Hello, all. Being a complete newbie to anything in this class of vehicle, I am totally amazed at so many engineering marvels built into the car. For being a 1999 vintage, it must have been leading edge technology back then. I even have room for a fridge! After lurking here for a month or so before I bought my E, I tried to absorb all I could regarding maintenance, mods, costs, problems, etc., etc. This site and all who contribute to it are wonderfully knowledgeable and so willing to share in that, thank you. Armed with a little bit of MB savvy, I felt comfortable buying this car, and actually, throwing a few facts back at the salesman, like how it needs a brake light switch and how the rear tires are the wrong size, got me some bucks off the asking. Incredible piece of art and machinery forged into a vehicle that is wonderful to drive and own. Finally got around to pics and putting insurance on it today, will put the plates on tomorrow, do a few homemade mods and we are down the road. Happy motoring, all. See you on the highway.

 

beautiful car! Looks to be a Japanese import.

Secure that tow hook cover on the bumper. Those are worth their weight in gold if you lose it.

 

Hey thanks, DS! Like I said, being such a newbie, I thought I took a rock on the highway and that it was broken, same as the light next to it.

 

Front bumper has the flat spot in the shape of a NA plate, my car is a Japanese import and has a spot for Euro plate, I'd say this car is a NA original.


Sharp car, and nice color!

 

Thanks, Ian. Colour changes depending on ambient light and angle of reflection. You can walk around the car on a sunny day and see it change from black with blue/white sparkle, to blue/black, to black/charcoal. The window trim sets it off nicely, sort of a copper/bronze tint with a black base. Not sure if it started as a NA car, but it's last move was definitely from Japan to Canada.

 

Interesting. I've heard of cars built for the JDM market, and also Euro-spec cars exported to Japan. I would have assumed a JDM market vehicle to be built RHD though. What does the gauge cluster on yours look like? How many kms?

 

Ian, I've posted some pics in my photo album. Sorry for the quality of some (new camera). A lot of the buttons/controls are in Japanese.

 

NA specs don't have flat spots for plates and have the orange reflectors/ no fender sidemarker lights.

 

I hadn't noticed that before, good eye!

 

Is that on the stock suspension? Looks lowered here

 

You know, I wish I could tell you. What I know about these cars would probably fit into a thimble. Someone else with more knowledge than me will have to chime in here, but thanks for stopping in and asking.

 

Euro spec spring mounts are shorter than NA, JDM might be the same way, which would account for a lower, but still stock, ride height.


Here's a shot of mine for comparison, hard to tell but mine looks maybe a bit taller than Paul's.

 

Looks close, Ian. Is there a measurement that I can check?

 

I've got winter wheels/tires on my car at the moment, so I can't measure mine to directly compare with you till spring. We could measure the center of the hub to the bottom of the fender and compare those, as it would remove the wheel/tire size from the equation I suppose.

 

Just looking at the difference in the two pics, Ian's seems to be lower when comparing the body lines to centre of the hub. Not sure if the angle the pics were taken from would influence this.

 

maybe you should get my rare 300km/h cluster with white dials, it's all euro version with KM/H scale, it looks like your black one but it comes with white dials instead, this cluster was sold for special order vehicles.
it's sexy as hell!

 

Pretty rare they sayd SPORT in the fenders and not AVANTGARDE as common in the e55. I think cause the Japan market

Fabio Daniel

 

Good eye, Fabio. It's funny because the option list shows "954 - Equipment package for Avantgarde Vehicles" as well as "498 - Japan Version". I guess #498 won out. Not really sure what is supposed to be in the Avantgarde package.

 

I thought the Avantgarde package was for wagons only? Does "Avant" not mean wagon?

 

Avantgarde refers to the trim level. This usually indicates the amount of options the car comes standard with.

There are 3 designations:

Classic
Avantgarde
Designo

Classic for example does not come with chrome trim on the moldings, manual seats, manual heater control, no leather, no sunroof, less chrome on the grill.... just to name a few.

Avantgarde typically has the chrome trim, leather, more luxuruous wood trim, alloy/bigger wheels, blue tinted glass, power/ memory seats, etc.

Designo is all about the options. You can select different types of leather, different colors, more elegant wood options, special paint, etc.

 

Very interesting!

 

Good info, desired speeds. Thank you.

 

Beautiful car. Makes me miss my own E55 collecting dust in storage somewhere in California.


4 more months and I get to ride it once again.

 

Also are the ELEGANCE and MASTER EDITION (most master edition are E240 i don't know why, but they come in pretty rare colors) we have here some customers with this cars

Fabio Daniel

 

Classic
Elegance
Sport
Avantgarde
Designo
Master Edition

I ever seen the Avantgarde with the most optional equiped, Designo is more for interior color combos and mate woods etc. Avantgard comes ever with more options and birds eye mapple wood (black)

Fabio Daniel