Mercedes-Benz W204 C320 4Matic Station Wagon

MERCEDES-BENZ C-Klasse 320 4Matic 'W204' (2009)

When some poor chap rear-ended my Mercedes 280 4Matic on the way back from Florence, at the end of 2008, I had no doubts about the car that I had to buy to replace that splendid W203: another C-Klasse, always a 4Matic, a station wagon of course, but this time a C320 W204 in AMG trim spec. A modern-day, all-weather Silberpfeil

When the going gets tough, etc....the 4Matic is a splendid car overall, a marvel when weather gets really tough and it's 7 a.m. and heavy snow is falling and no snowplough is around and you need to go to the hospital anyway

It gets you there, always....

...and dependably, day after day. My 4-Matic passed the 100.000 kms watermark Wednesday 4 March 2015, running like a watch, as always

VREDESTEIN WINTRAC XTREME

Part of the overall excellence of my Mercedes is due to the quality of the tyres, of course. I have been so satisfied by the Vredestein 'Classic Sprint' that I use on my Bristol 409 that I decided to fit 4 Wintrac Xtremes on my Mercedes as well

Vredstein Wintrac Xtreme Giugiaro

The Giugiaro-designed Wintracs have a very nice thread, deep and well-engineered for the maximum traction

Vredstein Wintrac Xtreme Giugiaro

Vredestein Wintracs have another very good point: their price is lower than the French or Italian rivals'

Vredestein Wintrac Xtreme

It looks like this design will allow the snow to get out of the thread easily as well. As you can see above, the test of its efficency on the snow has been extremely satisfying....

26 November 2017, Loiano/Monghidoro

This is the weather that makes a 4-Matic an invaluable ally: in this slippery condition we rescued friends stranded with a huge Audi Q7S that couldn't handle this snow

Seefeld/Interalpen, 17 December 2017

The road to Interalpen, 1340+ meters high, the morning of Sunday 17 December. The thermometer showed -6,0 C°, it was snowing since the evening before so it was the right kind of weather for the best 4x4s. The natural habitat for a Mercedes 4-Matic

The big Vredesteins proved their worth once again

Rugged, but stylish: when the snow forces anyone with a sane mind to shelter his classic cars in their heated garages, big Jaguars are out of question and you can't frankly think of driving a Porsche Cabrio around, even if it's a Carrera 4, the 320 4-Matic soldiers on, unstoppable, always supremely dependable

A short Mitteleuropean trip

Relax at the M32 in Salzburg

For my ** birthday, Anna and I decided to have a trip around Mitteleuropa and visit once again some cities that we haven't been since a long time, so Salzburg, Prague, Dresden, Munich. Prague was as nice as always or better, we enjoyed it a lot; the Goldener Hirsch in Salzburg was an unmissable appoitment with the old Austrian tradition and we always like it.
On the contrary, Dresden, that I remembered fondly, was a delusion. Full of cheapo tourists, poorly-planned traffic (and we have always all the possible navigation aids...), lots of roadworks. We stayed at the 'Taschenberger Palais' hotel, an ex-STASI building and it was barely adequate for a 5-stars establishment, dinner at the Steigenberger nothing to write home about, while in Prague the 'Augustine' was a pleasant revelation

In Munich, the Sofitel near the Hauptbanhof

9 November 2018

Interesting mileage....

2020

First time out in 2020, at the Futa pass on the A1 highway

A special Club

A new Mercedes

Stupid ecologic laws were going to ban my old but faithful C320 from the streets of Bologna so I was forced to sell her, a great displeasure, and I decided to replace her with her natural descendant, this W207 C200d Hybrid 4-Matic. Of course it is a Station Wagon and it's silver with black fabric interior....