My M-B saleslady is so nice. She and my wife arranged for a full tank of gas and a pleasant afternoon for my 44th birthday on Friday so I could test drive one of her new C320's. It had 26 miles on it when we started.

Summary: very, very, very nice. And a bit of WOW.(!)

I should tell you that I'm not an easy person to fit into a small car. At 6'8" and ~220 lb there's a lot of body to get comfortable. The Z and 3xx series Bims are impossible, as are Miatas and similar. Remarkably, the CLK and C class fit me very well, although after an hour or so I felt that my left arm and shoulder could have used a bit more room. However, since this car would be for my wife's use more than for me, we pressed on...

...the accelerator and YEEHAH! Hey, this five speed automatic touch shift is delightful. Very smooth shifts, good transfer of power, really grabs nicely for downshifting (not the variable control of a clutch, however), and doesn't appear to have a lot of 'float' between engine speed and car speed. The car really slows down when you pull your foot off the gas.

The Bose stereo is two orders of magnitude better than previous generation (pre-'96, say) units. Still has WeatherBand.

The only thing it doesn't appear to have are heated seats. Not listed as an option.

The rack and pinion steering is very tight and precise. It's not an exceptionally powerful road rocket, but it is a very well balanced, good performing compact luxury sedan.

The stereo was enough to give my wife a good headache, and the twisty roads of northern Delaware estate country were enough to give her motion sickness. Clear benchmarks of a successful road test.

All done up sticker price of $39,000. ("Live a little.")

All the best, everyone,

--s--

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'94 E320S
'88 190E 2.6