Believe or not, if you want a 6-speed manual in your run-of-the-mill Mercedes-Benz C-Class, you could actually buy one in the United States. Mercedes offered a small handful of them starting with the W203 and even more surprisingly carried that over to the next generation W204. Before you get too excited, these gearboxes were only offered on non-AMG cars and even finding one is nearly impossible because you can probably guess what the target market is for a base C-Class in America. Today, I finally found one that is worth taking a look at because the interior isn’t falling apart yet. This 2008 C300 up for sale in Maryland looks very nice and even has a good service history. Question is, would you even consider this car seeing as what this one costs over 10 years later?
Tag: 2008
One of the most interesting modern Mercedes-Benz models ever to hit to the United States, at least in my opinion, is the CLK63 AMG Black Series. I never quite understood why the W209, a model that is as pedestrian as it gets, was blessed with Black Series treatment along with the R171 SLK55, R230 SL65, C204 C63 and of course, the SLS. America got all of those models except the SLK55, which again, is surprising seeing that only 349 CLK63 AMG Black Series were ever imported. We didn’t get cheated on these cars as they look much different that the regular CLK63 with massive fender flares, a DTM-style steering wheel and side bolsters on the seats large enough to make the new Honda Civic Type-R jealous. Throw in 500 horsepower, a limited-slip differential, bigger brakes, adjustable suspension and a different exhaust, and you have a car that the market believes will stay expensive for a very long time. This example with a little over 17,000 miles for sale in California, is no different.
CLICK FOR DETAILS: 2008 Mercedes-Benz CLK63 AMG Black Series on eBay
2 CommentsWe’re on a bit of a modified car kick, so I wanted to continue with a superlative BMW. In this case, it’s not a classically modified example, but rather a very recent one. For a long time, modifying cars was relatively easy – they came from the factory usually in a pretty tame form with a lot of potential – from aerodynamic tweaks to suspension overhauls and, of course, more power. But when you consider the E9X BMW M3, you have to really wonder if an aftermarket company could improve upon the design. After all, with the S65 4.0 V8 that revs to 8,400 RPMs and generates nearly 420 horsepower in completely stock form, how much better could you really make it?
That hasn’t stopped companies from trying, and relative unknown IND took on the task of making a Nürburgring-inspired E92 M3 the ultimate dual purpose street/track weapon. Did they succeed, and how have the mods held up?
CLICK FOR DETAILS: 2008 BMW M3 on eBay
4 CommentsOf the various iterations of the GT3 RS to now exist the 997.1 is the one I most consistently return to in my mind. I think that is in part because it was the first model to make it to our shores, but for me it also is the model that brings everything together in just the right package. The Orange/Black ones remain the 911 I aspire to most. The 997.2 is the better car and some may find the looks better, but they’ll cost you a bit more and that nostalgia of being the first still brings me back to the 997.1. They look great, are great performers, and as we’ll see with this one can come in at pretty attractive prices.
I featured one a few months back that pretty much is my ideal. Here we have another one though this time in the much less common color combination of Arctic Silver with Orange accents. It currently resides in southern California and sits with about 20,400 miles on it. As an added bonus, for extra cost it’ll come with a set of very desirable and fantastic factory GT2 seats.
CLICK FOR DETAILS: 2008 Porsche 911 GT3 RS on eBay
2 CommentsI’m going to be upfront here, I don’t really like Sepia Brown on modern Porsches. So this paint-to-sample 2008 Porsche 911 Turbo Coupe, located in Pennsylvania, isn’t the car for me. However, Sepia Brown is a historic Porsche color and I have seen a variety of examples from the early years where it did look quite good. It is a color that has its fans. I just don’t find there to be enough areas of accent or trim on something like the 997 to help break things up. Being a non-metallic color it all ends up looking a little too flat and a little too brown. Perhaps on a GT2 or GT3 RS, with their various vents, wings, and strakes along with ample black trim, it would look quite good. In fact, thinking about it, that just might work.
Nonetheless, this particular 911 Turbo does look in remarkably good condition and with only 10,870 miles on it the mileage is quite reasonable as well. So don’t worry about whether I like it. It’s a good one.