petermansell
Active Member
I promised to write up my experiences so here they are.
On paper the cars have similar performance (0.60 5.5 for the AMG and 5.8 for the Audi) yet nothing can beat the effortlessness of the CLK’s engine. I’m only just getting to know the Audi’s engine and the sounds of the car, but I am pretty sure it will never compete with the Merc for sound or effortless performance.
However the Audi does have some features in its favour: fuel consumption – I’ve had the car for two weeks and completed just over 700 miles and averaged 37.9 miles to the gallon whereas this would be about 22mpg in the merc.
The Audi’s suspension (SE trim and 50 profile types on 17 inch wheels) gives a much better ride that the Merc. (I am 54!)
The interior plastics are good: in the merc I used to use a piece of foam on the door rest for my elbow whereas the Audi’s is padded.
The car is very configurable – gearbox, sport diff and steering settings can all be adjusted and so for example, I have the gearbox in dynamic/sport mode and the steering in Comfort (ie lighter).
The hard disk based sat nav is very good and fast. The seats are good but not as comfy as the mercs. It’s silly little things that make the difference. For example, I ordered my car with a reversing camera and this has proved more useful than I envisaged – I can now see the white lines of parking bays behind the car!
So did I make the right choice? I do miss the 55’s engine and pulling power. I don’t miss its suspension. If MB made a C class coupe AMG that cost £47K I would have gone for that but they didn’t. So am I happy with my purchase? It’s too early to tell but I wanted something different and this fits that bill.
Oh – the car looks pretty too!
On paper the cars have similar performance (0.60 5.5 for the AMG and 5.8 for the Audi) yet nothing can beat the effortlessness of the CLK’s engine. I’m only just getting to know the Audi’s engine and the sounds of the car, but I am pretty sure it will never compete with the Merc for sound or effortless performance.
However the Audi does have some features in its favour: fuel consumption – I’ve had the car for two weeks and completed just over 700 miles and averaged 37.9 miles to the gallon whereas this would be about 22mpg in the merc.
The Audi’s suspension (SE trim and 50 profile types on 17 inch wheels) gives a much better ride that the Merc. (I am 54!)
The interior plastics are good: in the merc I used to use a piece of foam on the door rest for my elbow whereas the Audi’s is padded.
The car is very configurable – gearbox, sport diff and steering settings can all be adjusted and so for example, I have the gearbox in dynamic/sport mode and the steering in Comfort (ie lighter).
The hard disk based sat nav is very good and fast. The seats are good but not as comfy as the mercs. It’s silly little things that make the difference. For example, I ordered my car with a reversing camera and this has proved more useful than I envisaged – I can now see the white lines of parking bays behind the car!
So did I make the right choice? I do miss the 55’s engine and pulling power. I don’t miss its suspension. If MB made a C class coupe AMG that cost £47K I would have gone for that but they didn’t. So am I happy with my purchase? It’s too early to tell but I wanted something different and this fits that bill.
Oh – the car looks pretty too!