First impressions & fuel consumption surprise!

[Tshwane]

Went to fetch my son in Mpumalanga yesterday. It's a 400km roundtrip of which about 60% is done on the N4 highway. The rest is country roads varying from fair to bad.

My impression of the CLK so far:

Likes:
She's an excellent freeway cruiser. Surprisingly good economy. With distronic set a 129km/h she returned 9.2l/100km,(25.4mpg) which is quite a fair bit better than my Navara 4.0 on the same route. I was amazed at the ease with which the boot swallowed all Jnr's baggage. Roadholding and stopping power also very good with less than expected bodyroll. Amazing overtaking acceleration! I was looking forward to each opportunity to pass! Oh and last but not least, the soundtrack's great!

Dislikes:
With the infinite seat adjustment positions available, I just cannot seem to find a position that's just right for me. Distronic's not for me or I just don't know how to operate it. When someone overtakes and cuts in front to soon the Distronic system applies brakes to keep the preset (in my case 50m) gap even though the car in front is accelerating! The side mirrors are too small. She does not like the bumpy backroads of Mpumalanga at all! I was doing my best to avoid all the potholes but those 245/40's does not inspire confidence there!

Well, it's early days but I can honestly say I'm not head over heals in love. Nice tourer, but far from perfect!

PS - Can the Distronic be switched out to just operate as a "normal" speed control device?

 

[BlackC55]

Why don't you try the limiter function on your cruise control for a "normal" speed control device.

 

[Howard]

Seems like your 'likes' far outweigh the 'dislikes' ....

So , you love the fuel economy , power , spaceousness , roadholding and general handling and driving it excites you ... all good things !

You don't like .... the small mirrors , fiddley seats ( the seats in our CLK 430 are fiddley to set up , but once you find the perfect position , put it in the memory and you'll never go wrong , but they do take a while to find , i'll grant ) , the way the big tyres crash in potholes ..... this is going to happen in any car with big low profile tyres , let alone a big cruiser .... the only thing that this wouldn't happen in would be a 4x4 (maybe you've got used to the Navarra on the potholes ? ) all small things ....

The CLK was never meant as a quick handling sports car , but as you say , a tourer .... which judging by your 'likes' it does well ....

Anyway , it sounds like you have a lovely car , i hope you enjoy it ..

Good luck

H

 

[Tshwane]

Why don't you try the limiter function on your cruise control for a "normal" speed control device.

How do I do that?

As I understand it the Speedtronic only acts as a nanny to limit max. speed and not to hold the vehicle at the specified speed? Or am I missing something here?

 

[Tshwane]

Seems like your 'likes' far outweigh the 'dislikes' ....

So , you love the fuel economy , power , spaceousness , roadholding and general handling and driving it excites you ... all good things !

You don't like .... the small mirrors , fiddley seats ( the seats in our CLK 430 are fiddley to set up , but once you find the perfect position , put it in the memory and you'll never go wrong , but they do take a while to find , i'll grant ) , the way the big tyres crash in potholes ..... this is going to happen in any car with big low profile tyres , let alone a big cruiser .... the only thing that this wouldn't happen in would be a 4x4 (maybe you've got used to the Navarra on the potholes ? ) all small things ....

The CLK was never meant as a quick handling sports car , but as you say , a tourer .... which judging by your 'likes' it does well ....

Anyway , it sounds like you have a lovely car , i hope you enjoy it ..

Good luck

H

Thanks Howard! Don't get me wrong, I love the car. I have lusted after a CLK since when the became available here in SA around 2002. Was never in position, financially speaking to acquire a decent one, until now that is!

As you guys probably know cars are relatively expensive here when compared to Europe and The States.

So my expectations is probably very high, almost like meeting a film star or so.

My previous car was an Audi Avant 1.8T. A great car that gave my nothing but excellent service and also a very good cruiser with economy to boot.

It's now a case of getting acquianted with the CLK and get used to the way she does business!

 

[jonm]

Speedtronic has 2 modes if you like, one a a speed limiter (the nanny to limt speed as you describe), the other a true cruise control...to maintain a set speed.

That what mine does anyway..but I don't have a CLK

 

[Tshwane]

Speedtronic has 2 modes if you like, one a a speed limiter (the nanny to limt speed as you describe), the other a true cruise control...to maintain a set speed.

That what mine does anyway..but I don't have a CLK

Yes, mine has that also. I inadvertently activated the speed limiter yesterday and for a moment I thought something had gone horribly wrong when the car wouldn't accelerate!

 

[MBManInKen]

Speedtronic has 2 modes if you like, one a a speed limiter (the nanny to limt speed as you describe), the other a true cruise control...to maintain a set speed.

Distronic is the cruise control. At least on the W220, there does not seem to be a way of using the CC without activating the radar, but perhaps other models do have that feature.

 

[MBManInKen]

With the infinite seat adjustment positions available, I just cannot seem to find a position that's just right for me.

I don't understand what the infinite adjustments have to do with finding the right position. On a system with fixed interval settings, surely it is harder to find the exact right position, as you ca only achieve some approximation of the correct one?

 

[Diesel Benz]

Distronic is the cruise control. At least on the W220, there does not seem to be a way of using the CC without activating the radar, but perhaps other models do have that feature.

The cruise radar can be switched off from the instrument cluster menu on the W221, likely then also on the W220. Probably only makes sense if one wants to use cruise at those small areas of each country where 24 GHz radar use is not allowed.

 

[MBManInKen]

The cruise radar can be switched off from the instrument cluster menu on the W221, likely then also on the W220. Probably only makes sense if one wants to use cruise at those small areas of each country where 24 GHz radar use is not allowed.

Well, I just had a look through my owner's manual and while it discusses the distronic switch to turn off the proximity alert and the thumbwheel to regulate the distance gap, it does not mention any way to disable the radar.

The only related setting in the instrument cluster I can find is for the permanent speed delimiter for winter tyres.

Perhaps later models had additional controls/functions.

 

[glojo]

As you guys probably know cars are relatively expensive here when compared to Europe and The States.

So my expectations is probably very high, almost like meeting a film star or so.

What a pity you did not get the oppurtunity to test and evaluate the car before buying it.

How about jumping into a different brand and trying to find as many faults as possible? That might help to eliminate some of the minus points? I have never been a fan of low profile, wide tyres and it sounds like the roads your using might soon encourage yoiu to replace them

Good luck with the car,
John

 

[Tshwane]

What a pity you did not get the oppurtunity to test and evaluate the car before buying it.

How about jumping into a different brand and trying to find as many faults as possible? That might help to eliminate some of the minus points? I have never been a fan of low profile, wide tyres and it sounds like the roads your using might soon encourage yoiu to replace them

Good luck with the car,
John

I come from an Audi, no faults there!