Buying advice please W203

[itmek]

Advice on the following matter would be appreciated please.

I am seriously considering buying an 03 Registered C Class 180 Kompressor, manual, 68k, FSH, £6,900 from a dealer that specialises in prestige cars.
The car looks extremely well looked after with no rust and drives very well.

I am planning to trade in my 2000 reg C Class 220 CDI, auto,133k, FSH with rust (wheel arches, doors etc).

I have previously owned a 1984 190 and 1992 190E which were both manual, so I do not have a problem with manual cars.

Recently my annual mileage has dropped from 10k to about 5k so the diesel factor is not as important as it used to be.

I have read about the quality issues of the early W203s but financially do not want to stretch to a post 2004 model which I understand are better than the pre 2004 models.

So, any reasons why I should not purchase the 203, or indeed any good reasons why I should go ahead with the purchase?
Thanks for reading this.

 

[st4]

IMHO a 2004 model really would be worth the stretch.

Check when it was registered, 203's can and do rust until they were galvanised mid-late 03 onwards. Chances are an 03 plate might not be so rust is still an issue.

If your happy with a manual go for it, just haggle as much off the car as possible as when you re sell it will be harder.

 

[itmek]

Thanks for the reply ST4

 

[ajs37]

I have just bought a C180 kompressor - and like you, I asked for advice here!
I was advised to go for a post 2004 facelift model - petrol or diesel. Like you, my annual mileage has halved to about 6k - and I wasn't looking to spend more than £8k

I bought the 180 from a dealer on eBay - I went to see his stock of cars (in a lockup on a farm in South Wales) - he had 4 of them, bought at auction, I presume - 2 x 200 CDIs and 2 x 180Ks - I looked thoroughly at all of them and chose the most expensive - mainly because of the low mileage (27k) - and it was only 2 years old, still under MB warranty and immacualte. I paid £11,495 for it - stretched me a bit, but I like the car

The others were all facelift models and had 50 - 60k on the clocks - I think the cheapest was £9,500 - and to be honest, I would have been happy with one of those.

After looking at loads of C class mercedes at all sorts of dealers (prestige / supermarkets / main dealers!) my conclusions were that there wasn't any point in spending less than £10k - a lot of the cars I saw for less than that were pretty poor (or overpriced)

The facelift model is much better looking than the pre-2004 model (the new C class is even better, but at £24k, beyond my means). I would seriously look harder at the deals on offer - if you can sell your own car, you will get a better price for it (and for the new car)

I had a 1990 300E 24valve - lovely to drive, but costing me a fortune to keep it on the road - When I had chosen the car I wanted to buy (and I looked at a lot!), I put it on pistonheades and had an enquiry within an hour - it sold to the same person for £750 (dealers did not want to know about trade-ins - not surprisingly - £100 was all I was offered)

Good luck!
Andy

 

[ajs37]

I have just bought a C180 kompressor - and like you, I asked for advice here!

sorry - not here, but in MBClub forum!

 

[st4]

sorry - not here, but in MBClub forum!

I remember you, I recommended a diesel IIRC. Its good to be on both forums IMHO.

 

[ajs37]

I remember you, I recommended a diesel IIRC. Its good to be on both forums IMHO.

yes - I think if the dealer had a 220cdi in stock, I would have gone for it!

 

[Dinnie]

Surely all the problems will have been sorted out on a pre-face lifted car by the previous owner?