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clk owner at last

scruffy

Active Member
Joined
Jul 28, 2004
Messages
144
Location
Lancashire
Car
W209 CLK 320
having spent months looking for a late model 208 320 couldn't find one good enough to warrant the best part of 20 big ones so have gone the extra mile and bought a 209 320 avantgarde, 52 plate, silver with 18" AMG's, looks fab and can't wait to pick it up next week.

Nearly bought a 53 plate from my local dealership but when I mentioned I had a couple of cars to look at elsewhere they refused to give me a valuation for my c class estate unless I was definately going to buy their car because they were busy and didn't want to waste their time. How rude is that! As it is I got a better car, cheaper and a far nicer experience at an independant.

Would love to hear from other 209 owners about general ownership, also anyone with tracker experience (insurance company insists on it being fitted before collection).

Cheers all
 
Welcome to the 209 experience... I have a CLK and love it to bits, I always preferred the look of the 208 however after a few weeks of ownership I much prefererd the lines of the 209 particuarily the front of the car which looks much more modern!

Hey welcome to the club! out of interest what spec did you go for?
 
Thanks for the nod

current spec is lux climate, parktronic, heated seats and 6 disc, grey 2 tone leather.

Really wanted comand but just couldn't find the right car with everything I liked. Happy to trade off for the 18" AMG's though cos they look fab and hopefully will be able to retro comand if I can find one at a reasonable price.

Will pop a pic in the gallery if I can figure out how.

Cheers
 
scruffy said:
Nearly bought a 53 plate from my local dealership but when I mentioned I had a couple of cars to look at elsewhere they refused to give me a valuation for my c class estate unless I was definately going to buy their car because they were busy and didn't want to waste their time. How rude is that! As it is I got a better car, cheaper and a far nicer experience at an independant.

Great car :bannana: , although I am biased towards the 208. ;)

As for that dealer, what an idiot!!! Do they not want any business? :rolleyes:
 
Congrats ! Am on my 4th CLK (3 208, 1 209!) and they are superb !

Clarky.
 
Interesting to note that both scruffy and rr2000 both prefered the 208 at first.
Theres no doubt that the 209 is the better car but in my opinion the styling is a little soft now,erring towards being stylish over the 208 which is just a georgeous shape overall.
 
I must agree that when I first saw the 208 I though WOW... I will admit that the 209 didn't quite WOW me as much right away I guess because we already had the 208 for that. However having had the 209 for a while now I understand that it is more evolution than revolution and as a result I do feel that the styling is more modern and road presence is much improved for it.

From the rear quarter and side the 209 looks quite like the 208 until you put all the windows down...;) However the front and rear are much more stylish...;)

Hey I love both cars... just you can't get the 208 with the 5 litre...:)
 
I agree with richie in that I was also wowed by the 208 and still do prefer the shape to the 209 but having looked at several I just didn't get the excitement butterflies you need to hand over the cheque, I guess because to buy into a different model merc you want to get the feeling of everything being new and different, personally I have always felt different models should use different components and was disapointed to find most of the switchgear etc was indentical to my current c class which I felt made the car feel older that it was.

As prices for early model 209's are coming down I found them to be a realistic buy against late model 208's leaving the buyer with a definate conundrum.

Personally, as soon as I clapped eyes on my 209 I thought 'I'm aving that' and the deal was done, so maybe you just have to hunt about to find the right car to get your juices flowing irrespective of model.

I also love both models but will still be saving my pennies for a CL (if I can live with the light switch coming out of a c class)
 
As I am not a owner of either, my opinion is unbiased ;)

The W208 is a classic shape and imparts that MB solidity to it, it looks like it is hewn from a rock, and looks a million dollars (pounds).

To me, the W209's metal work is more fussy with extra creases and curves.

Initially the W209 looked a bit odd, but as the family grill has been deployed across other ranges it looks more integrated, and the W208 less so, and consequently looks dated, *not* in terms of styling, but dated that it doesn't mirror the current corporate look.
 
scruffy said:
having spent months looking for a late model 208 320 couldn't find one good enough to warrant the best part of 20 big ones so have gone the extra mile and bought a 209 320 avantgarde, 52 plate, silver with 18" AMG's, looks fab and can't wait to pick it up next week.

Nearly bought a 53 plate from my local dealership but when I mentioned I had a couple of cars to look at elsewhere they refused to give me a valuation for my c class estate unless I was definately going to buy their car because they were busy and didn't want to waste their time. How rude is that! As it is I got a better car, cheaper and a far nicer experience at an independant.

Would love to hear from other 209 owners about general ownership, also anyone with tracker experience (insurance company insists on it being fitted before collection).

Cheers all

I have just come back from test driving a 208 CLK 320 avantgarde. Having had a CLK200 years back, I still have a hankering for one. As some here have already said, its a classic shape and in my opinion still gorgeous. I'm sure that in time the 209 will grow on me. If it wasnt for the tacky two tone interior I'd probably have bought it.

As for trackers, the cheapest you'll find is at http://www.tracker.co.uk The basic one is £199 to install plus £110 per year or £300 for the lifetime you have the car. Most Mercedes dealerships will get it fitted for you in less than 1 day.

Enjoy the new car
 
thanks for the replies, just picked the car up today and after a good sprint up the M6 have to say Im really chuffed, drives superb and love the interior layout.

Just for info anyone considering a tracker should consult their insurance company as most won't accept tracker 'retrieve' or some other systems. My company would only accept tracker 'monitor' or RAC 'trackstar plus' and mine was £450 fitted plus subscription.

Having had a few insurance quotes elsewhere and taking the tracker cost into account it was still cheaper staying with tesco than switching to another company and they kept my c180 on for a month for £18.50 which I thought was a bargain, would reccomend them they've been very helpful with me.

cheers
 
welcome to the club scruffy, it's a great looking car....now where's the pics? LOL

I agree about the tracker issue. Usually the basic system isn't accepted by the insurers. I went the whole hog and got the Smarnav system with the RAC trackstar plus option- £580 fitted plus relevant subs.
 
esox said:
Interesting to note that both scruffy and rr2000 both prefered the 208 at first.
Theres no doubt that the 209 is the better car but in my opinion the styling is a little soft now,erring towards being stylish over the 208 which is just a georgeous shape overall.

I've been thinking of this lately as a friend is about to get a W209. One of the things that attracted me to the W208 is that, although it's technically based on a C class (keeping the cost down), the styling cues are from the E-Class (I think this gives it a more solid feel). Now the W209 is 100% C-Class, both technically and styling wise.

Just my 2p worth.
 
pics in gallery this weekend, let the mods begin!
 

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