Your advice appreciated - W202 replacement.

[Steed]

My wife recently inherited her late fathers Fiesta (2014 1.6 dual-clutch automatic). Although it has fond memories its an awful car and to make matters worse we had to sell her beloved Madame Waffty W202 to make room for the new car.

We have decided to go back to a MB but what?

Preference is a Petrol, Automatic, ideally 4 door, with self dipping rear mirror and icing on the cake would be a sun-roof. Budget will be anywhere between £500 and £12,000.

Your suggestions most welcome.

 

[television]

A C class 204 would be a good choice for a mid range car, they are roomy and have a good name,, Diesel or petrol ???

 

[LostKiwi]

I still think the W202 is one of my favourite MBs.
Had two over the years - both C240s. Would have preferred C280s but they never came up when I was looking or I couldn't afford them

 

[Steed]

I still think the W202 is one of my favourite MBs.
Had two over the years - both C240s. Would have preferred C280s but they never came up when I was looking or I couldn't afford them

Difficult to find good rust free examples these days. Mechanically ours was brilliant having done 250,000 miles on a petrol engine.

 

[Steed]

A C class 204 would be a good choice for a mid range car, they are roomy and have a good name,, Diesel or petrol ???

Petrol is our preferred choice Malcolm

 

[Craiglxviii]

Tons of C-klasse available in your price range on the various electronic trading sites... pick and choose, with the top end of your budget you might stretch to an approved used car from MB...

 

[JBell]

C250CGi would be my choice

 

[Steed]

C250CGi would be my choice

Had a quick look on -line at some of these, excuse my ignorance but why are they called a 250 when its a 1.8 engine and 201 bhp?

 

[television]

I would still avoid anything with the 271 engine, they are not that good, and expensive if you are unlucky.

 

[nyx]

a nice rust free w210. nice place to be for little money if you find a good one

 

[star]

I would still avoid anything with the 271 engine, they are not that good, and expensive if you are unlucky.

I would have thought avoid the 651 engine? The 271 suffers the occasional chain wear.

 

[grahamcol]

I'm a massive fan of the 202.. Had four altogether and still got a C280 and a C200. Actually I'm planning on maybe selling the C200 soon as I'm seriously considering buying a pristine 190. The C200 has done 73k miles only and it's a pre facelift 1996 4speed auto in white with factory sunroof. It is the Elegance model and will be having a new mot next week. It's not perfect but is way above average and everyone comments how nice it is. If the op is interested then pm me for more info. I'm looking for £1500 for it and I won't go below that. I know some (most) are cheaper but my price reflects how nice the car is.
Good luck to the op whatever you decide.

 

[turbopete]

a nice rust free w210. nice place to be for little money if you find a good one

even though I had a bad one (engine shot) I would tend to agree with that.

then again, for their size, I can think of worse places to be than a 203 as well (its the car ive owned longest of ANY car ive had, and STILL regret parting company with it)

 

[Botus]

My wife recently inherited her late fathers Fiesta (2014 1.6 dual-clutch automatic).
.

these are fantastic cars, brilliant ride and handling, if it has the engine and box u say it should be very fast and easy to drive. What is it you are unhappy about?

 

[Steed]

these are fantastic cars, brilliant ride and handling, if it has the engine and box u say it should be very fast and easy to drive. What is it you are unhappy about?

The twin clutch Powershift arrangement has been a known problem on both the Focus and Fiesta (lawsuits in America) on our car it's transmission shudder on light throttle. For example if you accelerate lightly out of a roundabout up hill the car shakes so badly that all occupants can feel it, not just the driver. On two occasions I have had to stop it was so bad.

Car was purchased new, Ford agree it vibrates but when measured, the vibration is apparently within acceptable tolerances. There have been numerous software updates but they seem to only cure the problem for a short time. Because of the problems Ford extend the transmission warranty to 5 years on the Powershift cars but that doesn't solve the problem

I agree its fast, but the W202 although 18 years old and having covered 250k miles was a far better drive.

 

[JBell]

Had a quick look on -line at some of these, excuse my ignorance but why are they called a 250 when its a 1.8 engine and 201 bhp?

There is also a 180CGi, the 250 has twin turbos, my father has a 250 and loves it

 

[Botus]

The twin clutch Powershift arrangement has been a known problem on both the Focus and Fiesta (lawsuits in America) on our car it's transmission shudder on light throttle. For example if you accelerate lightly out of a roundabout up hill the car shakes so badly that all occupants can feel it, not just the driver. On two occasions I have had to stop it was so bad.

Car was purchased new, Ford agree it vibrates but when measured, the vibration is apparently within acceptable tolerances. There have been numerous software updates but they seem to only cure the problem for a short time. Because of the problems Ford extend the transmission warranty to 5 years on the Powershift cars but that doesn't solve the problem

I agree its fast, but the W202 although 18 years old and having covered 250k miles was a far better drive.

that doesn't sound so clever. I have driven a Volvo with powershift (uses ford engine and dual clutch box) for 6 months and it was perfect, that was more than 3 years back.

Aside form not having performance and economy losses of conventional gearbox it was almost exactly like a std auto. The ONLY time it was any different was on odd occasions you could just feel the downshift into first. And mostly that's when you are a passenger and the driver isn't driving as well as I would have.

Tried manual mode with paddles very occasionally. Just leave as auto, when it works so well why would you ever want to bother changing gear, especially as more and more roads being converted to traffic slowing nightmares and people texting and not driving at all these days.

Its a brilliant box and I would never choose a manual or conventional auto over dual clutch.

Only odd bit was in the manual, it says in continuous heavy traffic clutch system can overheat due to need for clutch slip to give smooth driving. If the warning comes up, it says to park up and allow to cool. I think once saw warning, but not sure. Maybe that's what damaged yours ?


I know VW ones often needed you to go through a calibration exercise to try and reset so it starts to work correctly again.

 

[Botus]

I need to apologise.... there is very likely a fault on this dual clutch vehicle.... If yours is bad, you may well get a brand new gearbox and a new clutch for free !!!

Its a global issue on many fiesta and focus models - finally resolved from the factory on late model 2016 cars

Ford have now extended the UK warranty to 5 years on their DTC cars... an oil leak (new box) a poor choice of clutch material (new clutch) and a software update are about to resolve the problems

its explained far better here than the keep your head down and make the customer pay stupidity we seem to love so much in the UK

https://www.caradvice.com.au/570740...stralian-boss-talks-on-troubles-and-remedies/

https://ford.oemdtc.com/Recall/SB-10058318-1713.pdf