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2002 Mercedes C230 Kompressor? What do you guys think?

2002 Dodge Ram Van 1500

That is the car they are selling for that price, check out the specs and such. The mercedes title is a mistake.
 
Thats a really nice car. I think it is Mercedes' first hatchback and it reminds me of a VW Corrado. They say the sunroof is amazing b/c its so huge. I am a sucker for hatchbacks tho and love the BWM 318ti also, that was their only hatch too. The 6 speed manual gearbox sound cool also.
 
I just looked it up on Kelly Blue Book and it came up with this:

INVOICE 23869.00
RETAIL 25615.00

So the price you found sounds about right. Mercedes makes a good car, I had one for a while and my dad put 400K on his :Q

The only thing you have to remember with a mercedes is that they are a "driving" car and are not built for convenience. I had an E300 and it drove me crazy that I had no glove comp. or cup holders. Where am I supposed to put my Pepsi?? That thing got traded in sooooo fast.
 


<< The only thing you have to remember with a mercedes is that they are a "driving" car and are not built for convenience. >>



You haven't had a MB in a while huh?

Also, is this nice sunroof stock? It's an expensive option in the M-class. I prefer a hardtop retractable roof over a panoramic roof anyday. 🙂 My friend got the Launch Edition SL500 and the car is amazing. Vario roof on such a large car. Wow.
 
It was a '97, not too long ago. My ex bought a 2001 last year and she doesn't care that much for it either. Don't get me wrong, they are great cars.
 
Nice car. Was at the dealer the other week looking at them for my mom. The panarama sunroof is an option though. I don't like the back end much.. but the rest of the car is quite nice. 🙂
 
My 97 E320 had no cupholder, and a small comp. in the middle island. I am not sure about my ex's 2001, but I know as soon as her lease (DOH, I hate leases) is up she is going to get rid of it. My Expedition has cup holders all over the place 😀 If that wasn't just the best, my scuba gear fits in it!! Wooohoooo

I might add that I bought the mercedes because of my then, wife. Materialistic %@#!&*&@#@&... 'Nuf said?
 
I see that they prewire the telephone integration in case you want to add that feature. Does anyone know if you can hack that and add your own phone?

ScAndal
 


<< I had an E300 and it drove me crazy that I had no glove comp. or cup holders. Where am I supposed to put my Pepsi?? That thing got traded in sooooo fast. >>



I find americans fixation with cupholders to be extremely funny 😀. I remember reading a test-drive of VW Passat in an american car-magazine. One of the cons they mentioned in the summary was "poor cup-holders". BWAHAHAHAHAAA! To me at least, cup-holders are NOT important part of the car! Sure, they are nice bit of extra to have, but they are NOT important nor necessary! And the fac that many americans seem to think them as the most important piece of equipment in a car is... well, funny 🙂.
 
Audi had to deal with that during the A4 re-design... they sent German engineers over here to find out what Americans wanted changed on the A4 and one of the most common gripes was the poor cup holders.

Frankly, if you drive the car the way it's designed to be driven anything loose in the cabin is going to go flying into a window 😉

If you had a Mercedes and then replaced it with something like a lumbering expedition I really have sympathy for you!

😱

just one more question... how is a $38K expedition any more or less materialistic than a Mercedes?
 


<< Audi had to deal with that during the A4 re-design... they sent German engineers over here to find out what Americans wanted changed on the A4 and one of the most common gripes was the poor cup holders. >>



That's exactly my point. In finnish car-tests they complain about such things as: cabin-noise, poor headlights, poor brakes, lack of torque, limited luggage-compartment etc. etc. In american tests, they complain about poor cup-holders.... To me, it seems that american consumers have their priorities backwards when it comes to cars 😉.

EDIT: I'm not talking about VW or Audi specifically here. The above list is merely an example
 
All you have to do is look at the offerings from the American car manufacturers to understand where most americans priorities lie.

Americans want a car that has decent pickup off the line, but they aren't that concerned with high speed highway performance (not too much of a shocker considering how few highways that we have that allow 75+ mph speeds), they want over-boosted steering to make it easy to park in tight city parking spaces, they want mushy automatic transmissions (stop and go traffic?) they want a big "roomy" vehicle (because many of us are heavier than we should be). Definitely having multiple cigarette lighter outlets (for cell phones) and giant big gulp style cupholders are more important than handling or stopping power.

I'm not saying that everyone has these opinions, but all you have to do is look at the typical "re-design" of the domestic mainstay to see that this is what folks here are interested in.

The last time GM tried to design a car that was more in tune with the younger generation they came out with the new Oldsmobile's (now dead). Those cars did improve on a few of these areas but still didn't appeal much to people in their 20's and 30's who typicall buy Japanese or German imports that have a sportier ride.

 


<< Americans want a car that has decent pickup off the line, but they aren't that concerned with high speed highway performance (not too much of a shocker considering how few highways that we have that allow 75+ mph speeds), they want over-boosted steering to make it easy to park in tight city parking spaces, they want mushy automatic transmissions (stop and go traffic?) they want a big "roomy" vehicle (because many of us are heavier than we should be). Definitely having multiple cigarette lighter outlets (for cell phones) and giant big gulp style cupholders are more important than handling or stopping power. >>



Those things are certainly true. Just few years ago, american cars imported to Europe did really poor here. I remember that every single comparison that had american cars, always had the american car coming in last when compared to european and japanese models. The main things that they disliked in american cars was:

Over-boosted steering that gave the driver no real feedback

Too soft suspension that made the cars poor to drive and again, didn't give the driver any feedback

Huge size of the car combined with poor turning-radius, which made the cars awkward and clumsy in cities

Sub-standard headlights. This became painfully apparent when they happened to test-drive Cadillac Seville STS and Lada 1700S in same magazine (separate articles) Cadillac had price-tag of about 500.000 FIMs, while the Lada had 50.000 FIM's (cheapest car available in Finland). Ladas short-beams were about as good as the long-beams in the Caddy. Ouch!

Poor fuel-economy.

In recent years things have dramatically improved when it comes to american cars sold in Europe. They have tuned the steering and suspension to better fit european style and headlights have been improved. And they have made some smaller models available here too (like Chrysler Neon).
 


<<

<< Audi had to deal with that during the A4 re-design... they sent German engineers over here to find out what Americans wanted changed on the A4 and one of the most common gripes was the poor cup holders. >>



That's exactly my point. In finnish car-tests they complain about such things as: cabin-noise, poor headlights, poor brakes, lack of torque, limited luggage-compartment etc. etc. In american tests, they complain about poor cup-holders.... To me, it seems that american consumers have their priorities backwards when it comes to cars 😉.

EDIT: I'm not talking about VW or Audi specifically here. The above list is merely an example >>




Did you skim over the part where the American magazine covered probably all of the areas that the Finnish car reviewers do? I don't think a high priority is places on conveniences such as a cupholder, but they are nice to have. Nice elitist viewpoints you guys have. British car magazines are probably the best, though. They seem to have the least ass-kissing reviews of new cars. I've owned an Audi and the cupholders on it blew, I'm glad they finally put some functional ones in there. If your going to implement a feature and have it appeal to the target audience, then make sure it works right the first time.
 
My only complaint with my new VW is the cupholders. They fold out of the dash and block out 3/4 of the radio/CD player. It is quite an annoyance. The only other thing I could nitpick with is the OEM tires are pretty po. Aside from that, the car is amazing. Maybe they were complaining about the cupholders because they didn't have anything else to complain about. 😀😉
 
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