Re: c200k vs 523i
bmw3er;223999 said:
Only CL204 is based on W203 whereas W204 is a brand new platform.
yes, that one is well documented that the Sportcoupe will still carry on the W203.
However, for the W204 sedan, I read before, and had to re-read and re-read again because I couldn't believe it. i cannot remember where, and now no time to search, but it was a print mag.
What I remember reading was, one of the reasons why MB could do almost the entire development in virtuality, was because the W204 was merely a tweaked W203. The new W204 is 55mm longer than the W203 at 4581mm length. Body width has increased by 42mm to 1770mm, and the wheelbase by 45mm to 2760mm. They did replace some of the high tensile steel components with Very high tensile steel to lessen the weight of the chassis by less than 10kg.
What they did additionally was to add the new BOSCH ECU to control Bilstein's dynamic damper technology (MBspeak=Advanced Agility Package, Porsche speak=PASM) and modify the suspension mountings to be compatible with this new suspension. But the basic suspension layout remains the same rear multilink and front Macstruts, and add more electronic toys.
This was a budget upgrade from the already excellent FL W203 chassis. I have owned 2 W203 before, and from washing them more than a hundred times each over the years, I know them pretty well carnally included. The engine bay of the W204 is a exact duplicate of the non-AMG W203 one, including placement of components etc.
All I want to say is that, I have read, and believe, that the number of changes from the W203 to W204 chassis is small, too small to justify an all-new moniker, definitely smaller than the E46 to E90 change. That being said, the word small is relative. MB boasted the facelift vs pre-facelift W203 to have like 1,400 changes, so I guess 2,000 changes would qualify as an `all-new'