The electronic roof stopped half way down on one occasion, fortunately at my house - my friend who works for mercedes came round later and reset the roof in the closed position, and it has worked fine since!
Apart from this the car has been bomb-proof!
This car looks fantasitc - mine is in green black metallic with 19 inch AMG alloys, however, it is no drivers car, the lack of a solid roof compromises the cars handling quite heavily and it becomes quickly unsettled over difficult roads, while the steering is remote. Mine was one if the very last to be fitted with a five speed manual 'box - this being replaced with a much improved 6 speeder in 2001, the 5 speed is a stong, but horribly mushy creation.
In terms of performance, the car is brisk rather than fast - it will shame normal cars, but I'm wary of getting involved in motorway slip road dashes with other top end material - but then again the 230 is frugal if you keep it away from the rev. limiter (if you don't, watch the fuel gauge drop..)
The brakes are great, but the hand-brake works much better with an auto-box, the ESP system is restrained, but floor the throttle in 1st and you will provoke it, and also in 2nd in the wet.
All this aside, i'll forgive it the above because with the roof down and wind deflector up (no room in the back!) this car is a great place to be!
If your going to buy one, and now is great time as its residuals are shaken with more and more of the new model coming onto the market, make sure it's a dark colour with decent wheels, a black roof, cream leather, and probably an auto box... (or the 6 speeder)
You should have got a CLK320 or CLK500, it will dance with anything above 70mph (sorry all, but a 911 Turbo, that's the only car that has managed to pull away from me). It laughs at boxsters and even most BMW's.
Um, I think you'll find the handling issue with your model is certainly to the 19" wheels, any car with wheels this size will track irregularities in the road and leave the steering vague.
We have just bought a similar car, and I have worries over the rewiew regarding the roof stopping and being reset. was there an explanation to its failure? and how might I reset ours should it fail. (I'm competent with cars and gismos)
- I always hide away from traffic when operating the roof it as it looks so 'flash' and 'posey' doing its 20 second routine, though its pure mechanical silent poetry! looks a lovely car with roof up and down. however looks daft I'm sure with people scratching heads at a partly opened roof! -so many electronic parts to this type of car gets me nervous, especially if a storm catches you whilst parked with roof down! v6 is super smooth, silent 100mph cruising. bigger engine would be a waste overall. - a bit blowy in the back, when down and leather is a bit 'slidy' for the kids in the back. but turns heads in the sun. she adores it, silver with grey leather and black top looks right, however, very common to mercs. others we looked at were cheaper, but where light green or sky blue, -didn't look to stand the test of future colour trends. hoping to get five years from this 2000 car bought in 2005. £16k 40k. going for independant servicing to save the house!
Note: A Comments RSS Feed is available. New comments appear in the Members Area before the main site