Mercedes CLK 320
 

Well it could be time for something completely different.

I've had a Subaru for the last three years and I'm literally sick of feeling every bump and listening to every rattle.

Anyway, I've fancied one of the CLK's for a while now (3.2 automatic) and had the chance for a quick drive last night (albeit as a passenger). Beautiful car. Still felt powerful on the take off and had plenty of torque mid range. Best bit is its £200.00 cheaper to insure than my Subaru.

Has anyone got any advice on these. Heard they do 30mpg which would be great but what about running costs (services etc).

My CLK430 did 11MPG :eek: - 320 V6 should be much better. They are super comfortable etc but I got rid of mine for the scoob as it was just like driving a big sofa around - just not fun !!!!

go for the clk230 komp. more punch than clk320 and returns better mpg as well.

compared my 230 with mates 320. nothing much in performance as we expect but mine did return better mpg.

big sofas they are. servicing is fairly reasonable if not with dealers. mines out of warranty so had it done by a friend. parts are ok. running costs compared to scoob is way cheaper. i know.... owned 2 scoobs before this.

best thing is not much u can do to the clk whereas upgrade parts for scoobs keeps popping up in the wish list.

anyway, dropm me a mail if requie more detailed info.

mmmm. 230 CLK Komp. Might have to have a look at one of these if its got enough get up and go. Guess it would be cheaper to buy/ insure again?

Did the 3.2 only come as an automatic-thats what the insurance say. Priced up an Evo 7 for the same £17k that I have to spend and its £1400 to insure compared with £550 for the CLK. I think I'd miss the "fun" associated with the Subaru though but I fancy the luxury associated with the Merc. It was just the servicing costs etc that worried me slightly. That said I spend a fortune on my Subaru so I probably wouldn't see too much difference.

try the 270 CDI, wife has one arriving in march, check out it's torque:

Number of cylinders 5
Number of valves 20
Displacement [CC] 2685
HP 170
Maximum Torque [Nm/RPM] 400@1800-2600

Have a look on www.mbworld.org There seems to be a lot of information on there. I have heard a lot of people say the build quality on current Mercedes is not briliant though and that they've become too technical.

They are very nice cars though - I especially like the new CLK cabriolet. I think it's the nicest looking of its kind.

I drove a last model 230k CLK and other 4 cylinder mercs and I've driven some V6's including a E320 with the V6.

The 230k engine and gearbox are good very good box makes the most of the performance good progressive kickdown nippy almost no surge from the supercharger but the 320 is smoother to the red line and you can notice this when you are pushin on and using he kickdown a lot (the 230 is good though)

I've owned a couple of Mercs with the 430 V8 an ML and an S class, great engine and gearbox super smooth linear power from 1000rpm right to the red line. I got a lot more than the 11mpg mentioned above :o despite being a fairly quick driver I got around 18mpg round town (S430) nearly 25 mg at 85 mpg and its bigger an heavier. 11 mpg you must have been hoseing it everywhere or on the track ! :D

The CLK430 are usually loaded with Kit and are bargains, 0-100 in around 15 secs, excellent in gear and kickdown acceleration, if you can live with the MPG great value.

RLE

i made the switch from a MY98 turbo to a CLK 320 MY99 - for the same reasons.. long trips and needing more comfort - it returns 30-31MPG on a run and is silky smooth.
everything as you would expect is bolted together perfectly and on a 3 year old car you get a hell of a lot of car for 20K - lots of twiddly bits!
Acceleration is fine and it is pretty easy to spin the wheels even with the traction control on (takes a second or so for it to catch it).
i would only change it for the AMG version if i had the money and could afford to fill it up or a CLK 320 Komp - which is available in the USA
that Said there is a Kompressor kit for about 7.5K which pushes the BHP just north of 300

anyhow 230Komp or 320 you wont regret it

Well thanks for your replies. I think I'll start looking and make sure I find a nice one. Sure if the worse happens I can just trade it in against the Evo 7 anyway.

Thanks once again for your valued opinions.