Tell me about Merc engines, circa 2002

[phil1979]

I have been drawn to the newer-shaped CLKs of late, but am confused with all the different engines sizes and specs etc (being an Alfa man).

I don't like diesel, so I'm interested in petrol only. Barring the 500s, what are the actual engine sizes up to 3.5L, and which is best in terms of reliability, real world MPG, and anything else CLK-related that I should be building up my knowledge on.

Thanks in advance!

[CarsOrBikes]

2002 only had 200 & 200k, 230k, 320 v6 engines aside from the 500

[r129sl]

They're all pretty reliable.

320 V6 and 500 V8 are modular: the 320 simply lacks the last two cylinders of the V8. This means that the V angle on the V6 is not ideal (90deg which is great for a V8 but 60deg or 120deg would be normal on a V6) so (think). I don't think the V8 uses much more fuel in daily driving than a V6 driven in the same style.

[Pentoman]

Yep
four cyls:
2.0
2.0 Kompressor (thats a supercharger) 163hp
2.3 Kompressor 193hp - found in a lot of Mercedes but slated for lack of smoothness as with all the other fours, however you'll struggle to find many CLKs without this unit
320 V6 - makes nice figures on paper but I tried a cabrio with is and it was not fast and didn't sound very sonorous.
430 V8... I dunno getting pretty silly here. I'm sure it's good if you don't care about money.
Around 2003 they build a new "twinpulse" four cylinder - same badges as before 200,230 etc but all in fact a 1.8. Supposedly much better, might be worth finding out if they put it in the CLK and see if you can stretch.