KILLER RABBIT

i guess putting around in my torquey V8 has me spoiled....the car does a 0-60 in 7.0 i believe. not bad, but anything less powerful than the engine that is in there now would have me scarred for my pops safty.

the only real thing i hate about this car is the tranny, it automatically upshifts in tiptronic mode. wtf??i want to stay in 2nd damnit.

Sarge

I don't think the '99 E430 is much faster, if at all, than the 3.2 A6. And on anything less than dry grippy pavement, the Mercedes-Barge would be left by the other side of the intersection.

The MB was/is a nice car in many ways, very 'protected' feeling, in an isolated sort of way, but also very much a German Buick from a 'driver's perspective' IMO. The torque and the 'indifference' of the car do have a certain appeal, though.

I don't think I had even a single problem with the car in the year or so I had it - just an oil change. Best car I've ever had, from that point of view...

It's too bad we can't avoid the dealership experience more with Audi!!!

<img src="http://sarge.smugmug.com/photos/17315637-L.jpg">

<img src="http://sarge.smugmug.com/photos/17316648-L.jpg">


.<ul><li><a href="http://sarge.smugmug.com/gallery/431388">a few other pics of the MB...</a></li></ul>

The DJP

There's somebody sitting on your Benz! Scratches the paint..

TeddyBGame

awesome. Weird to see a non-white car in Florida. Ha!!

Quattrings

Performance


0-60 mph in seconds: 7.1
Top track speed: 130 mph*
EPA fuel economy estimates (city/highway)*:
Tiptronic: 19/26
multitronic: n/a<ul><li><a href="http://www.audiusa.com/features_specifications/0,3523,bodyStyleId-4_contentType-26,00.html?bodystyle=a6sedan&amp;tab=specification s">http://www.audiusa.com/features_specifications/0,3523,bodyStyleId-4_contentType-26,00.html?bodystyle

KILLER RABBIT

my best trap can be seen in my sig.

audi rates the audi at 0-60 7.0 and the 99 E430 at 0-60 in 6.2sec

so its almost a second faster.....although the 4.2 V8 in the new A6 does a 0-60 in 6.0 acording to audi's website<ul><li><a href="http://www.mbusa.com/overview/1999/E430.do?category=performance&amp;modelCode=E430&am p;preModelCode=E350W&amp;preClassCode=06_E&amp;pre AccClassCode=E">http://www.mbusa.com/overview/1999/E430.do?category=performance&amp;modelCode=E430

KILLER RABBIT

i see you did a 00+ taillights...i want to do that too but the whole dremal deal has me scarred to mess up the brand new 200 assembly i just purchased. thats why i am not doing it at the moment

Sarge

I just went at it and found that, but taking off the 'excess' bit by bit and test fitting, it all came together just fine.
I'm of the 'just do it' mindset - if you feel like you're close to puncturing the housing, you can also use a heat gun to warm and reshape the plastic just a bit too.

Another nice inexpensive improvement is the clear lenses on the bumper signals - just replace the mini bulbs with 'orange' color bulbs and it all lights up properly. You can find the lenses on ebay.

I also painted all the orange bulbs with a very, very thin 'mist' of silver paint to kill the 'orange' color inside the lens when the bulb isn't on.

It looks a good deal 'cleaner' IMO, for very little cost.

KILLER RABBIT

i have the "euro" side markers already but when i changed a burnt out bulb a while back i couldn't get one of them to seat back in. never did figure out what the problem was. i think one clip broke off or bent out of shape, not to say i'm not DIY type of person. i'm installing a fog light harness on my friends car in about 30 minutes and, as u can see in my sig i wired up the second rear fog myself

hytekjosh

Hopefully there was no water damange from the hurricane... Anyways, how did you end up getting the customer loyalty discount? If I remember correctly, that went away after the new year...