First post here.

[screwloose]

I havent actually got a mercedes yet

I am here looking for advice and guidance from the people who know what i should be buying .

At present i own a 2000 Ford Focus TD which is a great car but i fancy a change and really am looking at approx 1997 shape C class diesel any advice or guidance would be greatly receaved.
The wife likes the A class so i would better ask your opinions on the diesels here too or she will think ive already made my mind up.
Thanks .

 

[television]

Welcome Screw loose, what a great name, good one.


The MB diesels are great engines go for the 202 it should be cheaper to maintain

 

[bouncer]

The wife has spoken. . . . Your having an A Class.
I own a 1997 C Class and its a big car my current better half says she cant park it. She has a MGF. Best thing is to go and have a drive in both.
You wont win tho. Enjoy your A Class.
Steve

 

[MIW615]

The wife likes the A class so i would better ask your opinions on the diesels here too or she will think ive already made my mind up.

Enjoy the A-class :mrgreen::mrgreen::mrgreen:

And welcome to the forum

 

[verytalldave]

1 very much doubt whether an A class will tick all the boxes after owning a 2 litre diesel Focus. Its too much of a gap to bridge I think. Even a C class may not satisfy in the performance stakes.
Go into this with as open a mind as possible and you might come out the other side happy with your new car. But for too many reasons, I dont think it will be an A class, despite what has been posted before. I think you WILL end up with a C.

 

[Geezer]

I think you WILL end up with a C.

But only if 'she' says so! :

 

[Geezer]

I must admit I had a little difficulty after buying a brand new MX5 ZSport in March and wanting to get rid of it in July and buy a CLK. Tricky...

 

[verytalldave]

I must admit I had a little difficulty after buying a brand new MX5 ZSport in March and wanting to get rid of it in July and buy a CLK. Tricky...

I presume you are still "paying" for that now. Something like that normally means either a new lounge carpet, curtains and suite or maybe even a new fitted kitchen.
Its a pity we dont learn about such things at school and have exams in the subject. At least we would then be prepared...........

 

[poseidon]

Hi,

I have a c220D from 1996. It is a 95BHP that consumes around 37mpg combined. On A roads it will do over 47mpg.

I have found it is excellent motorway cruiser (at around 90mph) and good on consumption. The acceleration is slightly dissapointing, especially if you are moving from a petrol car. If I had this knowledge I would have probably bought the 250TD since they have 140BHP with small increse in consumption. The older non-turbo c250D (110BHP) is similar to c220D. I was looking for a manual and hardly managed to locate a good c220D.

The size is OK for my family of four, although when kids grow it might get tight.

It will probably pull to the left, but you will get used. It is not worth spending £s on specialised steering geometry adjustment.

The rust is not a serious issue, but I had problems with corroded brake pipes (some are difficult to fix). I had a problem with warped clutch at 60K (£600 job).

IT normmaly has a blaupunkt cassete stereo as a standard, so budget for a good CD player.

Keep us informed on the purchese. If there are problems post here, there are many knowledgeable people.

Pose

 

[Geezer]

I presume you are still "paying" for that now. Something like that normally means either a new lounge carpet, curtains and suite or maybe even a new fitted kitchen.
Its a pity we dont learn about such things at school and have exams in the subject. At least we would then be prepared...........

A very expensive holiday - going next week!:?

 

[screwloose]

Thanks for your replies people,went to look at an A class yesterday in silver and it looked great from the outside but the interior layout and the overall interior design i dont know if i could get used to it !
Gona keep looking and try out the C class .....My choice

 

[screwloose]

Will be looking for as late as i can get on a c class (old shape) for approx 4 grand !
Any horrible bits i should look for peeps

 

[verytalldave]

To be totally honest, if you "only" have about 4G to play with, you might be better off with an A class. Even though thats not what I said earlier - or your first choice.
With 4G, you will end up with a fairly oldish C, probably more miles on the clock than you would prefer, and with a less than desirable trim level. However, I might be wrong. With an A, its going to be a younger car, lower mileage and certainly cheaper to maintain over a 2-3 year period.
Thats my opinion for what its worth.

 

[jberks]

The A is fine, but its not a 'Merc' in the way the C,E and S's are. It's aimed at the 'shopping' sector rather than the exec market. I'm not knocking them, they;'re great for what they are aimed at, but given the choice I'd have a 202 every time. Having driven pretty much every model since the 123, I'd call the 202 a 'proper' merc.
I'd imagine you'd get a very nice 1998-2000 C200 for the money you're spending. Looking at the diesels, do your sums first. Sure they are more economical but it does depend greatly on the mileage you intend to cover as to whether the extra you'll pay for the car will ever be returned in fuel savings, especially if you end up with an older car. Depreciation at that level is based on mileage and condition, not age so it doesn't really factor. The 202 is well built, so my experience was that problems were age related rather than wear. E,g, the fuel pump rusted through, battery failed and the odd pipe perished. So, 1996 c220d or a 1999 C200 and 12k pa? - even if both had 100k on them, I've have the 200 every time.