In 1886, Carl Benz built a motorized tricycle. His first four-wheeler, the Victoria, was built in 1893. The first production car was the 1894 Benz Velo which participated in the first recorded car race, the Paris-Rouen race. In 1895, Benz built his first truck.
Since then, Mercedes Benz has gone from strength to Strength and now builds some of the greatest cars on the market. And teamed with Mc Claren, they stand a great chance of their drivers winning the GP's

Choosing
I had just sold my TVR, why you ask, because dad's a middle aged softie who like being comfortable, it was also not feasible to have 2 seats we needed four. So what car? it had to be between Audi, BMW and Mercedes. The BMW was soon knocked out as the quality and style of their cars doesn't match the other two. The Audi had great looks but was far too expensive, I couldn't spend more than £15000, so I began searching for my Merc, It was first either a 230,240,270,320,500 or a cheap 55. The 230 and 240 were far too slow and I needed something with more of a beast factor. The 500 and the 55 were far too expensive, so that left the 270, and the 320. I ended up looking for the 320; this is because of the extra speed and style. I started on EBay, where else and began bidding but never met the reserve, so I went to the dealers websites and eventually found one, via eBay I hasten to add, for £16000, 2003, excellent condition, full service history, the works. So I went for it.

Sound
It sounds like a roaring lion, and has the volume to drive anyone of the road and let me overtake them. The revs are great, and if you are in automatic it has the great sound that you expect from a car of this calibre. I love the way it sounds as it cruises along, and how it doesn't lurch when I change gear. It really is a fantastic car.

Speed and Acceleration
This is a very fast car, and while it only does 0-60 in 6.2 seconds approx. from 60-100 it really comes into its own, it has a great deal more to give past 100mph, but I haven't been in the right place to try it. You can tell it only really gets going at 80mph; it makes you want to take it to the next level. The acceleration itself is incredible, it is so smooth and it doesn't have any sort of lurch to the car, unless you drive like you want a lurch in the car.

Economy
On average, I do about 30mpg, which isn't planet saving stuff, but you don't feel the dent in your wallet too much. It is quite bad for economy when driving around the town with a lot of stopping and starting, so it's not a great city car, but if you live in the country, or primarily use the motorways, it will be perfect, and can do around 34mpg., but the lowest it does is about

Pictures of Mercedes CLK 320 coupé

The car

Features
Firstly, the car has the ability to switch between comfort and sport mode, all this does is adjust the suspension and the transmission, but you do notice the difference. It's a great feature on the car, and it makes it feel like two cars in one. It also has headlamp washers, these are one of the highlights on the car, driving through town if you see a tramp, get those headlamp washers on, they're really powerful, and don't blur your vision at all. The car also has Rain sensitive wipers, these change speed according to how much rain is falling, and can turn them selves on and off, but they can also be used manually. The car also has electric wingmirrors, these are very useful when parking the car in the garage, and you can make sure that if you are going down narrow roads, that you won't hit anything. The car also has electric seats, you can move up and down, forwards and backwards, tilt forwards and backwards and adjust the headrests. There are also 3 memory settings that you can use, as there are primarily only two of us that use the passenger seat, we have a setting each, and a sleep setting. The car also has heated seats, so only these cold winter days, I can get in put the heater on and have a nice warm seat within minutes; it has two settings for this. The windows don't have any pillars which mean that the doors have to seal quite well, so it's best to open the door slowly, otherwise they might start to lose their grip. It has two cup holders in the back, and one in the front. It has a glove compartment, but ours doesn't close properly, and this must have been done by the previous owners. The car also has electric seatbelts which come out to meet you when you get in, and retreat when you don't put it on.

Opinion
This really is a fantastic car, it is not too expensive for what it is, and it has everything that someone could want from a car. It has a very wide range of features. This is helped by the fact that is an upmarket model, and I'm not sure how much of what is in it are optional extra's. The Car is brilliant to handle, and has a great look and feel to it

Price
I paid £16000 for my car, and this is the 2003 model, and it was in excellent condition. It had 25500 miles on the clock, but didn't look a mile over 10,000. It really is a great example of what's out there on the market. It shows how great cars really are available without spending over £20,000. I looked around for about a month, but the prices varied from £14,000 to £18,000 I feel that for value for money, it is well worth paying a little bit extra for a really nice model, and I'm glad I did. Originally I was going to buy a 1998 model, but decided that it would be too unreliable, so I saved up those pennies and bought a newer model, and I'm pleased I did. Compared to the older model, it's a much more sleek design and has a nicer feel when inside.