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Mercedes-Benz C-Class Sedans
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Bubba
Drew
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Vans, SUVs, and Aftermarket and Accessories message boards
Has anybody else experienced these problems?
imagine that !!!!!! so if anybody want to settle for old model you will find good bargain - check your dealers inventory what a POWER this C240 has .... if it can beat his own cousins, other have no chance to stand next to it lol to much bias eh ...... lol
'Twas me!
>I went out last evening and indeed they do work. >Only thing I don't like is that you must keep >your finger depressed until the >seat/steering/mirrors adjust to the memorized >position.
Once you have programmed in the settings for seat/steering/mirrors and your Exit mode is enabled, the next time you put in your key, all the settings should go back to where they are supposed to be without pressing any buttons. Are you sure you have your Exit mode enabled?
This is one of my complaints. I am being told that in order for seat memory to work, the Exit mode must be disabled. I feel that is a feature that is promised with the C320 and should be delivered as such.
The other thing to check out are the 3-position settings with Exit enabled. Program a different setting on one key at each 1-2-3 and checkout that you are able to hold three dfferent settings on the one key.
Michhala
Drew
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Vans, SUVs, and Aftermarket and Accessories message boards
We have our own Owner's Club. Hope it will be as good as the ML Owner's Club. Well, anyway, don't you think that the board for the earlier c-class should be on C-Class Owner's Club as well?
So for now, introduce yourself in the "C-class owner's club: Meet the members" topic, and feel free to post pictures of your C-class in the "C-class owner's club: Photo Gallery" topic (the instructions for posting pictures is in there).
Drew
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Vans, SUVs, and Aftermarket and Accessories message boards
Are Americans ready to pony up 30 grand for a fancy Chevette? They didn't for BMW's old 318ti -- notice the Bavarians opted to keep their hatch at home when the Three got redesigned two years ago. Time, and sales of the> C230, will tell. Hatchbacks are, after all, coming back, you know.
I just saw a preview of the 2002 BMW 3-series hatchback on MotorVision this weekend. Hmm, I'll have to ask Karl about that tonight (because of the comments above) :-). Tarik, did you catch that episode? If not, it will air again on SpeedVision this Wednesday at 4pm Pacific. This week's programme has a lot of MB content, including the SL73 (!!!) and the SLK32 AMG.
Still love my car though. I only have about 250 miles on it so far...I don't get to drive much.
Like many of the board member, this is my first MB experience and I would like to share what I think of the new C.
My C320 is now 3 months old with about 2k miles on the clock. I am happy to say there's been no problem with my car, except for the AM radio static which comes and goes.
We placed our order through a local dealer back in Oct but they were not very honest and can neither confirm the order date or promise on a delivery date. We cancelled our order from this dealer and found a C320 available by calling other dealers. Read from the board that this is not news.
In deciding which engine to get, I briefly tested both the c240 and c320 automatic and found the 320 much powerful than the 240. I did not have a chance to drive the 240 manual. On paper, the 240's has adequate 177 lbft of torque but peaks at a rather high 4500 rpm. That would require a bit patience in city driving like coming out of a corner.
With 3 months of driving experience, I have found the 320 has more power than it needs for US driving. Starting from rest, the car can be a rocket if you push. At 80 mph with top gear, the engine has just reached 3000 rpm where the peak torque plateau starts. With that much of reserve power, passing is never a struggle. The downside is I am only getting around 20 mpg. Not bad for the engine of this size, I guess. Yes, I have heard the occasion "tick tick" engine noise, but that's likely from the hydraulic valve lifter and there is nothing wrong.
At freeway speed, the cabin is quiet. There isn't much engine or wind noise. The leather seat provides the best support we have ever experienced. It is supportive and yet soft. Overall driving visibility from inside is good except the A and B pillars are too thick. The thick B pillar on the driver side requires a careful over the shoulder check when doing lane change. Think they need to do a more compact airbags packaging. Both side mirrors are smaller than what I have came used to from other cars. Part of the right side mirror is blocked by the door frame.
Think most of the new C owners are first attracted by the C's headlight design, and, indeed, the head lights are one of the best I have used. They are bright, even and with good cutoff points. It provides seamless light pattern when switched between low and high beam. There is no xeon lights on my car and I doubt they worth their price. The windshield wipers are quiet and overlapped with cam motion to cover even more windshield area.
We like the auto 3 ticks turn signal. The auto climate control is doing its job. The auto front and rear window defrost work well except their buttons are hidden in the climate control cluster which is located at the bottom of the center console and are hard to find in the dark while driving. The complete climate control panel could have moved up or switch with the radio. Guess that's depend on which panel is being used more, radio or climate ctrl.
Personally, I don't find the steering wheel control buttons (up/down, page up/down) very useful while driving because they control too many features. It requires constant monitoring of the display panel and is a serious driving distraction. BTW, it is nice to be able to choose how some of the lights works through the display panel.
We find the cabin size roomy enough for four adults. Rear head and legs rooms are adequate.
However, improvement can be made if there's more leg room for exiting the car. I find myself keep hitting the door frame if not careful.
Yes, I agree that the manual does not provide the best instruction to follow.
That is all I can think of now. Thanks for your time.
I've been keeping mental notes of many of the questions people have been posting lately: What about tele-aid unlocking for the first 50,000 cars? What is the story with the memory seats? Are squealing brakes normal? Is there a trick to getting the trunk open? It'll be interesting to hear what they say about these issues in Stuttgart! Anything else you'd like me to pass on??!!
I bought my first C-Class 4 years ago, and it has been a great car - not a perfect car, but a great car. It has definitely had its quirks (I am now replacing the center console for the second time, and it took me forever to figure out the trunk), but overall it is still the best car I have ever owned. Hey, I'm buying another one, right?
Maybe what some people are going through now with their new 240s/320s is the same thing I went through 4 years ago, which I now realize was partly due to my unrealistic expectations. When I figured out that the Mercedes dealer was pretty much the same as the Toyota dealer, I was disappointed. When I got a warning light that wouldn't shut off for a few days, I was disappointed. When I had to have the front end aligned for the 3rd time, I was disappointed. But it's still a great car. The big difference was the level of after-sale service I received.
Enough profundity. We should consider ourselves fortunate to be complaining about minor malfunctions in our ridiculously expensive German sports sedans!!
Bubba
That chat was interesting tonight wasn't it! I had a feeling that was JJ as the moderator, I sent him a private chat question but he never responded until the chat was just about over. There really are a lot of MB people around Edmunds, maybe we should keep that quiet!! Is there a chat tomorrow? If so I probably won't make it, we're going on a fieldtrip to a play and then to a big CNC machine shop a friend of mine owns. Maybe I'll catch the last half like today.
The editors chat tonight was indeed interesting! Note that the editors chats will be a weekly thing (every Tuesday 5-6pm Pacific; hence the reason why the MB chat was pushed back to Tuesdays 6-7pm), so you will most certainly get a chance to interact with Edmunds' editors again. You can check out the upcoming chat schedule here. Yes, there will be a chat tomorrow evening. I'll mention more of it below. Please note that this list will be updated soon to include the weekly Mercedes-Benz chats as well:
http://www.edmunds.com/chat/upcomingchat.html
As for JJ, I suspected too, but wasn't sure. There's actually another twist to that story that I discovered, but I digress. ;-p
BTW, hope you enjoyed the pictures in my above post.
If you haven't read Edmunds.com's confessions of a car salesman, I highly recommend you do so. I found it very entertaining, and yet enlightening as to what goes in the auto sales business.
Drew
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Vans, SUVs, and Aftermarket and Accessories message boards
Miki
Drew
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Vans, SUVs, and Aftermarket and Accessories message boards
i did change the oil and filter at 3,500 though.. but this will be the freebe..minor things for them to check....such as.. occasional problems with express down on drivers window... occasional problems with moon roof control eg.. not opening or closing properly.. and one time when i was closing door.. it closed on the metalinc part of the buckle.. cracking a plastic piece on the inner door assembly
I'm thinking that if you just printed out some of the recent posts on these boards about some of the common problems you mentioned and put them in an envelope to addressed Mr Schremph(sp?) that might go along way to reminding them all is not well on the MB side as well.
Meanwhile I'm hoping you have an enjoyable outing with your new ride. Let us know what you thought about doing the delivery this way.
Regards,`
If you would like I could email this Word.doc Table to you. Some are issues/problems, others are valuable tips like the Spark Plugs Post etc...
Greg@thedailydonut.com
Well I'm getting ready to buy my first MB. I actually have been a faithful WV owner for years until I compared the C240 to the Passet. I sat in the C240 and said I got have it! Now what do I order? I'm planning on a semi strip down c240 model. I'm thinking auto trans, met.paint, Bose stereo, sunroof package and heated front seat package. I have two questions for you MB gurus. Is the Bose system worth the extra 600 bucks? Also never having leather seats do I need the heated front seats? I do live in a cold climate, Chicago.Any other must haves? Looking forward to everyones responses!
Greg@thedailydonut.com
On my current '97 C-Class, I didn't get the seat heaters. Big mistake. Having always owned cars with cloth seats, I failed to appreciate how cold leather can get on winter mornings - and I live in Virginia!
I'm going with the Bose upgrade in my new 240. I haven't been overly thrilled with my current MB factory tunes. To me it's worth the $600, but I'm also kind of picky about music.
That was how I felt throughout the entire process this evening. I pick it up tomorrow!!!Good luck to you all, I will be on periodically.
Brian (Pompano 73)
Tomorrow methinks I had better check my steering wheel.
Miki
(PhotoPoint made major changes to their website today, there is an option as you "plow" thru the album to "View Photo Full Size", this is the only view that is easily legible for the database table).
Now what do you think of these color combos? 1st choice - Bordeaux red w/ Charcoal 2nd Choice - Desert Silver w/ Charcoal. Sorry guys I had to rule out the Brilliant Silver. Very Sharp but too popular.
Greg@thedailydonut.com
On the other hand, the remote unlocking service feature is not a 911-emergency-type situation. If you lock your keys in the trunk, you call 1-800-Mercedes to have the car unlocked by remote.
In this case, it would be a relief to know that everyone is referring to the remote unlocking as "SOS" unlocking, because that would mean I do not have another new problem.
I, too, was deciding between the BMW 330i and the 320 and chose the C320 for its emergency features, plus its better visibility.
Michhala
Re my seat memory:
1. I am the only driver and use one key. I cannot program three different settings. If I program a setting in position 1, it is picked up in positions 2 and 3; if I program a setting in position 2, it is picked up in positions 1 and 3, Etc. You might ask being the only driver why I need 3 settings. I need two for different heel heights, and I want to have a third setting for valet and car wash so they won't play with the buttons. My settings are too close for them.
2. If the seat is moved by valet or car wash people, holding down the button does not bring the seat back to the correct settings.
3. Intermittently it behaves erratically -- once, when I opened the driver door, the seat moved before I entered the car or inserted the key.
4. Twice, it did not stop when it should, and kept going forward. I was getting ready to eject
The car was at service for three days, and this could not be fixed. I was told, however, that seat memory would work properly with the Exit mode disabled. Because I like the Exit mode, and it is one of the reasons I bought the car, I am not a happy camper.
I had problems with the paint, too. The car (black) was delivered to me with about eight scratches and many lumpy paint spots. It took four times of polishing/buffing to improve on these, all within a five-week period. There also was a pimple near my driver door handle that the customer service manager picked off and in so doing, left a small 1/16" hollow spot in the paint. They told me it could not be fixed and to try to get used ot it, or they would paint the door but did not advise. There is no way I want to paint the door of a new car. Although I have tried not to look at it, it is very visible because of location.
Miki
How did this affect the "mileage before next service" from the Flexible Service Systems readout? Did it extend the mileage before the next service is needed? and by how much?
thanks
Thanks.
While there I asked if they would thrown in the CD-Changer for free. I played the wild card...."I've have been waiting for months(5) paid MSRP and put down $1000 deposit!".
To my surprise they said, yes!
You'll never know unless you ask. Thanks to those who posted messages about free CD-Changers. I would have never asked unless I read it here first.
Thanks Edmunds.com!