carbuff
06-04-2011, 11:51 AM
Thought I'd share my new daily driver with you all... For the last almost 3 years I've been driving an Infinity G35 Sport sedan. Nice enough car, but even when I bought it, it was a compromise in almost every way. So for the last 6 months or so, I've been trying to decide what I wanted in a replacement. Unfortunately I couldn't find anything that really satisfied my list of tradeoffs of quality, performance, and semi-practicality. Then about 2 weeks ago I stumbled onto the Mercedes Benz C63 AMG.
Long story short, I found one for sale at a great price just north of Dallas, talked to the dealer about trading the G35 (he offered me $2k more than I was being offered locally, sweet!), and I drove up yesterday to make the swap. There were a few little issues with the car (all cosmetic, except for the nail in the front tire... :willy: ), so they dropped the price a little more to cover me taking care of the issues locally (which I prefer as I really like the local detailer that I use!).
Anyway, I made the 200+ mile roadtrip back in the car yesterday afternoon, and I have to say, I love this car!!! My vehicle before the G35 was a C6, and I really thought I would end up back in one again (I've been Z06 shopping). But this car is just so well built, the power and handling are amazing for a sedan. Granted, this is my first true "luxury" car... But it's quiet, smooth, fast, and the road feedback is just amazing. Did I mention that it's fast?
The bummers are the pretty poor gas mileage, the apparently poor tire wear, and the astronomical cost of mods (headers at $8k, ECM tune at $3.5k although I have found a place that does it for the bargain price of $1.5k). But I can live with those tradeoffs! Oh, and supposedly the engine (rated at 451HP) is simply a detuned version of the AMG engine used in the 'bigger' MB lines, so the tune can easily add 50+ horsepower. At least that's what I've found in my quick reading about the car... :hail:
One more little note. The seats in this car are amazing! They would make a great seat for a PT car if they would fit. I've never sat in a seat that 'grabbed' me so well, the bolsters are just about perfect. Unfortunately, I'm a touch big for them, so perhaps this will motivate me to hit the gym a little more often. ;)
And you will all love this part of the story... I get home last night and take the girlfriend for a drive. She drives a BMW and is always going on and on about how much she loves them. So I stop and let her take over and drive for a while. What does she proceed to do? Yep, first big right-hand turn, right into a curb! I saw it happening in slow motion, but nothing I could do. Thankfully that particular wheel had already been curbed, but it's worse now. I'll be calling the local wheel repair place on Monday.
Anyway, here are a couple of pics. If anyone is in the market for a similar car, I can highly recommend the C63!
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2011/06/MA_640-1.jpg
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2011/06/2A_640-1.jpg
Long story short, I found one for sale at a great price just north of Dallas, talked to the dealer about trading the G35 (he offered me $2k more than I was being offered locally, sweet!), and I drove up yesterday to make the swap. There were a few little issues with the car (all cosmetic, except for the nail in the front tire... :willy: ), so they dropped the price a little more to cover me taking care of the issues locally (which I prefer as I really like the local detailer that I use!).
Anyway, I made the 200+ mile roadtrip back in the car yesterday afternoon, and I have to say, I love this car!!! My vehicle before the G35 was a C6, and I really thought I would end up back in one again (I've been Z06 shopping). But this car is just so well built, the power and handling are amazing for a sedan. Granted, this is my first true "luxury" car... But it's quiet, smooth, fast, and the road feedback is just amazing. Did I mention that it's fast?
The bummers are the pretty poor gas mileage, the apparently poor tire wear, and the astronomical cost of mods (headers at $8k, ECM tune at $3.5k although I have found a place that does it for the bargain price of $1.5k). But I can live with those tradeoffs! Oh, and supposedly the engine (rated at 451HP) is simply a detuned version of the AMG engine used in the 'bigger' MB lines, so the tune can easily add 50+ horsepower. At least that's what I've found in my quick reading about the car... :hail:
One more little note. The seats in this car are amazing! They would make a great seat for a PT car if they would fit. I've never sat in a seat that 'grabbed' me so well, the bolsters are just about perfect. Unfortunately, I'm a touch big for them, so perhaps this will motivate me to hit the gym a little more often. ;)
And you will all love this part of the story... I get home last night and take the girlfriend for a drive. She drives a BMW and is always going on and on about how much she loves them. So I stop and let her take over and drive for a while. What does she proceed to do? Yep, first big right-hand turn, right into a curb! I saw it happening in slow motion, but nothing I could do. Thankfully that particular wheel had already been curbed, but it's worse now. I'll be calling the local wheel repair place on Monday.
Anyway, here are a couple of pics. If anyone is in the market for a similar car, I can highly recommend the C63!
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2011/06/MA_640-1.jpg
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2011/06/2A_640-1.jpg