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Deleted member 37751
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I've had the C43 a fortnight now (and the C32 four month!) so I thought I'd write down a bit of an insight into the ownership of these two great cars.
C32:
As most of you know, this has been a labour of love project, it's certainly cost me a fair bit more than I'd anticipated, but such is life...Anyway...
There are a few noticeable differences in the nature of these cars; the '32 loves to rev, it just loves to pull and pull all the way through the revs. It also feels lighter, I'm not entirely sure why, obviously I'd expect the engine to be lighter due to this 'only' having six cylinders and a supercharger, but it certainly feels more sprightly. It seems to have a very similar soul to the C36 that I owned, and I think that a six cylinder suits the C-Class more than an eight.
Because of its relatively quiet Q-Car nature, it's not too hard to be into treble digits without noticing, the C32 just wants to keep going and goin from the first rev to the last.
The interior feels as though it wraps around you and the buttons on the dash seem to be closer to the fingertip, although in the W202's defence, the interior does seem to be chiselled out of a block of granite...
0-60mph and 40-80mph this car simply loves, once you are in tune with the 'box, you will find that you look end up taking the long route to your destination; it took me two hours to nip for some bread and milk the other day...
C43:
I think the fact that this is my second C43 says a lot really, a V8 shouldn't really be in a car of this size but it is and it's wonderful.
After stepping out of the C32 and straight into the C43, my first impressions are how lazier the W202 is; if the car didn't have a de-cat, you could just happily waft about with hardly anyone casting a glance in your direction, such is the relaxed nature of the beast. If you don't like the sound of this engine at full chat, you need to be on the Prius forum because the car makes such a wonderful cacophony that immediately brings a smile to your face and it is a sound that I never bore of.
Whereas in my C36 it was crying out for a manual 'box (and the C32 to an extent), this five speed auto suits the car completely and utterly; you can be mooching along at 40ish, drop it into second gear, into third at 60 and then just sit back and enjoy the ride...
The interior is feeling a little dated now, but I think it's on the cusp of being 'retro' so that isn't a big concern really to be fair; there was a massive design change between the W202 and W203 that I think you prefer one or the other and not necessarily both.
To summarise
If you are contemplating buying a sub £5k car as a weekend toy, you can't go wrong with either; the C43 would be 'cheaper' to own because there is less to go wrong, but on the other hand the C32 is a lot faster and a lot more tuneable; it's not much of a stretch to get the C32 past 400bhp, whereas your options are really limited with the C43.
C32:
As most of you know, this has been a labour of love project, it's certainly cost me a fair bit more than I'd anticipated, but such is life...Anyway...
There are a few noticeable differences in the nature of these cars; the '32 loves to rev, it just loves to pull and pull all the way through the revs. It also feels lighter, I'm not entirely sure why, obviously I'd expect the engine to be lighter due to this 'only' having six cylinders and a supercharger, but it certainly feels more sprightly. It seems to have a very similar soul to the C36 that I owned, and I think that a six cylinder suits the C-Class more than an eight.
Because of its relatively quiet Q-Car nature, it's not too hard to be into treble digits without noticing, the C32 just wants to keep going and goin from the first rev to the last.
The interior feels as though it wraps around you and the buttons on the dash seem to be closer to the fingertip, although in the W202's defence, the interior does seem to be chiselled out of a block of granite...
0-60mph and 40-80mph this car simply loves, once you are in tune with the 'box, you will find that you look end up taking the long route to your destination; it took me two hours to nip for some bread and milk the other day...
C43:
I think the fact that this is my second C43 says a lot really, a V8 shouldn't really be in a car of this size but it is and it's wonderful.
After stepping out of the C32 and straight into the C43, my first impressions are how lazier the W202 is; if the car didn't have a de-cat, you could just happily waft about with hardly anyone casting a glance in your direction, such is the relaxed nature of the beast. If you don't like the sound of this engine at full chat, you need to be on the Prius forum because the car makes such a wonderful cacophony that immediately brings a smile to your face and it is a sound that I never bore of.
Whereas in my C36 it was crying out for a manual 'box (and the C32 to an extent), this five speed auto suits the car completely and utterly; you can be mooching along at 40ish, drop it into second gear, into third at 60 and then just sit back and enjoy the ride...
The interior is feeling a little dated now, but I think it's on the cusp of being 'retro' so that isn't a big concern really to be fair; there was a massive design change between the W202 and W203 that I think you prefer one or the other and not necessarily both.
To summarise
If you are contemplating buying a sub £5k car as a weekend toy, you can't go wrong with either; the C43 would be 'cheaper' to own because there is less to go wrong, but on the other hand the C32 is a lot faster and a lot more tuneable; it's not much of a stretch to get the C32 past 400bhp, whereas your options are really limited with the C43.
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