my rear brake light was busted by some careless (or jealous) person, so I stopped by the closest fix-it place that had signs advertising their specialty in European cars.

The guy saw me pull up in my C230 and said, "Is this your car?"

WTF?

However, driving into work and valet parking at clubs always got me positive reactions and good treatment.

havent you noticed that people who drive the same cars look at you the most? I know i tend to notice Cl drivers whenever i go out. They are usually:

male
in their 50's
caucasian


i am:

male
just turned 30
Chinese

imagine the looks i get from these guys. I get pulled over all the time, and mind you i live in a decent part of the city. Sometimes, i just want to ask the cops if they pulled me over cuz they see a young chinaman driving a nice car.

what does he do...sell drugs

That statement says it all.
If you are young, drive a nice car, and dress like a gang-banger.......guess what profile you fit

I am 19 and just had a converstion with my mate about how he wants a 525 about 96-98. Here in NZ the 5 is more than the 728 or even the 730. He wants a 5 with all the gadgets. I said "why not just buy a 728?", he said I don't want to assoiate with a car like that (a car like mine). He was turned off by what people he does not know would think. So what? He seems to think that there is a profile about young people who drive the larger BMW and MB, that we do it to sh#t all over people. I think alot of people are like this.

I just turned 18 and I have an 03 C class and Im clearly middle eastern looking. The good cops leave me alone and are courtious and respectfull to me. Then there are ones that hammer me with full extent. I live in a pretty upclass suburb so Im good as long as I dont leave town, if I go any where else in the GTA I stand out like a soar thumb.

Bangladesh --- represent! Haha, what are the chances?

It's not only what you drive, but how you drive ... then again racism and racial profiling are ugly yet undeniable parts of our lives.

Your outward appearance is what you choose to project to others...
If this guy pulled up to you in an SL, what would you think he did for a living????

definately the banker type

Oh, he's a BIG DRUG DEALER or other AL CAPONE type person. Yes, he's either Tony Montana or Al Capone or some equivalent. Maybe some rap star.

Honestly however, my first assumption is:
1, I don't think I'd like to have this person as my personal friend
2, this person probably isn't educated
3, this person's probably going to get broke rather quickly.

Us Chinese have a saying, even the most prominent families that have the largest fortunes can lose it all in three generations if they have poorly behaved/educated offspring.

You guys all need to move to California's major cities (San Francisco and Los Angeles area) where Mercedes is very accessible and considered normal. Enjoy California's roads, weather, and your cars will thank you for the same reasons. Actually CA's roads aren't that great, you get some potholes in some towns (like the one I'm in has lots of potholes).

I dont understand why you people are getting pulled over? Isn't there a reason? IE speeding. I'm 19 and have a '99 C230 and don't feel "all that" driving around in it. Maybe its because I live in MA and people dont seem to care anyless about what others drive and more about being awful drivers.

I went from a Lexus to a BMW and soon something else. I drive like a badass.
I don't give a crap what others think. I am who I am and I love it!

Don't pay no attention to others, if they touch your car, break their legs.

Yea I agree I have only gotten pulled over when I deserved to get pulled over example speeding and not stopping at a stop sign. But be nice to the cops give them a wave when you see them and a thumbs up. I do find that you get followed more but most of the time they are probably running the plates to make sure it doesn't come back stolen.

Most of the time cops wont pull over expensive cars or even not so expensive cars if they are well taken care of. The point of this is cops are really out for our safety and want to get drugs and crime off the street and most of the the time the car that is beat up and dirty the driver either doesn't have a license or could possibly have something illegal.

I can't completely agree.

The last time I was pulled over, it was for a totally BS reason. The cop claimed I had made a right turn at a red light (illegal in NY state, which is where I was driving at the time, but allowed in some adjacent areas such as CT). He claimed I had made an illegal right turn from Route A to Route B while there was a red light on Route A.

I had pulled out of a gas station located on the corner of that intersection (Rt A / Rt B intersection). Cars can enter and exit that gas station from both roads. I entered from Route A, filled up the car and then legally exited the gas station on to Route B. It wasn't even like I used the gas station as a short cut and drove right thru it from A to B. I was legitimately exiting the gas station on to Route B after filling up.

The car was a rental POS (Toyota Matrix/Pontiac Vibe) but it was mechanically and ergonomically POS. The exterior was fine. It was not a beat up car, by any stretch of the imagination. It was not particularly dirty either -- just the usual road grime from northeast winters -- but after dark with a navy blue car, it is almost impossible to believe that the car's exterior condition could have been any plausible reason to pull me over.

That LI cop seemed to be just itching for a reason -- I bet he was hoping to find a non-existent or suspended license. He ran my license and found nothing -- yet he never said a word or retracted his story in any way. His story is so implausible, I can't think of any angle where he would see me pulling out on to Route B from the gas station and genuinely think that I was making an illegal right from Route A. If he had believed that story himself, he would have written me a ticket for making that "illegal" right. It's more likely he was looking for any excuse to pull me over and run my license. When he found nothing, his story came to nothing as well. Unless he actually believed my gas station exit once he found nothing.

Because it was after dark, I do not know how much my skin color / race was a factor regarding the decision to pull me over. When the driver is inside the car, at night, it isn't always easy to tell race from a distance. If one were to be cynical about it, however, one could think that he saw me in clear and bright light while I was filling up and deliberately decided he would pull me over once I got going. That "theory" is a little too cynical for me, but the bottom line is that the cop had absolutely no good reason to pull me over.

FORGET what I said!!! you guys are right. I usually just tune out other drivers expressions. But yeah,I get tons of stares in my car. Mostly older people. What I think is worse than someone seeing you, is telling someone what you drive. I usually play the "old mercedes" card even though its a '99. And when they finally see what it looks like, they get bitter over it. The Mercedes name really is more powerful than I thought it was.

and in terms of being pulled over, in my town I think my car helps me. The police see the C-Class and just assume its some older woman and disregard it.