C220 Diesel Estate Purchase?

[survey]

We live in the country and presently have a Nissan XTrail 4x4. Roads are quite often greasy from agricultural vehicles and occasionally we have some water laying in fords in the road. We also occasionally tow a trailer around our fields. Having owned two other Mercedes in the past I now have the chance of buying a C220 CDI Auto Estate 2008 (latest style) model at a reasonable price witha p/ex for my XTrail.

What is the traction actually like?

Has anyone any advice regarding the safe wading depth of the C220 CDI? Is it just too risky? Although the air intake is I belive at the top of the grille are ther other components that could suffer damage - electric etc?

Any other advice would be most welcome and appreciated.

 

[Rory]

With the best will in the world, it's a bit difficult to assess how muddy/wet it is from a post on the internet.

However I would think it unlikely you could tow a trailer around a field unless it was bone dry. On summer tyres and wet grass it would be useless. Maybe it would work to some extent on M&S tyres?

I doubt the car has a specified safe wading depth. Apart from the engine air intake, you really wouldn't want to be getting water anywhere near the autobox. The ground clearance on these vehicles is pretty minimal, especially if they're carrying some weight.

 

[survey]

Rory - yes I should have made it clearer! I would not be using the car with a trailer on anything but a pretty dry field.

General country lanes - we can get mud residue from tractors and when that is added to rain it can get greasy. How good is the ESP/traction control?

Wading - maybe this sounds rather more extreme than it is. Sometimes there are minor fords where water can lay a few inches deep for a short distance. Are not all eletrics and the autobox etc shielded with watertight connections?

 

[rf065]

How good is the ESP/traction control?

The traction control will apply the brakes to whatever rear wheel is spinning.
What it will not do is provide the traction, what I mean is, if the tyres have no grip at all, traction control will control the wheelspin, but you will still be stuck. The grip available in fields will be determined by your choice of tyre.

I too had an X Trail before the MB and know how good the X Trail can be in mud or snow.

Russ

 

[survey]

rf065 - you can see my dilemma! Interesting that you had an XTrail. Does the MB more than compensate? Maybe I should drop the MB idea and go for a Subaru Outback (that was my other option)!

 

[rf065]

rf065 - you can see my dilemma! Interesting that you had an XTrail. Does the MB more than compensate? Maybe I should drop the MB idea and go for a Subaru Outback (that was my other option)!

The Mercedes is completely different from the X Trail.
I loved the X Trail until I took a test drive in the MB, then I was sold.
The only advantage the X Trail has is 4WD, the MB beats it on every other count.

Russ

 

[hawk20]

Rory - yes I should have made it clearer! I would not be using the car with a trailer on anything but a pretty dry field.

General country lanes - we can get mud residue from tractors and when that is added to rain it can get greasy. How good is the ESP/traction control?

Wading - maybe this sounds rather more extreme than it is. Sometimes there are minor fords where water can lay a few inches deep for a short distance. Are not all eletrics and the autobox etc shielded with watertight connections?

Sounds very like the driving we do round here and we have no problems with the E220cdi estate. Get plenty of standing water, but a few inches is no problem.

Today there was 4ft over the ford in Brockenhurst near us -now that would be a problem! Except that the road gets blocked quickly and shut off because someone in a normal saloon drives straight into it.

The truth is on normal well-used roads, if a normal car cannot use them, they quickly get a logjam formed and you cannot get by even in a 4x4.

R class is 4wd. ML is great to drive. E class does most things well.

 

[survey]

Thank you all so much for your time in answering my post.

Hawk20 - you seem to have summed it all up.

 

[Rory]

R class is 4wd. ML is great to drive. E class does most things well.

Question was about C Class though.


I live in rural Cheshire and the back roads get pretty muddy but I avoid them in my C Class estate, but mainly because I don't want to drive it up embankments etc if something large comes the other way. I don't go anywhere where I need to ford water.

I'm sure 99.5% of the time C Class would be fine. But the X-Trail is probably OK 99.99% of the time, and you wouldn't have to think about it day-to-day. In snow & ice all rear wheel drive cars on summer tyres are completely useless.

As I said earlier, my biggest everyday concern if I had to use the back lanes would be ground clearance, especially if the entry and exit angles to the fords that you cross are at all steep, or you have to punit up embankments etc. My car is on standard suspension and it will ground underneath on innocuous looking speed humps and I have to be really careful not to ground the front valance when parking towards kerbs. A model on Sports suspension would be lower.

 

[survey]

Rory - Now you have me thinking! No fords that we have are steep but rather just dips in the lanes. I have asked MB for the ground clearance dimension but they have not responded. I thought that there was a reasonable clearance on the standard car but maybe I am wrong. Certainly we do often have to move over to the side verges to allow agricultural machinery to pass and that now does concern me. Speed humps grounding is also something I am not used to.

 

[Alex M Grieve]

Question was about C Class though.
I live in rural Cheshire and the back roads get pretty muddy but I avoid them in my C Class estate, but mainly because I don't want to drive it up embankments etc if something large comes the other way. I don't go anywhere where I need to ford water.

As I said earlier, my biggest everyday concern if I had to use the back lanes would be ground clearance, especially if the entry and exit angles to the fords that you cross are at all steep, or you have to punit up embankments etc.

As late entrant to this thread, I appreciate that your enquiry is about the C Class. Any enquiry which then considers entry/exit angles, ground clearance and safe fording depth suggests to me that, whilst you might get by with some close squeaks in a C Class (and might not!), you could have a much more relaxed life generally in an ML. I understand Hawk20's point on cars blocking your path, you would still have the option to enter the field behind the obstruction and drive around it to re-enter the road later - which I have done more than once.

So the case for an ML on practical grounds is sound. Couple that to the significant price reductions in that market and you may well find a choice that also competes on cost as well as benefit. It is worth a thought.

 

[survey]

The whole idea of changing from the XTrail to the MB C Class is to change to a vehicle less 4x4 shape so that would rule out the ML. As I have said I am not talking about fording per se, just standing water, but we do have the country lanes, mud/gresae on roads and verges that have to be used if blocked by agricultural vehicles. I haev the option of not buying the MB but going for a Subaru Outback with its higher ground clearance and AWD. Rory in his posting has mentioned a potential low ground clearance (still waiting for MB to inform me exactly what this dimension is as the brochures do not state) and that could be of concern drivig up unmade drives to friends' houses.

Maybe I am worrying unnecessarily as there are plenty of Volvos using these roads etc! By not considering not buying the MB am I erring too much on the side of caution?

 

[Rory]

Maybe I am worrying unnecessarily as there are plenty of Volvos using these roads etc! By not considering not buying the MB am I erring too much on the side of caution?

How much of a problem would it be of you got stuck? Have you got an old Land Rover for when the going gets really tough?

If you stay on the road then a bit of mud and water shouldn't be toooo much trouble. But off the paved road the C Class will be useless, except that maybe, as mentioned earlier, it would be a lot better with M&S tyres. Some owners run winter tyres year round.

If you want to get through without thinking about it then get the Subaru.

 

[survey]

Rory - you have given a pretty honest reply there. We have just returned from a 60 mile trip along some of our lanes and B Roads. Plenty of water across the roads, some fairly deep puddles (almost lakes!) across the road, quite a bit of mud etc. all in heavy rain and sleet. Also blocked by large lorries coming at speed in the opposite direction. My XTrail was mainly in 2WD (FWD) but a few times I did switch to Auto 4x4 to perhaps assist traction where the verges were heavier mud and water. No problem obviously with the XTrail.

I could have travelled more cautiously and would probably not have had a problem and yes other non 4x4 traffic seemed OK. However what one needs is peace of mind and not to have to think of whether all will be well. You made the point about not having to worry....

You also made an important point regarding ground clearance problems; MB appear not to want to give me the dimensions or discuss them. I am concerned about the potential for grounding along unmade drives.

Thanks to everyone for their helpful comments. I loved the C220CDi and like the quality that I have previously enjoyed on much earlier MB's, but I think that I shall not be purchasing at this time and leave it until perhaps we move to a less country environment. I am somewhat devastated at the decision that I fear I must make!

 

[hawk20]

Rory - you have given a pretty honest reply there. We have just returned from a 60 mile trip along some of our lanes and B Roads. Plenty of water across the roads, some fairly deep puddles (almost lakes!) across the road, quite a bit of mud etc. all in heavy rain and sleet. Also blocked by large lorries coming at speed in the opposite direction. My XTrail was mainly in 2WD (FWD) but a few times I did switch to Auto 4x4 to perhaps assist traction where the verges were heavier mud and water. No problem obviously with the XTrail.

I could have travelled more cautiously and would probably not have had a problem and yes other non 4x4 traffic seemed OK. However what one needs is peace of mind and not to have to think of whether all will be well. You made the point about not having to worry....

You also made an important point regarding ground clearance problems; MB appear not to want to give me the dimensions or discuss them. I am concerned about the potential for grounding along unmade drives.

Thanks to everyone for their helpful comments. I loved the C220CDi and like the quality that I have previously enjoyed on much earlier MB's, but I think that I shall not be purchasing at this time and leave it until perhaps we move to a less country environment. I am somewhat devastated at the decision that I fear I must make!

I honestly don't agree. We were out today and there was mud and water everywhere. We went to out local organic farm through two fords and also drove up an unmade road. As you yourself say, there are normal cars doing the trips you do. The ground clearance on an MB is very similar to other makes. Why not ask your local dealer to lend you a C class for a day. It is not likely to be very different from my E class for what you want and there are loads of E and C estates and Volvos round here.

I have never grounded on a speed hump.

 

[rf065]

My CLK is lower than a c class & I've never grounded on a speed bump either.
Never had a problem on narrow country roads either.

Russ

 

[survey]

rf065 and hawk20 - your posts are most encouraging. I am still very tempted I must admit!

 

[EDX]

Don't be Afraid

Yesterday I drove home from work down the usual single track roads like I've done for the last 22 years. The worst water was about 4 to 5 inches deep, the passing places are nearly all pure mud.

There was no drama.

My car is a year 2000, 220CDI Estate with Elite ie. sport suspension.

You have nothing to fear
Go ahead and buy it

 

[Rory]

My CLK is lower than a c class & I've never grounded on a speed bump either.
Never had a problem on narrow country roads either.

Russ

That interesting - mine does seem very low. It's an Avantgarde but it's on standard suspension and has 16" wheels. I've been assured that, without the Sports suspension option, all C Class models have the same suspension (unlike E Class, where Avantgarde is lower). If we're out as a family (and my girls don't weigh much ) then it grounds on most speed bumps and I dare not "centre" the car over those cushions that are widely used.

I parked on the flat but softer that I'd realised grass verge at the front of our house the other day and it took a bit of thought to get off that.

MB appear not to want to give me the dimensions or discuss them.

It's a common complaint in these forums that it's impossible to get a straight answer from MB or its dealers on anything.

I think the suggestion to try to get a demonstrator for a day is a good one. Please let us know how you get on. Good luck.

 

[survey]

A 24 hour test in poor conditions may prove useful. This morning it is very frosty with some ice and light snow on the roads. As a test I went out with a front wheel drive car rather than take my XTrail out. I must admit that I was not as confident with the non-4x4 and I think that if I swapped the XTrail for the MB I may well wonder if I had made the right decision on what are becoming more prevalent poor weather conditions in the UK. The dilemma is perhaps not so bad in towns but in the country it is a serious consideration.