Nothing.
I purchased this in June, 2008. I traded in a 2002 BMW X5 after the front wheel fell off due to dealer negligence.
This is my 4th convertible and the 3rd I plan to drive in snow. My FIAT 850 was OK in snow, the rear engine gave very good traction. My 1973 Corvette was horrible in snow, even with snow tires. This is also my first ever FWD car, having driven RWD for 40+ years and never had any traction issues in snow.
This is the SLE model, top of the line. Seats 4 in relative comfort, leg room in the back is OK for children or shorter adults (less than 5 ft. 8). The top takes 10 seconds to go down, opening all the windows at the same time. Going up is two steps - the top goes up in about 15 sec and the windows take another 15 sec using a separate button. That button also will lower all the windows.
It has leather seats, rear seat vents, heated seats, fantastic JBL 6-disk CD/AM/FM sound system. This is the only car I have driven that can pick up WGN-AM in Dubuque not only clearly, but almost as good as being in Chicago. FM stations can be picked up farther away also.
The car has great traction on dry and wet roads. I am waiting to see how well it does in snow. The car is rated 18 city/ 26 hwy with the 3.3 L V6. I averaged 26 mpg combined using mid-grade (the 'Cheap Stuff' in Iowa). The car came with a full tank of regular and that gave the worst mileage. On the highway, I get 28 with regular, 29.5 with mid-grade, and over 31 with premium.
About the rear vision: The rear vision suffers from 2 areas; the rear window (glass) is small and the rear corner vision is blocked by the top. With the top down, the wedge shape of the body hinders merging using the rear view mirror. I do not have problems as I have always been able to use my side mirrors.
The car has 2 - 12 volt outlets - where the ashtray would normally be and the other in the console storage under the armrest. When I plug my GPS into the front outlet, I cannot plug my phone in the console and expect to use it.
The car is fun to drive and front seat occupants do not get buffeted by the wind. It is great on long drives and on back roads.
Original poster here.
Well, I have had the car for almost 16 months now, have had no problems.
Driving this car has been a real experience. Highway driving the car is great, driving on twisty-turny back roads is something else. On the twisty hilly back roads I like to drive on is where the car falters. When braking, the car tends to nosedive and it really wallows while taking sharp turns.
I have decided I do not want to drive this through another snowy winter (even if I got snow tires). I have come to the conclusion I do not like FWD. I have been looking for a new RWD or AWD (BTW, not all AWD's are the same - Honda AWD are FWD with AWD capability).
I really want another Mercedes, unfortunately the nearest service is 70+ miles. I drove a BMW 330xi, very nice, but the local dealer doe not have good service (personal experience).
Last year our the 8 year warranty for our Mercedes ML430 was about to expire, so I purchased a 2004 Dodge Magnum R/T AWD for my wife. I have driven this quite a bit, especially during heavy snow storms when I did not want to drive the Toyota. So, this afternoon I will be picking up my new AWD car, a U.S. made Mercedes - a 2006 Chrysler 300C AWD.
It seems I may not be the only person not liking FWD. At the BMW dealer, someone had just traded a convertible just like mine with 1/2 the miles for a BMW.
"My 1973 Corvette was horrible in snow, even with snow tires. This is also my first ever FWD car, having driven RWD for 40+ years and never had any traction issues in snow."
Wouldn't you say that the RWD Corvette HAD "traction issues in snow"?
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