Hey Jeff!
Sorry to read that you BMW was totaled. Hope that your sis will
recover from her injury and shock soon.
Mercedes....mmmmm! What can I say! It's the best engineered car,
aside from BMW, you can buy in the market these days. It's a
benchmark for other cars out there to compare. It's a real
masterpiece.
Don't buy the year 2000 SLK yet. I read that the SLK will have some
revisions in the year 2001. Mainly, there will be some minor
facelifts to the body and the bumper. More importantly, they will
replace the noisy 4-cylinder supercharged engine with a new 3.2L V6
218hp engine that is much much more smoother and quieter than the
4-cylinder engine. The SLK is far far more rigid than the BMW Z3.
Also, like any other Mercedes, the safety features incorporate into
the car is immensed - many many times safer than any other
convertibles out there. However, as you know, like any other
Mercedes products, it's more of a touring car than a sport car.
Meaning, it's car more for cruising in a relax manner than a car
that you throw around the bend.
If you can't wait, and you must have a "sport" Mercedes, I would
recommend the
year 2000 CLK 320. There have already been some changes to it for
the year 2000, namely revised bumper skirts, additional turn signal
indicators on the side view mirrors and better looking wheels. I
think in Singapore, you have CLK 200, CLK 230 and CLK 320. I would
certainly avoid the CLK 200 and the CLK 230. It's powered by a
4-cylinder engine. The CLK 200 engine is sluggish and noisy. The
CLK 230 supercharge engine is very powerful but noisy. The CLK 320
engine is powerful and smooth. But that depends on how much money
you want to spend. The CLK 320 is more expensive than the CLK 230
and CLK 200. If you do not want to spend over board, I say settle
for the CLK 230 if you do not mind about the noise. But, again,
it's no sports car. Unlike BMW, it feels very isolated just like
any other Mercs. But it does gives an excellent high speed
stability and composure.
If you do not mind about 4 door sedan, a C-Class is a good choice.
But don't buy it yet, since the new C-Class will be here in 2001.
The C-Class offers the typical Mercedes sense of solidity and
reliability. Again, it does not have the handling of a BMW, but it
does seem to build to last a long time. Also, compare to BMW 3
series, it does give slightly better high speed composure and
stability.
One last thing I would like to add is that what ever Mercedes model
you choose to buy, no cars out there can compare to the Mercedes
sense of solidity. You will know what I mean if you have driven
one.
