RE: Shed of the Week | Mercedes-Benz CLK (W208)

[SFO]

nothing designo about the interior .. was just one of the colour combinations available

[Gary29]

I quite like the interior, just feels 'so 90s' to me.

[BFleming]

ralphrj said:

Judging by the registration the original owner may well have been MB UK and the interior was chosen to demonstrate the potential options.


Apropos of nothing: The car in the article is a C208. If it was a cabriolet it would be an A208. The only car that might have used the W208 code was this one:

Did these fly (literally) at Le Mans in the late 90's?

[pSyCoSiS]

SFO said:

nothing designo about the interior .. was just one of the colour combinations available

I very much doubt it was a standard colour combination - hence why hardly any others are like that. Pretty sure it was from the Designo options at the time.

[ralphrj]

BFleming said:

Did these fly (literally) at Le Mans in the late 90's?

No, that was the similar looking CLR which came after the CLK-GTR.

[pSyCoSiS]

ralphrj said:

BFleming said:

Did these fly (literally) at Le Mans in the late 90's?

No, that was the similar looking CLR which came after the CLK-GTR.

This is the flip:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQbgSe9S54I

[SFO]

pSyCoSiS said:

I very much doubt it was a standard colour combination - hence why hardly any others are like that. Pretty sure it was from the Designo options at the time.

it would have designo badges and the leather would be nappa or better

[Hammerhead]

ZX10R NIN said:

sjwb said:

Too provide a bit more of a balanced view!

Not quite the same as the vehicle featured, but;
Due to the unfortunate circumstance of being relived of my Volvo at knife point, I needed a car as a matter of urgency.
I was offered and bought a 2005 W209 CLK with a 5 cylinder diesel.
It has turned out to be an elegant, pleasing to drive motor car - and for not a lot of money.

No trace of rot, an engine that delivers constant 45 to 50 mpg and comfort beyond expectation.
Yes, I did the obligatory power train oil changes, plus renewed the brakes and thermostat and was rewarded with a subsequent clean MOT pass.
We have traveled 4000 miles in it so far and have enjoyed every minute of it.

Perhaps the urban myths and negative comments are, well, urban myths and ignorance?
These cars are well built and from an era where elegance and design integrity was different.

The negativity to the W208 CLK is justified they rust at the same rate as a Lancia Beta but your W209 (gen2 CLK) doesn't suffer with rust
Perhaps the urban myths and negative comments are, well, urban myths and ignorance?
These cars are well built and from an era where elegance and design integrity was different.

I can assure you, the W209 did rust. Mine was the first of the W209 coupes ('02) and it developed spidery rust in the rear wings, bootlid and bonnet. Alloys all started to flake and even the plastic silver trim bits on the door handles had bubbles underneath them. I bought mine from MB at 2.5years old/30k on the clock, FMBSH, and had a right battle with MBUK in getting it rectified. Once it was, I sold it back to MB exactly a year after purchasing it. Put me off the brand for a very, very long time. Mine wasn't the exception, either. Plenty of other owners appeared on MB forums with the same or worse issues. It was a shame as the W209 was a gracefull looking machine, great for long drives though not very exciting at all through the twisties. '04/'05 onwards models are said to be much better prospects.

[shalmaneser]

If the interior offends that much swapping in some all black leather seats would tone it down a bit. But I quite like the red!

[dandare]

Very ugly, outside and in.
Still, I expect it's pretty comfortable and if reliable, a good buy.

Regarding the styling and interior colour, consider it character-building, or destroying, depending on ones personal strengths.

I would drive it, if I had to.
Maybe a good shed.

[AC43]

Hammerhead said:

I can assure you, the W209 did rust. Mine was the first of the W209 coupes ('02) and it developed spidery rust in the rear wings, bootlid and bonnet.

God that sounds horribly familiar. My 99 C43 had spiders all over the bonnet and roof. Presumably where stone chips had gone through the paint and water had got in. As commonly seen on pox-ridden Sprinters of that era. In fact I saw one today and nearly took a picture for this thread. As also seen on C's,CLK's E's and S's of that era.

That didn't bother me too much as it was over 10 years old by that point. What did annoy me was having had the arches done I realised that I'd have to keep doing it every 2-3 years. But what really prompted me to get shot was the fact that it needed some welding done to the floor for it's final MOT in my hands. I was actually shocked and I grew up on Mini's, Alfa's Fiats and Lancia's.......

From that point on it was only ever going to be a trade in and it was replaced by a 100% rust free galvanised 2005 E500. Normal service was resumed.

EDIT; despite the shonky paint I still really liked tooling around in a C Class with a 4.3 V8 and all the AMG trimmings. Brilliant family wagon at the time.

Edited by AC43 on Friday 28th June 14:58

[tannhauser]

Lacuetas said:

I brought one of these for £600 about 4 months ago.

Where from?

[siwil1]

Ive got an 05 one of these (320) as a daily driver its got 175000 miles on it and runs like clockwork.

All the interior buttons work albeit a bit grubby but for my 60 mile commute it averages about 32mpg and is a pleasant place to sit.

No rust body wise but the alloys are shot to pieces.

Ive put about 20k miles on over the last 2 years keeping the miles off my S2k and its only cost an expansion tank and a coil spring, Will prob just run it until it dies.

[ralphrj]

pSyCoSiS said:

ralphrj said:

BFleming said:

Did these fly (literally) at Le Mans in the late 90's?

No, that was the similar looking CLR which came after the CLK-GTR.

This is the flip:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQbgSe9S54I

That is the flip that happened during the race and resulted in Mercedes retiring the remaining car. It was the 3rd time it had happened that weekend but the first time it was caught on video.

The first flip was by the no.4 car driven by Mark Webber in the thursday night qualifying session.

The second flip was by the repaired no.4 car again driven by Mark Webber in the warm-up session. This was caught by photographers but not by TV. The no.4 car was withdrawn from the race.






The final flip was by Peter Drumbreck in the no.5 car around 4 hours into the race. Mercedes immediately retired the no.6 car and shut their sportscar programme.

[anonymous-user]

siwil1 said:

Ive got an 05 one of these (320) as a daily driver its got 175000 miles on it and runs like clockwork.

All the interior buttons work albeit a bit grubby but for my 60 mile commute it averages about 32mpg and is a pleasant place to sit.

No rust body wise but the alloys are shot to pieces.

Ive put about 20k miles on over the last 2 years keeping the miles off my S2k and its only cost an expansion tank and a coil spring, Will prob just run it until it dies.

They stopped making the W208 in 2001 I think so yours was the later W209.

I had a W208 CLK55 for a couple of years but found it soul destroying constantly chasing the rust round the bodywork so it had to go.

[AC43]

ruprechtmonkeyboy said:

I had a W208 CLK55 for a couple of years but found it soul destroying constantly chasing the rust round the bodywork so it had to go.

Such a shame. Lovely car, the 55.

[Lacuetas]

tannhauser said:

Lacuetas said:

I brought one of these for £600 about 4 months ago.

Where from?

Some traders in Coventry, i almost left it for another I saw in Birmingham but that one was a 1.8 engine which I would imagine wouldn't have the pull power as they are quite heavy cars. (seemed slightly dodgy traders in Coventry, which made me reluctant, but seem to have turned out OK so far... Touch wood).

Edited by Lacuetas on Friday 28th June 16:13

[Nerdherder]

Oxford1971 said:

Nerdherder said:

It’s drug runners and such folk running these on the continent. Very undesirable.

I'm old enough to remember when classic BMW 6 series were thought of in that way.

I still think of them that way, even though the design of the Bimmer has a pleasing proportionality to it.

[usualdog]

can't remember said:

It's a shame but that interior really is a show stopper. What was the original owner thinking?

A 'show stopper' is a good thing! In this context I think you mean a 'cock blocker'

[J4CKO]

Tyre Smoke said:

Hideous.

Driven by scum who think they're lottery winners because it's a Mercedes.

So the styling is dictated by the current ownership profile ?

What do you drive that is so upmarket ?