Right then! Where do i start, obviously having not seen the car my expectations were a little low, i expected it to probably come home on the back of a yellow taxi!
But it didn't and no doubt some of you will probably think 'of course it wont break its an MB'
Firstly the spec, heated leather seats, drivers side is electric memory, passenger side is manual adjustment. Auto dimming rear view mirror. Manual air con, not climate control. Electric folding wing mirrors. Electric glass sunroof. 4spd gearbox which i thought was a little strange as i expected it to be 5spd but no big deal.
Intial impressions, only seen it in the dark so far, it's in very good condition. Leather is virtually like new, steering wheel badly needs a leather feed though so will get that done asap to stop it tearing. Drviers door opens positively, doesn't open like its done a million miles, also closes firmly, no sagging - all good so far. Same with the rest of the doors, all open and close well, rear doors need a good push to close, like they haven't been used much, nice. So far little sign of it being clocked.
Starts up perfectly, settles to a good idle, tiny bit of hunting (maybe 100rpm?). Making sure its in S and in to first, engages drive well, no clunking and nice smooth gear change in to 2nd and 3rd. No jolting so thats all good, 4spds are supposed to be a lot stronger than the 5spds so maybe its a blessing.
Heavy accelerator pedal, much more reminisant of Dad's w124 than our w210 E320 but more about that later. Steering is also heavier than the w210 and the suspension is stiffer with much better body control, no harshness which is nice, was expecting it to be crashy on the 18s. I must say it does feel like a low mileage car, it drives so well that it's almost impossible to think that its been clocked. Maybe i have got a genuine bargin here?
Other driving impressions are that lovely straight six, why MB decided to go to V6's i have no idea, they just don't have the same character or willingness to rev as the multivalve sixs, seems bizarre that they fitted the multivalve head and then decided to drop the straight six after a couple of years. Probably down to economy and emmissions?
The exhaust on start up has a nice rumble and isn't intrusive, same on the move you can definitely hear the exhaust but it melts away in to the background. Personally i can't stand loud exhausts, even my supercharged VR6 ran a standard exhaust system so this is perfect.
Acceleration on the move isn't as quick as i expected but its no slouch either, it rapidly clicks up license losing speeds without thinking about it, i'm guessing 3rd is a very long gear here and it seems to stretch on forever before smoothly slotting in to 4th at full bore acceleration. Feels rock steady at this point, nicely weighted steering (is speed sensitive steering fitted to these?) and i can imagine it hammering up to the nurburgring 4up without batting an eyelid.
Which now brings me back to the accelerator pedal, with traction control standard i'm expecting a lighter pedal, but when you turn traction control off it certainly allows alot more wheelspin before it starts cutting back in - it seems that it's been calibrated very differently from the E320 as that will cut back in as soon as a little loss of traction occurs, pulling out of a slippery junction for example. So if it's intended to be heavy because of the far more relaxed traction control then fantastic otherwise it's the only minute negative that i have come across so far!
Couple of faults occured this morning, driving along with cruise activated it dropped out of cruise - any idea why anyone? Also a headlight bulb has blown but thats minor.
So in summary, my search for a C36 has led me into a W210 E36 instead, what could have turned out to be a nightmare car has infact turned out to be a bit of a bargin - i'm very happy indeed and it fulfils its brief of easy to drive comfortable car to get too and from work in and it will keep me entertained and make light work of my Nurburgring trips, might even throw it round a couple of times while i'm out there
