Hey Steve... Great to hear you're still luv'n it. Happy New Year btw. Some things happening on the auto front.Originally posted by MBenzNL
hehe...32.000 airmiles during my last 6 week install trip...I LOVE my job!
Anyways, Steve...do you still have your 98 C43? How is life in Eaton's Neck?
Sure, still got it. Currently, my wife drives it a few miles to the train station four days a week. And I drive it weekend plus every now and then. I'm trying to keep the mileage down. I drive a Jeep as my daily driver [put a =killer= sound system in it ... using Alpine so have the integrated phone kit for the Nokia 6310i phone too!] Since it's a lot "slower" it fits in much better to living around here. (only downside of living out here) Might replace it with a Subaru Forester XT as my daily driver this year -- or the Forester STI if it comes to the USA for 2005-2006 -- for both better mileage & performance quicker then the stock C43.
The SLK went back after the lease was up. We were thinking of keeping it. But after driving the new model before my lease was up, and as it's basically better in every respect, we'll be buying an SLK350 or SLK55 [ya!] to replace it this year.
Back to the C43. Since I find I can only get about $15K - $20K for the car, I've decided not to get rid of it and instead, mod it like'a EuroHotRod. The C43's a strong car, which held up to my driving very well. Even though I could get the manual tranni I want in other contenders, don't know if an Audi or Cadi CTS-V or other would hold up. Plus with all the warranty work I had done up until recently, I should be good for the rest of the life of the C43 :ermm: (will have to be happy with the manual in the Jeep and Subaru if I buy it)
I'm 99% sure I'll be getting a complete speedybenz suspension in the near term (I have to decide real soon if I should just get it, or fly out to Cali to test drive his car first); will definitely be adding the Kleemann LSD at the time the suspension is put in; might do a supercharger later this year too.
After going through 4 front Brabus rims, I've junked them all [got $56 whole dollars for 6 rims from the recycler; a full set of Brabus rims plus two add'l AMG rims ]. Using Nokian RSIs on OZ Supperleggera for the winter. Trying to decide what to buy for the summer tires.
So what did you pay for the AMG model 171 rims over there in Europe? They look great on your car. They were quite expensive here when I wanted to buy them (though dunno if they were mis-priced on Tire Rack a few months ago, as they were about $200 more expensive then, then they are now). I would have loved to use them for my winter tires. But these OZs are only around 18lbs and cost less then $300.
Anyway, that's pretty much all that's up in the automotive realm with me. (probably "more info then you wanted to know" too)
Best Regards,
Steve