What is this dash lever for?

Steering-column adjustment.

--------------------------------------------

Joe schrieb:

Joe schrieb:

Oh, you can doubt me all day long - no problem!

It's MB option code 441, adjustable steering column, that's mechanical (not electrical) with the W202 series.

The symbol pictures the steering wheel.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

No Problem is right, and so were you. :-D

Is that by any chance specific to the AMG version? Tiger told me where to look for the placecard on the driver's door but its not there. In fact I can't find anything specific to the AMG version except the chrome trim on the doors and trunk lid. I don't have the title yet...just registered at DMV yesterday. Got a CARFAX today so know the car's history. Still no verification of AMG.

Thank you for the expert help. Joe

Joe schrieb: I have a GERMAN price list from September 1997 (modelyear 1998, the face-lifted version).

No, it's not, It could be ordered with any W202.

The above mentioned price list (Germany) states for the C43 as aditional standard items:

- "Sports" package (code 956; could also be ordered with any W202, not only C43, additions and changes to standard trim "Classic") - rear center armrest folding with cup holders - instrument cluster with light ivory clock faces and needles - light ivory scales for semi-automatic climate control - interiour cloth "wimbledon" - gear lever/automatic lever leather with "sports" badge - sports steering wheel diameter 380 millimetres - sports seats front - sports suspension - tyres 205/55 R 16 - light alloy wheels 6-hole 7Jx16 ET37 ((5x, incl. spare tyre) - bumpers and side trim in body colour - some other, minor trim changes and then for C43

- AMG sports steering wheel

- centre armrest front with stowage

- through-loading feature

- electric windows front and rear

- fully automatic climate control with residual heat feature

- 2-tone leather

- heated front seats

- electrically adjustable front seats with multi contour backrest

- AMG light alloy wheels, one-piece rims

- front axle 7,5Jx17 ET 35

- rear axle 8,5Jx17 ET 30

- AMG sports suspension

- AMG styling

- battery with higher capacity

- electronic stability programme ESP

- alternator with higher capacity

- 5-speed automatic with variable speed limiter "Speedtronic"

Please note that most additional features could be ordered also for other W202 variants and that some standard features of the "Sports" package do not apply to the C43 as the latter has different features (e.g. the wheels of the C43 are better than those of the "Sports" package).

I just translated the above descriptions "on the fly" by reading the German price list so they may contain some errors, also there might be some differences between the German and the US version.

Thank you for taking the time to translate this information, Juergen. Saved for future reference. Some things agree, and some don't. I'm still a bit puzzled about this car from that standpoint. But overall it is quite a bit better in many respects than the 1997 E 320 I had. I do wish it had 4-wheel drive, but I may not have any trouble. In the 70's I drove a Porsche 911 all over New Mexico and use it for ski trips, etc.; never had any trouble with ice on the roads. Of course I'm almost 40 years older now but feel my reaction and road feel haven't changed much.

With 112,000 miles this vehicle is in excellent condition! Only a bit of Tri-Flo Lubricant needed on door hinges, etc. really made a difference in the little things that have been ignored for many years. :-(

Thanks aga> Joe schrieb:

Joe wrote: In the 70's

Don't tell that to the insurance people! The statistics of # of crashes goes way up after 65. Interesting tho, the # of deaths goes down. They think because older people drive slower. Would love a statistic to show the crashes and deaths of others due to the slowing down of older drivers.

BTW, when I was doing R&D on drivers we dropped the question asking them to rate their driving ability. Over 90% rated their ability at the highest rating. Totally useless question. If everybody is an Expert driver, who are all the "jerks" we see on the road?

Chip (an older driver)

Joe schrieb:

As said, my info is only guaranteed for cars for the German market - there might be differences to cars for the USA in terms of trim and/or options.

Which things exactly don't fit? Maybe we can find out. Also take in mind that since the car was built it could have been modified.

If you like to send me the vehicle's VIN *via email* and I can have a look.

Younger drivers!

I have to suspect that the more you drive, the better you get at it (like just about everything else in life!).

NON-expert drivers...like me who went through Bonderants course some 30 years ago and nnt raced since that time. I know I've been fortunate and never had an accident and the day of reckoning will probably come if I let that go to my head. Sigh... ;-)

PSSST! Wrong answer. The younger drivers in our studies ALL rated themselves as expert drivers. The older ones tended to be a bit more realistic. And the kids do have much faster reaction times and the ability to keep track of many more things simultaneously. The older you get, the more random firings of neurons in your brain, raising the noise level that attention needs to get above. It's a fact we don't like to face, but it is a measurable problem. Also when we get more experience at something we tend to rely more on "automatic pilot" to do them. Very bad for unexpected or unusual situations during driving.

Try this test. My grandkids did much better than my kids and my kids much better than my wife and I.

The true answer is that EVERY driver is a "jerk" at some point in his/her driving. It may be rarer for some than others, but we all piss off somebody else occasionally. Since we all drive in traffic mostly, your "jerkiness" is multiplied by the number of drivers observing. You may think that you have plenty of room to cut into another lane, the guy you get in front of may have been trying to observe the "2-sec rule" and you just cut it in half. One "jerk"! We are driving the speed limit, but may be an obstacle to the flow of traffic doing 10 MPH over. Another "jerk". We are SAFELY talking on the cell phone, but another driver may call us a "jerk" for doing so.

Chip

You certainly have the right attitude, but I'm afraid even your Bondurant training ( about 10 miles from me, south of Phoenix) isn't a good indicator of # of crashes.

A huge study in England several years ago measured EVERYTHING that could be measured in a very large population of older drivers. They compared about 30 parameters against # of crashes. The ONLY measure that was correlated (inversely) with # of crashes was IQ. Training, years of experience, reaction time , eye acuity, road and paper testing scores, nothing else correlated.

BTW, racing is a very poor approximation of in-traffic driving. Almost everybody almost all the time is going in the same direction at approximately the same speed. The relative speed and direction is small. This does happen on super highways, but rarely elsewhere.

Chip

. If everybody is an Expert driver, who are all the

Funny you should bring up that, but I also have noticed the proportion of my "jerks" shifting to young or middle age women. It used to be evenly divided between young male "cowboys" and older males still trying to "strut their stuff". Now when I curse at drivers, I mostly find a female at the other end.

Chip

That's interesting.

As an engineer in the transportation arena for quite a few years, and after studying many accident reports, it becomes fairly obvious that speed does not play into increasing the number of accidents in real life on multiple lane highways (assuming drivers are not exceeding the design speed of the highway). That is discounting drivers under the influence, falling asleep, and in-cabin distractions.

The thing that causes the most accidents is *difference* in speeds. When you have some driving at or slightly below the posted speed limit and others driving above the speed limit, you have the inherent passing and weaving associated with losing control.

There is no way to control that. I have commented to my wife numerous times how dangerous it is for someone to be traveling under the speed limit, especially in the passing lane.

I am glad you agree with me. Another factor in racing is that all the drivers have experience and training, if not, almost exact skill levels for a given class of race. They also are concentrating on the same objective. This is most certainly not true in regular traffic..

Chip

That's easy. Everyone driving faster than me is a jerk, everyone driving slower than me is an idiot :)

I'll use my favorite expression on that one: "That's intuitively obvious!" ;-)