Mistaken Identity: Mercedes-Benz C230 Sport Coupe

[The Vanishing Boy]

Take a look at this:
http://www.edmunds.com/new/2003/mer...2drhatchback18l4cylsc6m/specs.html?id=lin0018

What gives?!
This cars badge says it has 2.3L engine but, actually this car has only has a 1.8L engine, so it supposed to be C180, looks like those DaimlerChrysler are trying to manupulate us people . And this is not a MBZ's first, The MB100 van [exclusive only in most parts of Asia] (actually its a SsangYong Istana), it has a 2.9L diesel engine.

 

[1X83Z]

Here's why it's the C230 coupe rather than the C180 coupe:

In other parts of the world, Mercedes sells a C180 sedan. In America, the base Mercedes sedan is a C230. If Mercedes called the coupe a C180 coupe, Mercedes believes people would wonder where the other forms of C180 were (in truth, they wouldn't), so instead Mercedes calls it a C230 coupe so people know it's the coupe version of the base C-class sedan.

 

[The Vanishing Boy]

But it is still wrong, it will result of misleading consumers on buying a smaller engined car without knowing it. I know that there is a C180 sedan in some parts of the world, but Ameriacans are used to the traditional MBZ's labeling method. For example: C, E, SL, CLK, etc.=the class/size of the car and the 230, 320, 500, etc.=the size of the engine.

 

[1X83Z]

Many consumers do not know or understand that the number signifies the litres, for one, and if you're smart enough to know what the numbers mean yet too stupid to check to make sure what engine it has, I hope you end up either dead or thirsty in the desert.

 

[The Vanishing Boy]

 

[1X83Z]

The ML500 has 5.5 litres, if I'm not mistaken.

 

[The Vanishing Boy]

I think what you're talking about is the ML55 AMG that has a 5.5L engine, the ML500 has its "own" V8 engine.

 

[1X83Z]

Yeah, that's where I got confused. I didn't know the ML55 was still on sale, even.

 

[Hooligan]

Originally posted by The Vanishing Boy
I think what you're talking about is the ML55 AMG that has a 5.5L engine, the ML500 has its "own" V8 engine.

Yes, there are separate 5.0L and 5.5L V8 engines. As for Mercedes "mis-naming" their cars, it's been going on for years, primarily at the low end. The early 90's 230E consisted of three different engines, all inline-4, over a three-year period.

BMW does the same thing: the 3-Series compact has a 2.0L 318ti. The previous compact had a 1.8L, so they kept the popular "318" name. It is, after all, just a name.

 

[1X83Z]

Originally posted by Hooligan

BMW does the same thing: the 3-Series compact has a 2.0L 318ti. The previous compact had a 1.8L, so they kept the popular "318" name. It is, after all, just a name.

BMW's problem was that people caught on and suddenly '318' meant 'weak.' So that model (sedan; coupe[?]) was, uh, dropped quietly here in America.