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Hi all - thinking of driving down to Stuttgart in December/January... German law requires winter- or all season tyres. Any recommendations for an '09 R230 on 19" rims? Are all season tyres a good idea?

Is Howard still at Haden in Balsall Heath? Might be worth asking him.

I traded in my beloved 07 CLS 320CDI (Airmatic) because of the Birmingham CAZ. As it coincided with a major time-related milestone (the magnitude of which ensures that children have largely vacated the premises), I took the opportunity to upgrade to an R230 SL350 which - although on an 09 plate...

Thanks everyone... I think the answer is pretty clear!

Well, when you put it like that...

Hi everyone - my new black SL350 is looking not so shiny already. Looks like pollen or something has settled all over it. I'm considering taking it to my local "Hand Car Wash", which does a fine job for a fiver, albeit with military-grade pressure washers on the first pass. Now, it looks to me...

... actually, thinking about it, the route guidance voice speaks over whatever audio is playing. I seem to remember that was not the case on my previous MB (07 CLS). In that car, I think the music or radio would fade out before the route guidance voice was heard. Is that a specific setting? (In...

Hi, the route guidance voice on my COMAND (in a 2009 R230) is very "tinny" (all highs and mids, no "bottom end") and low quality. CD and other audio is fine. It's not the common volume issue (I can adjust the voice volume just fine). It almost sounds as if the voice is coming out of a different...

It's really interesting that those who have ABC cars love them - and that those who don't warn everyone off them. It's like that with Airmatic too. And I never had a moment's trouble with that (well, one broken strut that cost about £150 to sort IIRC). But with the 350 it's largely a moot...

Yes, I've come from an Airmatic CLS, so the R230 Sportpackage is a bit of a shock (without the absorber). Gone is the pillowy levitation across the local potholes, now replaced by a gleeful crashing through them, like a kid in wellies in the rain.

It may have to come to that. Over the years I've become a Parktronic junkie, I realise.

Getting to know the car gradually... lovely machine. It has its quirks, I'm sure. The biggest (so far) seems to be that the wind deflector completely obscures the rear parktronic indicator when in the 'down' position. So much so that on the test drive I couldn't find the damn thing at all...

Yeah, next service will be a few K shy of 80, so I'll get that done then. It had a full MB service at around 40, so I'm assuming the first ATF change was in scope there.

Too late, alas. It was delivered yesterday. The noise was looked into as agreed, but the dealer says there's no identifiable issue.

The SL350 has finally arrived! It sat on the drive for about five minutes before a neighbour christened it 'The Batmobile'... a name it will now carry in perpetuity. The obsidian black really suits it and flatters its age: it does not look like a 12 year old car. Drives superbly, too. Lovely...

I'm in the city, so I just wouldn't get the value out of a 63 unless I wanted it for the noise alone (which plenty of city boys round here do... they love the tunnels). For me, it's going to be 90% cruising in style - round town and up and down the motorways, with the occasional manual blast...

Yes, I was surprised at how responsive the paddles were, actually. The 7g box on the CLS is solid but can be ponderous with the diesel. So I kind of expected a lack of willingness to drop gears in the SL too. But it seemed to love it. It felt like there was a lot of fun to be had. I was also...

SL65 out of my league, unfortunately 😊... I honestly think my impression was just down to the change from the turbodiesel that delivers all the grunt low down. The V6 spins up real fast and it seems to love to rev (reminded me of my Alfa in a way). And like all mercs, you end up going faster...

Thanks for all the hints + tips, everyone. I drove am 09 350 with sport pack today and it seemed pretty sweet, so I put some money down. Coming from the CLS320CDI, I realise I need to get used to to petrol engines again. The v6 makes a great noise, but acceleration seems moderate given the...

OK, cheers. I checked the MOT history of that vehicle online and it has frequent fails on tyres and suspension. I'm wondering if it's a sign it's been ragged. Nice spec (Grand Edition AMG) otherwise.