RE: Mercedes Benz C55 AMG: PH Carpool
Discussion
Looked at these before deciding on a Monaro, was a close run thing. The decider was the fact that a decent Monaro (my car now) was available at the time.
Test drove one and although it was quick, the example I drove was a bad one and clonked and banged it's way to speed.
Would still consider one if I ever sold my current car.
Test drove one and although it was quick, the example I drove was a bad one and clonked and banged it's way to speed.
Would still consider one if I ever sold my current car.
I have C55 estate and I love it. The best thing about it is that I have it debadged with black exhaust so it doesn't look special to normal people.
Who needs to know will know. Noise and torque are lovely and very addictive. After every trip I find myself parked outside my garage with nicely warmed up engine reving it few times to hear this lovely noise and few pops as a goodbye. By this point my wife knows (hears) that im back.
Its one of those cars that you can really enjoy when driving slowly, within legal speed limits.
When you want to go fast just use the right pedal properly and disappear
Gearbox is slow by modern standards but car seems to be well build and feels solid. Engine and gearbox are very tough and good for many happy miles if looked after properly. Suspenshion can feel crashy on bad roads at slow speed but the faster you go the better it feels.
Take to some twisty B roads and you will appreciate how well balanced it is.
Im still waiting to see another C55 on the roads.
Who needs to know will know. Noise and torque are lovely and very addictive. After every trip I find myself parked outside my garage with nicely warmed up engine reving it few times to hear this lovely noise and few pops as a goodbye. By this point my wife knows (hears) that im back.
Its one of those cars that you can really enjoy when driving slowly, within legal speed limits.
When you want to go fast just use the right pedal properly and disappear
Gearbox is slow by modern standards but car seems to be well build and feels solid. Engine and gearbox are very tough and good for many happy miles if looked after properly. Suspenshion can feel crashy on bad roads at slow speed but the faster you go the better it feels.
Take to some twisty B roads and you will appreciate how well balanced it is.
Im still waiting to see another C55 on the roads.
Andy JB said:
Nice Merc always liked the stealth of these.
I would be interested to know why the TVR became unreliable - was it poorly maintained, kept outside or just an excuse to get rid & justify the Merc in reality ?
It was very well maintained by myself and STR8 Six over the course of 4 years, had a double garage all to itself and it certainly wasn't jettisoned to make way for the Merc - at 16 years old with 99000 on the clock and an annual mileage of 9000, it required almost continuous maintenance and repair to the tune of about £3K per year, which was unacceptable (to me) for a car worth £6K. In other words, lovely though it was, it had become good money after bad and the turning point came when it started to fail mid-journey on the way to drive outs and other events, which rather defeats the object of having it!I would be interested to know why the TVR became unreliable - was it poorly maintained, kept outside or just an excuse to get rid & justify the Merc in reality ?
lifebegins@400 said:
Andy JB said:
Nice Merc always liked the stealth of these.
I would be interested to know why the TVR became unreliable - was it poorly maintained, kept outside or just an excuse to get rid & justify the Merc in reality ?
It was very well maintained by myself and STR8 Six over the course of 4 years, had a double garage all to itself and it certainly wasn't jettisoned to make way for the Merc - at 16 years old with 99000 on the clock and an annual mileage of 9000, it required almost continuous maintenance and repair to the tune of about £3K per year, which was unacceptable (to me) for a car worth £6K. In other words, lovely though it was, it had become good money after bad and the turning point came when it started to fail mid-journey on the way to drive outs and other events, which rather defeats the object of having it!I would be interested to know why the TVR became unreliable - was it poorly maintained, kept outside or just an excuse to get rid & justify the Merc in reality ?
Andy JB said:
Interesting sounds like a well used Chimaera & I guess any car with that mileage/age is going to need to TLC & a headache on the pocket - having said that if I'd had a list of things to be replaced on my TVR that you've done to the Merc I would be looking to move that on as well! I admire you bravery & commitment to the three pronged star.
OK, so initially my Chimaera must have been unreliable because I neglected it, stored it incorrectly and tossed it to one side to finance the Merc - having politely corrected you you've now drawn the equally wrong conclusion that the running costs are the same or worse for the Merc despite the fact that I didn't volunteer any figures for the latter? Quite an insight you've got there!Lookin for a C55 myself, I have a question though. Were the Paddle shifters an option, and were they introduced around 2006? I ask because most cars doesnt seem to have them.
Are they a big improvement over the buttons?
Expensive to retrofit?
Basically should I try to find a car with them or is it simply not important...
Are they a big improvement over the buttons?
Expensive to retrofit?
Basically should I try to find a car with them or is it simply not important...
I've heard that there was an F1 option for estates ala the F1 safety cars which may or may not have had paddles. I'm not sure how true this is though, or how many would have been specced this way.
You can upgrade from buttons to paddles with a kit from Comandonline. Look them up. I think its probably a couple of hundred quid.
The manual shifting isn't all that tbh though. Its very slow most of the time if you are on it. Seems more suited to getting into the correct exit gear and staying in it whilst braking into corners rather than having the auto change mid corner. You sort of have to hit the button early to ensure that you get an upshift/downshift when you actually want it which can be a little frustrating.
I have been leaving mine in auto pretty much all the time so wont be bothering to switch to paddles. £200 is better spent on fuel tbh.
You can upgrade from buttons to paddles with a kit from Comandonline. Look them up. I think its probably a couple of hundred quid.
The manual shifting isn't all that tbh though. Its very slow most of the time if you are on it. Seems more suited to getting into the correct exit gear and staying in it whilst braking into corners rather than having the auto change mid corner. You sort of have to hit the button early to ensure that you get an upshift/downshift when you actually want it which can be a little frustrating.
I have been leaving mine in auto pretty much all the time so wont be bothering to switch to paddles. £200 is better spent on fuel tbh.
Edited by mini me on Wednesday 6th May 11:47
mini me said:
I've heard that there was an F1 option for estates ala the F1 safety cars which may or may not have had paddles. I'm not sure how true this is though, or how many would have been specced this way.
You can upgrade from buttons to paddles with a kit from Comanonline. Look them up. I think its probably a couple of hundred quid.
The manual shifting isn't all that tbh though. Its very slow most of the time if you are on it. Seems more suited to getting into the correct exit gear and staying in it whilst braking into corners rather than having the auto change mid corner. You sort of have to hit the button early to ensure that you get an upshift/downshift when you actually want it which can be a little frustrating.
I have been leaving mine in auto pretty much all the time so wont be bothering to switch to paddles. £200 is better spent on fuel tbh.
Wasn't aware of a paddle option tbh, but perhaps on the F1 cars as you say - I think they were the medics cars to be exact (splitting hairs here!)You can upgrade from buttons to paddles with a kit from Comanonline. Look them up. I think its probably a couple of hundred quid.
The manual shifting isn't all that tbh though. Its very slow most of the time if you are on it. Seems more suited to getting into the correct exit gear and staying in it whilst braking into corners rather than having the auto change mid corner. You sort of have to hit the button early to ensure that you get an upshift/downshift when you actually want it which can be a little frustrating.
I have been leaving mine in auto pretty much all the time so wont be bothering to switch to paddles. £200 is better spent on fuel tbh.
You are of course correct, i meant medical car. Safety cars were sl55's were they not?
Anyway here's a link on MBclubUk which seems to dispel the myth of F1 spec somewhat.
http://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/general-discussion/...
Anyway here's a link on MBclubUk which seems to dispel the myth of F1 spec somewhat.
http://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/general-discussion/...
Axel987 said:
Lookin for a C55 myself, I have a question though. Were the Paddle shifters an option, and were they introduced around 2006? I ask because most cars doesnt seem to have them.
Are they a big improvement over the buttons?
Expensive to retrofit?
Basically should I try to find a car with them or is it simply not important...
Agree with mini me here - I wouldn't worry too much about the paddles, frankly I wouldn't worry too much about the slow gear change full stop. As I said in the article, the engine's not going to fall off the cam whilst your waiting for it to hook up the next gear and the main benefit of the manual override is being able to set the ratio pre corner - I doubt there'll be many occasions when you think 'if only this gearbox didn't slow the car down so much!'Are they a big improvement over the buttons?
Expensive to retrofit?
Basically should I try to find a car with them or is it simply not important...
mini me said:
You are of course correct, i meant medical car. Safety cars were sl55's were they not?
Anyway here's a link on MBclubUk which seems to dispel the myth of F1 spec somewhat.
http://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/general-discussion/...
almost - SLKs I guess from the picAnyway here's a link on MBclubUk which seems to dispel the myth of F1 spec somewhat.
http://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/general-discussion/...
Just test drove one that turned up locally, lovely looking car, quite a few more mod cons than my current, newer, ok spec'd car.. Sounded lovely. But couldnt really get a feel for the speed as it was so smooth - looked at the needle and i was doing 80 - felt more like 50/60.. Cant decide if i like the waftyness of it or if i want something that comes with a bit more 'lunacy' as it felt a bit 'sensible'. Having read the evo mag review, this is pretty much what they said, it comes 3rd to the M3 CS and RS4 (b7) but still has a fanstastic chassis / brakes and engine.. I think personally the weight stunts the 367 brake and 372 torque and the smoothness belies its performance. I'm still deciding as whether this is what i want and to px my car or try another v8 monster - what else is there for this sort of money , monaro, older m5?
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