Desertnate
05-17-2004, 06:51 AM
Attended the Mercedes C-Spot Drive Party yesterday in St. Louis. Overall it was a very nice event and my wife and I enjoyed it.
OVER ALL IMPRESSION: The food was good, though a little foo-foo-y gormet for my tastes. The crowds were not bad the longer we were there; an advantage of taking the 2-4pm time slot and wanting to drive EVERY car. The staff were very helpful an nice. This was the first time I had ever seen a Porta-Jon trailer with real oak trim and fake marble panneling! (much nicer looking than the one in my house) The "Center" stage car was a C230 Kompressor with a 6-Speed :thumbup: . The 4-matic demo on the roller ramps where one wheel pulled the car was impressive even though Merc isn't the only one with this capability, I had never seen it in action.
The test course was tough, with some rather interesting turns, one of which was barely the width of the car :yikes: . My wife claims I hit a cone, but could produce no evidence... :D Sadly though it was pretty short and limited speeds to around 45mph at most.
Enough of that garbage...on to the important stuff...the CARS!
C32 AMG: Was driven on a seperate course by a "professional" driver (I think they were salesmen and other employees who had been to several driving schools). It was the first time I had ever been on board in a car with a trained driver and found it pretty entertaining. The car was quick, with great brakes and an amazing exhaust note. While it stuck to the track well (PS2's helped I am sure), I found the body role dissapointing.
NO STICK AVAILABLE!!! :tsk:
Now from order of least to most enjoyable driving experience (IMO) are the cars I drove...
C240 4-Matic Wagon (driven by wife): :yawn:
C240 Wagon: :yawn: Forgot to put the transmission in "manual mode" at the start. Mashed the throttle at the start...foot hit carpet...hello *tap* *tap* is this thing on...the shift hit just as I arrived at the first turn :tsk: felt like it started in second!
C320 Sedan :yawn:
C320 Sport Sedan: Fairly fun, power came on quick and easy, grip (once again on PS2's) was good, but I was not fond of the body roll. Steering was pretty quick, but it was rather numb and you could feel the boost in the tight bits.
C230 Kompressor Sport Sedan: The most entertaining of the lot. Power came on much quicker than the 320 (IMO) and the ride felt stiffer with less body roll. While it only has 189hp, I bet it could be pretty entertaining with a stick. I was told the suspension between it at the C320 Sport were the same, I was not convinced. Maybe its the weight difference... :dunno:
Bottom line it was fun, most people drove like the elderly but myself and a couple others there made up for that. :D
Oh...don't worry, I won't be trading in my Bimmer any time soon. I would still take my '99 323i SP over any of those cars any day...
OVER ALL IMPRESSION: The food was good, though a little foo-foo-y gormet for my tastes. The crowds were not bad the longer we were there; an advantage of taking the 2-4pm time slot and wanting to drive EVERY car. The staff were very helpful an nice. This was the first time I had ever seen a Porta-Jon trailer with real oak trim and fake marble panneling! (much nicer looking than the one in my house) The "Center" stage car was a C230 Kompressor with a 6-Speed :thumbup: . The 4-matic demo on the roller ramps where one wheel pulled the car was impressive even though Merc isn't the only one with this capability, I had never seen it in action.
The test course was tough, with some rather interesting turns, one of which was barely the width of the car :yikes: . My wife claims I hit a cone, but could produce no evidence... :D Sadly though it was pretty short and limited speeds to around 45mph at most.
Enough of that garbage...on to the important stuff...the CARS!
C32 AMG: Was driven on a seperate course by a "professional" driver (I think they were salesmen and other employees who had been to several driving schools). It was the first time I had ever been on board in a car with a trained driver and found it pretty entertaining. The car was quick, with great brakes and an amazing exhaust note. While it stuck to the track well (PS2's helped I am sure), I found the body role dissapointing.
NO STICK AVAILABLE!!! :tsk:
Now from order of least to most enjoyable driving experience (IMO) are the cars I drove...
C240 4-Matic Wagon (driven by wife): :yawn:
C240 Wagon: :yawn: Forgot to put the transmission in "manual mode" at the start. Mashed the throttle at the start...foot hit carpet...hello *tap* *tap* is this thing on...the shift hit just as I arrived at the first turn :tsk: felt like it started in second!
C320 Sedan :yawn:
C320 Sport Sedan: Fairly fun, power came on quick and easy, grip (once again on PS2's) was good, but I was not fond of the body roll. Steering was pretty quick, but it was rather numb and you could feel the boost in the tight bits.
C230 Kompressor Sport Sedan: The most entertaining of the lot. Power came on much quicker than the 320 (IMO) and the ride felt stiffer with less body roll. While it only has 189hp, I bet it could be pretty entertaining with a stick. I was told the suspension between it at the C320 Sport were the same, I was not convinced. Maybe its the weight difference... :dunno:
Bottom line it was fun, most people drove like the elderly but myself and a couple others there made up for that. :D
Oh...don't worry, I won't be trading in my Bimmer any time soon. I would still take my '99 323i SP over any of those cars any day...