HELP - TO KEEP OR NOT - BUYERS ADVICE - Going from diesel to petrol? C-Class swap for CLK?

[ManLikeEnes]

Hello fellow Mercedes-Benz Owners,

I need your help and advice. I currently own a 2004 Mercedes-Benz C270 CDI estate on 221,000 miles, absolute trooper being my daily and I've had her for a while now. However I have been considering a change to a CLK 320 petrol due to ULEZ and several other reasons such as the considerable arch rust on my Merc and interest for something simpler.

I was looking to keep my Merc and put some money into her since I already have a nice exhaust and some fashionable wheels, however despite the clean underside the arch rust is causing me a headache and I'm starting to wonder whether I should get something I've always wanted, a CLK with a nice sunroof, heated seats and a white/cream interior.

I'm not really bothered about reliability since my OM612 has been pretty well behaved (although the M112 would presumably be even better). Although I am curious about running costs since it's nice being able to pretty much always get 30mpg+ even in town (regularly high 40's and early 50's on motorway runs in my diesel) and have always been worried about fuel being expensive on the petrols because of my high annual mileage (somewhere in the realm of 15,000-20,000 miles a year with mixed town and motorway usage) hence why I went for the diesel.

What are your suggestions? Should I replace my C-Class estate with a CLK coupe?

 

[LostKiwi]

That's a question only you can answer.
Things to be aware of:
Our 2.6 m112 E Class rarely saw north of 35mpg even on a very long motorway run.
In town it rarely saw north of 25mpg.
A 320 CLK won't be a lot different - lighter car but bigger engine.

If fuel costs are a major concern that may make your decision.
Even though petrol is cheaper than diesel the running costs will increase.

On the plus side the m112 engine is extremely quiet and smooth with a lovely note when pressing on and as you say generally ok for LEZs though for how much longer is anyone's guess as it's quite old now.

 

[ManLikeEnes]

That's a question only you can answer.
Things to be aware of:
Our 2.6 m112 E Class rarely saw north of 35mpg even on a very long motorway run.
In town it rarely saw north of 25mpg.
A 320 CLK won't be a lot different - lighter car but bigger engine.

If fuel costs are a major concern that may make your decision.
Even though petrol is cheaper than diesel the running costs will increase.

On the plus side the m112 engine is extremely quiet and smooth with a lovely note when pressing on and as you say generally ok for LEZs though for how much longer is anyone's guess as it's quite old now.

I appreciate the reply! To be honest it is a question of if I spend an extra £60-£80 a month in fuel with my mileage, that's money that could go elsewhere perhaps? Who knows! I'm happy to spend my money on cars although ULEZ does cost me and I do wonder how long those CLK's will be compliant for!

But yes the M112 is a lovely engine! It's so smooth, refined and I'd love to have one in a good spec!

 

[malcolm E53 AMG]

My view is that unless you have a GPF on a petrol engine those cars will soon be drawn into the ULEZ net.

I’d stick with a diesel 220d ADBLUE engine at your mileage or a 220 CDi engine although that isn’t ULEZ compliant

 

[JBell]

What about a newer S204 C class petrol?

 

[ManLikeEnes]

Thank you for the replies Malcolm and JBell! I have considered those options too, those diesels are very economical (we used to have a C220 CDI a long time ago), I presume as a young driver it would be a little cheaper on insurance and I do like the thought of a nice S204!

However I've done some hard questioning regarding my situation and to be honest, I don't go into London as much as I think I do and with my annual mileage, I don't think my reasons would be enough of a convincement to switch to petrol; I may still look for a 270 CDI with a sunroof and the cream interior but I think diesel is the wise choice for me! Sorry for the trouble but thank you for your help as always!

 

[Chrishazle]

The interior of the S204 is much nicer than the S203 - which easily convinced me to swop my 2001 C270Cdi S203 for a 2008 S204 C220Cdi, but it's only EU4 so if we ever need to into the ULEZ zone it would have to be in my 2008 SLK280 3L petrol, which is ULEZ compliant! - but 30-35mpg compared to 45-50+mpg in the S204! If your 203 (lovely looking car BTW, thankfully neither silver nor black!!) consider the cost to swop against the occasionaly ULEZ charges, economics may well persuade you to stick rather than twist! A 2004 car should not have the rust problems of earlier cars as that was when galvanising was introduced to 203's, and it may even have micro-paint (not sure what this means, but the new deceased bible on here, Television, said this was a worthwhile addition in 2004).

The annoyances for me are : Pre-facelift 204 diesels are only EU4 so RF is higher, but the benefit is that they do not have Adblue which, although lowering RF, brings its own potentially massive problems.
Early pre-facelift 204's with Comand NTG4 had a satnav HDD that would only accept updates to 2014-15, getting that sorted cost me about £400 (at comand.co.uk) including the then latest 2018-19 maps - and I was told MB were still issuing updates - wrong, 2018-19 is the last update ever!!
Ride quality - my 204 came on original 16's (I'm pretty sure mine was originally a demonstrator sold at about 6 months old to second owner, I bought at 4 years old and 64k miles, still have her on 130k+!) I swopped to 17" AMG's, ride quality was not compromised but handling improved dramatically.

The decision is yours - the cost to swop (in 2012) from a c270 S203 (forget the mileage, but not high) to the S204 Elegance on 64K miles was about £13k, subsequent costs apart from normal maintenance have been rear brake lines, where I think I got BF'd because I needed them done now, plus front springs and IIRC shocks.

 

[ManLikeEnes]

A 2004 car should not have the rust problems of earlier cars as that was when galvanising was introduced to 203's, and it may even have micro-paint (not sure what this means, but the new deceased bible on here, Television, said this was a worthwhile addition in 2004).

To be fair Chris she's only rusty on the arches and a bit of the paintwork but in regards to the underside it's not bad! I have several pictures! And I have had to fix quite a few niggly problems such as the boost solenoid, the PCV valve and a split pipe but never into the high 3 digits! All the time I've enjoyed driving her a lot! Very practical, comfortable and economical on the motorway, refined too! Also yes I can confirm even with my updated COMAND I only have 2018-19 maps so some of the latest junctions and roads, including my road, doesn't exist

 

[LostKiwi]

Beware hidden rust on the sills.
That was what killed our old 210.

 

[AndySlade]

Just my 2p worth. You clearly like/love the car so I’d keep it going as long as it does not become a financial burden. I have a 2007 220D S203 with 225,00 miles on the clock. It will need some work doing this year, but I guarantee it will be cheaper than a newer equivalent car. I have to visit my mum in a nursing home so have to pay ULEZ if taking my car, luckily my wife has an Audi A3 petrol which is a lot newer and ULEZ compliant. I like my old S203 and don’t really like the newer increasing plastic cars and I be manic with rage if something expensive got dinged in a car park. I guess my biggest expense is now car tax which is costing me more than car insurance. My car pre-dates Ab-Blu and all the other things that seem to make modern diesels unreliable. It also has button and knobs for controls rather than some LCD screen.

 

[ManLikeEnes]

I'll definitely beware of the sills Kiwi and I agree Andy! I like these old cars more there's a lot of plush soft touch material (although as a young driver, unfortunately can't agree on car insurance! ). To be honest a lot of the problems haven't been massive on this! I am planning on servicing the turbo which again, shouldn't cost a fortune on this but I have managed to catch onto a CLK 270 with a sunroof, I so wish mine had a sunroof!