Should I purchase an 4Matic or not? I live in St. Louis and we have some snow. Will good snow tires do the trick, without going to the 4Matic? What snow tires do you recommend?</P>


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Regards,</P>


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Bob</P>

 

Hi Bob,</P>


I have a '97 E320 without 4-matic and I live in St Louis too. I do not use snow tires at all, I have a set of normal Michellins. I think the advantage of the 4-matic would play out better in a more mountainous region than we have here.</P>


The E320 has a lot ofother "weather" features, traction control, ESP, ABS that help when you don't have to plow through a foot of snow.</P>


Last week when we had the big freezing rain storm, a car in front of me lost control and spun around into a bridge on hwy 44. I was able to avoid him as he spun into my lane (on a sheet of ice) because of the ABS and the traction control. If I had the 4-matic, it wouldn't have mattered.... </P>


Come to think of it, everybody around me seemed to have more difficulty getting around than I did...the weight of the car helps a lot when its slippery too. The 320/430 is a great car to have. 4-matic might give you a little re-assurance when it gets nasty out there, but 4-matic or no 4-matic, you're getting a great car on the ice and snow.</P>


<IMG src=smileys/smiley1.gif border="0"></P>

 

My experience is with an 87 300E with ABS only. No fancy schmancy traction aids. I put on Bridgestone Blizzaks and it was better in the snow and ice than my current X5 AWD. Without Blizzaks I could hardly move. These tires transformed this car. I drove from central Ohio to Cleveland and then to Richmond, VA in a full snowstorm the entire way and never had a problem with traction. With your modern systems, the difference will likely be less dramatic. I am planning on Blizzaks for my up coming E320CDI later this year.</P>

 

hell yea buy 4matic i got a 2003 e-320 and it is absolutly horrible in the snow!!! all it does it spin the tires

 

Justgot a 99 e320 4matic and got to try it out in snow a couple weeks ago (hopefully the last winter storm of the year in theNY area). I don't know how to reallyqualify the performance w/ numbers or stats, so I'll just saywas quite good, not as good as my Jeep Cherokee, but no problems whatsoever going up/down steep hills and stopping in about 4 - 6inches of snow (packed &amp; unpacked). It slips somewhat when you apply the brakes, but I just went with it and let it have the few extra feet it needs in bad weather and everything was fine.</P>