C200K buying advise

[Shanusacarabus]

Hi all, just signed up here so im an annoying newbie im afraid !!

Here we go then.... ive not been looking at mercs so this car caught me by surprise when i saw it but basically its a 2000 ( X reg ) c200k classic " Kompressor "... 77K on the clock with full MB service history up to 74K... its had 2 owners and is up for 3995.... Now that to me sounds cheap.... the bodywork aint too bad.. it has a couple of what i call " trolley dents" from supermarkets but nothing major... my main concern is obviously is it mechanically sound.
Now iv been told I can phone MB customer services on Monday and they can confirm the service history ( to what extent i dont know )

What id like from you guys if possble is general advise on the c200k and cars in this range in general... do they have any faults/niggles, is there anything i should be checking closely.

Im very sorry but im so new to mercs that i dont even know the trim levels of the cars... i just know the classic is the entry model.

can i just say in advance thankyou for any help/advise given.. hopefully i can get to know you guys a little more... if not its back to looking at audi a4's lol

 

[doversole]

Hello and welcome,

Early 4 cylinder petrol engined cars are thirsty, the used marked certainly favours automatics. Rear leg room not class leading, check for faulty door locks (this was a recall item) Front tyres can suffer from accelerated wear,
Oh, and main dealer servicing is expensive!

www.parkers.co.uk has a extensive review on these cars.
See also: www.honestjohn.co.uk

Regards, DoverSole

 

[truthfindergeneral]

1. Test drive it
2. Have an independent mechanical check done before you hand over the money
3. Don't think it will be perfect because it has a 12 month MOT cert.

 

[Shanusacarabus]

Firstly this one is a manual and not auto... secondly iv just looked into the fuel consumption and altho for a 2 ltr car its high.. its still better that my V6 Laguna at the moment, thanks for that by the way, didnt realise the difference in engines pre 04.
the mechanical inspection is a good idea but prob a costly one so before booking anything ill see what info customer services have on its service/repair history of the car.
The car does come with a 3 month warranty but as we all know most warranties aint worth jack !!

 

[doversole]

Oh dear - a manual, its not sounding so desirable now.

Also, check and ensure it is definitely a 'K' model as i'm not sure if the early W203 had a supercharger, someone may have just added the badge on it.

DoverSole

 

[Shanusacarabus]

Thanks for that Doversole, are the manuals unreliable or have known faults???

As for the K model then yeah its deffo one of these... its got the K and Kompressor badges on the rear and it shows up on parkers ect, again ill double check this with MB Monday though.

 

[Shanusacarabus]

So does anybody know why automatics are prefered over manuals on these cars.... Its usually the other way round with cars

 

[Gnuface]

Just 'cause it's a Mercedes Benz.
Also handbrake (foot operated) is a pain to use on manuals!:-?

 

[Ellsy Tanners]

The manual boxes are considered awkward, and clumberson. The clutches in my opinion are not very feeling. The parking brake (hand brake) is a pedal type which is designed around the auto box. hill starts with manuals are a challenge to start with.

The auto boxes on the hole are very good, thats why most prefer them.

 

[Jay Gee]

It seems to be that any Mercedes is preferrable with an auto box.Used car values certainly reflect this.Maybe it's because a 'typical' Merc. owner prefers not to swap his/her own cogs? ( Flak jacket on!). I have a manual C class and I am very happy with it.Horses for courses,but bear in mind resale value and desirability.

Sorry,Gnuface and Ellsy Tanners-slow typing gets me every time.

Regarding the hand/foot brake-at first I thought it was a right pain,but it's amazing how quickly you adapt-even without an extra leg.If I drive another car now,I automatically (sorry) go for the F/H brake every time,and get quite annoyed with myself.

 

[truthfindergeneral]

'bear in mind resale value and desirability.'.......
It's 8 years old and under £4,000. The only place it's going after the OP has finished with it is the scrapyard and then the biggest worry is how much THEY will want for taking it away seeing as how the value of scrap has fallen these last few weeks.

 

[Shanusacarabus]

yeah i dont think the resale value is of much concern really... as stated by another user its 8 yrs old... id be looking to get 2-3 years out of it and to be fair if it lost a grand a year which im not sure it would judging by older mercs currently in the trader i wouldnt lose much sleep over it... besides it would probably just end up getting part exchanged.
What i would want however is 2-3 years of trouble free motoring bar the usual stuff ( tyres/breaks/exhaust ect ) and i need to know that these cars are solid and reliable in general.
I didnt know about this foot operated handbrake... sounds quite awkward but until i try it i aint got a clue how it operated lol... guess u love it, hate it or put up with it... ill try it and see what its like tomorrow.

So apart from the personal preference/awkwardness of the f/h brake is there any other weakness of the manual or the c200k in general.

Once again thankyou to you all for your comments, im taking them all in..... the way im seeing this is i can have a tidy merc for 2500 quid with the px allowance for my shed... just dont wanna buy someting ill regret or spend thousands on cos i made the wrong choice.... just want some of that famous german build quality that people rave on about haha

 

[Shanusacarabus]

Damned data protection act !!!, call mercedes and ask if its possible to confirm service details and they cant, cos i dont own the ****** car yet haha... typical !!

 

[dannyb311]

Damned data protection act !!!, call mercedes and ask if its possible to confirm service details and they cant, cos i dont own the ****** car yet haha... typical !!

Thats ridiculous

I brought my first merc last week, a CLK 320 year 2000, W208, 75K miles
It had full mercedes service history........................or so i thought.
First 3 years are official merc history, not only do you get the stamp (which means nothing) but it gets logged on there computer. The next 5 years are all stamped as main dealer merc but there is no details on there computer. In other words someone has had it stamped to look like it has full main dealer history. How are you supposed to know that before buying the motor unless you check first?? I have learnt from my mistake. Luckily the car has been on the machine at merc main dealer last week and they have said its all in very good mechanical condition.

Be careful

 

[Shanusacarabus]

Thanks for that dannyb..... thank god yr cars ok mate, it is silly in a way cos they can see it in front of them but cant tell u anything unless u own the car... by this time its too late if its not got fsh with MB.
I called back and spoke to somebody else who couldnt tell me much again... however they did say that the milage of the last service i gave them from service book didnt show on there system, in fact its not ben seen in a while... when i asked how long they couldnt tell me hahaha.... mad or what.... so is a while 12 months or 6 years??????.
Also said that just cos its not on the database it doesnt mean it hasnt been done, it just may not have been logged ??

 

[Mel Farquar]

If you are interested in the new mercedes c class car prices then check out http://www.mycarquotes.co.uk/new_prices/mercedes-benz/cclass/

It's quite good for gettin some independant info on a range of new car prices from a range of dealers.

 

[Shanusacarabus]

Right, for anyone thats interested..... Tried the C200K manual and it drives great, I even took the cheeky steps of booking it in for a health check at MB Leeds and it almost passed with flying colours.... a bulb out, brake fluid needs changing, ratchet on H/B needs fixing... bald spare tyre and the only major thing is Air con not working properly, spoke to an independant MB specialist who told me its either just needs charging or has a leek.
All these are getting fixed and full MOT being put on the only thing thats getting looked into is the Aircon fault... could be pricey..could be nothing.... either way i think i got a nice all round car.
I must say that im impressed by MB for giving a free health check and quite a thoro one at that too, plus they did a couple of recalls... wow

 

[Jack the Lad]

I bought my 2000 Merc E-class in similar circumstances. I wasn't looking for a posh motor, but was surprised by how little you could get a good low mileage Mercedes for, especially compared with other premium brands. Any secondhand car is a risk, but 15,000 miles on I don't regret buying a Merc, every journey is a pleasure. If you like the car and it seems in good condition it's no more of a risk than a boring ubiquitous 5 year old repmobile. You have to accept that it still has premium prices on parts and they are complex cars with a lot of electrical stuff that can potentially go wrong (As opposed to Renault, where it WILL go wrong...!).

 

[Shanusacarabus]

Hahaha, my current car is a renault !!!... cost me 650 quid last year for ecu and steering lock... to be fair it aint been a bad car at all but yeah electrics on em aint the best at all