I reread some of this thread and remembered that it began by talking about build quality.

Now that I have over 4K miles on my Six Speed C240, including an 1,800 mile round trip to Gatlinburg, maybe it's time to report on the car as it feels so far.

Except for the sound when shutting the front doors, this car has the same quality "feel" that my 300E has. There are absolutely NO squeaks, rattles or any other things that make this feel less solid than a 124 or 123 car.

The car, even though it does not have the sport suspension, is very stable at high speed. I have yet to take it over 100 MPH, but at that speed it feels great. In fact it feels as stable as my 124 car in spite of a little more body lean. I should note here that I have added sportline sway bars and shocks to my 124 car. My original thought was to put the sport sway bars on the C240 at a later time, but these items are the same. It's the springs, shocks and tires that are different on the sport package. Maybe later someone in the aftermarket will make stiffer bars.

The stiffer bars with the same springs works great on the 124 car. It seems to leave the suspension limber to keep it's grip on an uneven road, while having less body sway. It makes my 124 car not have body roll.

In conclusion, if I did not have the strange sound when closing the door, I would favorably compare the solidity of the C240 with any previous Benz product that I've ever owned.

Have a great day,

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Larry Bible
'01 C Class, Six Speed
'84 Euro 240D, manual, 533K miles
'88 300E 5 Speed
'81 300D Daughter's Car
Over 800,000 miles in
Mercedes automobiles