My First Blog on C36 and.....

The image on the side is my last daily ride (C200), preceding my current C36. Both in Silver.

Yesterday the suspension overhaul has started on DC2. All the arms and bushes are to be replaced. Will get the car back on Saturday. Then I can tell if the handling issue is resolved.

Today I road tested a silver 2003 Mini Cooper 1.6L auto. It was a nice little car with nice sharp handling. But I was not impressed by its engine response with a couple flat spots, especially after driving the C36 for a while. In terms of ride it was comfortable but the body structure could be better.

Then the auto 1991 MX5 in red was not that impressive. It was just old, dirty and required a lot of work. Paint work and engine were okay. I was offered to have the car for a period of time.

The C36 remains a comfortable ride, abeit a bit heavy. However there is a slight ride issue. Even the shocks have been replaced (with Mercedes orginal Bilstein AMG shocks) the suspension is not well planted on the rough road surface with a bit too much wheel bouncing. However the traction and handling are sharp, and a bit too grippy for my taste as a daily car. In a nutshell it is just a bit busy and noisy in terms of suspension, otherwise it is very comfortable and a fine ride.

C36 with Nakamichi CD-300

Today I went to Mongkok to fit the CD Receiver Nakamichi CD300. It has a RDS radio and a CD player that can play MP3. RDS is an important feature for me but then only Kenwood, Sony and Nakamichi have RDS. I only had limited choice. I choose the HK$2,200 Nakamichi CD300 with RDS and MP3 - a new release from Naka. Its look is not stylish but who cares since it is in a car of more than 11 years old.

I have decided to not use the amplifier to keep the car light weight and simple. But the Focal speakers remain.

The low end torque is really impressive, not bad for a 3.6L.

The steering is still vague and the whole car does not feel sharp. I check the front camber visually and it does not look like it has enough negative camber. The car still track true and straight but it does not have much feel when the steering wheel is turned. Definitely it needs a wheel alignment check.

C36 Updates 3

It was raining the whole day but I decided to spend the whole day with the C36 which I first got the evening before. First thing I did after breakfast with my wife was to fill the gas tank full of Caltex Gold.

The search for replacement tires started actually a week ago. C36 came with 225/45R17 in the front and 245/40R17 in the rear. They were in bad shape, especially the front Bridgestone OEM, and were of 2002 vintage, micro cracks all over and quite slippery in the wet. My planning was to look at Michelin Pilot Sport 2, Pirelli P-Zero Rosso and the Yokohama AD07, and in that order was my preference. I checked two tire shops, one in Causeway Bay and one in Tse Wan Shan. After many phone calls, checking prices and recommendations, I decided on a freshly made AD07 - manufactured in the 4th week of 2006! AD07 was my third choice on the list because the they don't have the full set of Pilot Sport and the date of manufacturing for the P-Zero were in early 2004.

New tires were installed. The tire shop recommended 32 psi front and 34 psi rear for the C36. There would be trial and error on my part.

I have to thank Peter Wong for his help here on tires. Of course worth a mention were Eddie Wu and his recommendation.

In the first 30km I did on the first day both ride and handling felt wooden. It was comfortable and grippy alright. I was a bit disappointed, but then the tires needed to break in.

After noon I took the car then to the Wax King, my favorite place for detailing and a good wax job. The C36 was given a thorough paint restoration and Austo wax job. The interior received a detailed cleaning, steaming, leather and dashboard treatment. The A/C coil also received some sort of "Wynn" treatment. Now the interior felt fresh again without the old car stuffy stink. The 11-year old looked more like a 5-year old now, inside-out. It just felt great.

An engine flush and oil change (Fuch GT1 0W-20, recommended by Peter Wong) were performed. The engine felt more lively and frictionless.

I got a lot done in one day for the newly acquired C36, despite the poor lousy rainy weather.

I took the car out with my wife to have a dinner. She could tell the difference.

First night out on C36

It was a Friday and it rained. It was a full and busy day at the office but I couldn't wait to get out to the Pak Lok Garage to greet and collect my C36. Tiki asked me to collect the car Saturday morning but indeed I couldn't wait another minute.

By the time I reached the garage it is already 7pm. I grabbed the key, took a quick look at the new roof lining, the stiffened front chair (new springs fitted because they sagged) and also the new leather on the steering wheel. In 5 minutes I was ready to go with my wife Tiki for a pizza dinner.

Boy, it was slippery. The low-rev torque made it fun and easy to spin the rear wheels in the wet, especially from the traffic light. And the tires came with the car are at least 4 years old, after checking the datecodes. Tire replacement was imminent.

The ride quality and the refinement was another sweet surprise. The damping was excellent but the magical Mecredes floating ride characteristics (C200 had it) was all gone. Damned. But the new ride quality was very much acceptable. No complaint.

The C36 tracked straight and true, but I found the car vague in the center and had not much steering feel. I was not happy with that because the C200 and C240 had better handling. I could only blame this one the poor tire condition as well as the wheel alignment. I was not eager to drive fast.

Another observation was that it was easy to get to 100kph and sometimes 130kph. But it felt like 80kph. It did not feel fast, especially when other cars were doing the same speed as I did. I was wondering if the speedometer was inaccurate. I needed to follow some minibuses in the tunnels so I could check their big speed display against mine when we would be doing the same speed.

Anyway I was tired of the work in the office and I was ready to go home after a lot of delicious pizza.

C36 - The First Encounter

Ah Shing of the Pak Lok garage rang me up the evening before - the C36 was waiting.

Tiki and I went to Pak Lok (our Mercedes specialist) Garage around 11am to look at the Mercedes C36. Boy, it was dirty after sitting for six months in a resident at Shek O. It had no license nor insurance. At our own risk, we took it out for a brief test drive and fueled it with $200 worth of Caltex Gold. The fuel level was extreme low.

The C36 actually felt fine and didn't feel like a 11-year old grandpa. It was more like a 8-year old uncle. The engine idled smoothly and had plenty of low-rev grunt. Gear change at sports mode was very snappy and reasonably smooth in econ mode. Ride quality was much higher than I expected. Pak Lok told me that the shocks and the suspension bushes were recently replaced. Engine temperature was stabilized at 90 degree Celsius which was a sweet surprise even though the ambient temperature was about 20 degree Celsius. The air conditioner worked very well.

Aside from the sagging roof lining, all the interior and the leather were in good condition showing negligible sign of wear. Tiki said the interior in general was better than that of the 2-year younger C200. Personally I like the light grey/wood insert color scheme in the C200 than the all black interior in C36. But there was no choice. All C36s came in with black interior, as far as I knew.

The ambient temperature display inside the dashboard was not working. The front lamp height adjustment did not work either and also pointed at the lowest angle.

The decision was made, after searching for more than six months. I wish I could find myself a late model C36 with 5-speed transmission, which was available in UK and USA, but not in Hong Kong. There were two 1997 C36 but I was told they had only 4-speed transmission. So I decided that I should go with the best C36 I could find, rather than one that meet all my requirements.

I always thought I could live with a small engine capacity car for daily use. However after road testing the all new Camry 3.5L I then understood that there was no substitute for "cubic inches"! I had looked at many cars, tried them, but eventually decided that C36 could be the right one, with more torque and power that the excellent C200 did not have.

And in the afternoon I confirmed to Pak Lok for the trade-in of my C200 with the C36. Within a week after Pak Lok had performed the interior treatment I would be the proud owner of this silver C36.