You know that feeling when you can’t pinpoint what sickness you have, but you just feel weak and exhausted? That’s how I feel in my Civic every day.
Two months ago I had my first experience driving an example of German engineering. I went to visit one of our vendors out of state and drove the companies 2012 Mercedes C300. My car, an '08 Honda Civic, is incredibly uncomfortable on long rides, and considering how far away the vendor was (275 miles each way) I needed to find a better set of wheels for the trip.
On the road, once the initial scare of crashing the company vehicle subsided, I really began to notice what a difference in the overall driving experience a Mercedes provided over a Honda! When I hit speeds of 70+ mph in my Civic, the wheel rattles, noises emerge, and any sense of control or security is tossed out the window. It's scary, frankly.
But that never happened in the Mercedes. The feeling of control was never lost, despite the fact I was traveling faster than the posted speed limit. I always told myself, “I’m never in my car long enough to love or hate it” but after spending eight hours in the C300, I find it difficult to love my Civic, save for maybe the good gas mileage!
The items I hate seem to grow each day:
- The leather is terrible quality, very thin, and becomes loose in the heat
- The seats leaves me with more back pain than the hardest of workouts
- There is nothing attractive about the design, it's just very simple and reserved
- The paint quality is terrible. Fading and discoloration of the car has been a problem I’ve been battling for years
The list goes on and on. The C300 has taken my heart and introduced me to the difference a proper European car can provide.
