ceindusa

I am looking to purchase my first Mercedes and am looking at the 2003-2004 C230k Sedan. From what I've seen, finding one with less than 40,000k on it is uncommon (at least in my area). Mileage is not so much my concern as is the mechanical endurance of the vehicle. Is there any major issues with the C230 cars after 40,000k? (electrical, engine, transmission, etc.) Unfortunately it is not in the books to purchase/lease a new one with warranty. Any input will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

fasteddie

If you can buy one with fairly low mileage through the dealer, you can extend the warranty an extra 3 years for and extra $1500 or something like that.

I would investigate that avenue. Although I think that after a certain time, there is few problems with them, you could still end up with an oddball transmission or something. In which case you will be happy with the warranty. You can get full coverage for an extra 2 years, and power train for the 3rd year. Check with the dealer...it is offered in Canada. Make sure it is through Mercedes Benz USA, and not some secondary outfit. I believe thy call ir Star Warrenty or something like that. It covers just about everything except brakes, bulbs, wipers.

rlee02135

where are you located?

HoustonC230

I second this... when something goes wrong on our cars, it's not cheap. Parts are a fortune, and labor is too.

Buellwinkle

My 2004 C230 SS has been flawless, no problems in 2 years. Look for a 2004.5 as they have the ceramic clearcoat, nicer wheels, 1" lower body, chrome exhaust tip, blue tint windows, and other stuff.

ceindusa

I am located in good old Arizona

ceindusa

So there's no known major problems once the miles start climbing? (I guess thats why you never see a Mercedes broken down on the side of the road!) By the way, everyones cars on here look great, I'm looking foward to owning one.

patrick_y

I've been told from my service manager that the four cylinder Mercedes have a very good track history. He said to expect about 200,000 miles, assuming that you drive the car for about 20,000 miles a year and you take good care of it.

I said what happens if you only drove the car 3000 miles in that past 10 months. He said he didn't know.

But overall, from what he says, the C230 has a very good lifespan. According to him when I asked him which cars seem to have the fewest problems, he said the W210 and the late year W202s were better cars.

I will say this, I drive the C230K SS myself, and I think that the engine is fine, however, I'm afraid that the transmission will go out after 200k miles. Since the car has such high RPMs, better be careful when it comes to the transmission that you're not constantly revving into the 3000-4000 RPM range. The car is extremely willing to rev and will go up that high if you're not careful.

Best bet when buying a car second hand is to buy one from someone that you know took good care of it. Someone who watches their revs, keeps the car clean, doesn't wear out the parking pin in the transmission by using the parking brake, does all the servicing on time, etc. Wow, that makes me a perfect person.

NHBandit

Well, this thread is certainly putting to rest some of the remaining fears I had with my recent purchase (last week) of a Certified Pre-Owned 2002 C230K with 40,000 miles on the odometer and (with the extended warranty) about 40 months of warranty coverage left.

One question, though, for patrick_y: My car has the six-speed, and yes indeed will rev happily to the moon (I traded a VW TDI, so the Mercedes seems like it revs almost as fast as my sportbike by comparison). Were the high rev and parking brake pin issues you mentioned for cars with automatics, or do they apply to cars with manual transmissions as well? Could you enlighten me as to what you're talking about when you refer to the parking pin and its interaction with the parking brake?

ceindusa

I'm not expecting perfection in a used car, I know there will be the few "previous owner quirks" that come with all used cars. I usually only keep a vehicle for around 2 years or it hits 80,000. As far as previous owner, I have a dealership that I used to work for looking at auction for lease returns, rep cars, demos, etc. I figure a car that was required to be maintained and taken care of would be a safe bet, plus it'll be totally gone through before I sign. I don't intend to drive it very easily but that's why I am going with the beautiful German engineering this time. (I'm coming out of a '98 Regal GS w/ 3800 s/c V-6).
Buying an extend warranty is definately a requirement in my book. Like it was said previously in this post, these cars are'nt cheap to fix. My question on the warranty is, Mercedes warranty or 3rd party? The closest MB dealership is about 200 mi. away in Las Vegas. I don't mind the drive (go up there quite often actually, always try to find an excuse to go!) I'm just concerned if my car has to be kept all day or overnight, etc... Beiong stuck having to rent a car just to get around. Is the service/quality of a MB warranty at a dealer signifigantly better?
Thanks for all the input, I appreciate it.

morph860

The extended warranty would be through Mercedes. When I bought mine, it was certified -so they extended the warranty up until 100,000 miles, or the year the original warranty expired - whichever came first. Then they give you the option to purchase more years. I paid about $1500 to add 2 more years onto my warranty, because I'd obviously hit the expiration before I hit 100,000 miles. I never had to leave my car overnight, and I guess the quality of the work depends on the dealer. I had to bring my car back a few times for the same problem. I bought a 2002 c230 coupe with 28k miles on it. Has about 33k on it now, 7 months later - still no major issues. Just had a suspension issue that needed to get fixed. Was under warranty.

///M3N

IHMO, get a cpo from an MB dealership so you can get the extended warranty that MB offers. It's well worth it. I got a starmarked 02 ML500 and got an extended warranty from them as well. Before my factory warranty expired, they even replaced the faded window moldings. After the factory warranty ended the PS hose broke, they fixed it and during the process they spotted a bad tie rod bushing and replaced them too, all under warranty. Dont even worry about a loaner car 'cause they are going to provide you with one as well, as long as there's one available. I've had a 3rd party warranty on my previous car, aside from having a deductible, some of them doesnt even cover 100% of the cost of repairs and a lot of times the shop will need to check with the company first what's covered and what's not. Atleast with MB extended warranty, there's no deductible, the dealership knows the coverage so they'll tell you right then and there if it's covered or not and you know they're using oem parts.

We had our c230 SS for 2 years now, the only time this car has been to the dealership is for the regular maintenance service.

Hope that helps. Good luck on your search

Buellwinkle

That's a totally different animal than the 2003-2004 originally asked about. For that I change my answer. My 2002 was in the shop on a regular basis, about 18 times the first year. Got rid of it to get my 2004, much better. If you search old posts you'll see that there were a lot of issues the first year for the w203 C230K.

TA-9FF

Patrick,

So using the parking brake is a bad thing then? I use mine quite often, and I have an 06 230 with the 7G transmission. But other than that, I always bring my car in usually BEFORE it needs to have its regular scheduled main., I keep my car spotless, and I also keep revs usually between 2-3k rpms.

ceindusa

Does Mercedes only transfer/extend a warranty if its a CPO from a MB dealer? I will be purchasing it through a Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep dealer here in town. I'll be paying about $10,000 less than if I went anywhere else (i.e. a MB dealership). Can I extend it through a Chrysler dealer being as they all under the same name?

patrick_y

Oh no, this is how you should use the parking brake when you park.

What you want to do is to prevent the rolling of the car on the transmission parking pin. Let's not get these two things confused, parking brake and parking pin.

Steps to ensure that you don't roll on the parking pin (only applicable to AT cars):
1. Transmission is either in R or D. Put it into N. Hold your normal service brake to prevent the car from rolling.
2. Apply the parking brake.
3. Release the service brake (the normal brake).
4. Put the car in P.
5. Wait for the engine RPMs to stabilize for at least 5 seconds before turning off the car.

When driving off in the car again, follow these steps:
1. Start the car, wait for engine RPMs to stabilize under 1000 rpms at normal idle. This is a slight warm up procedure.
2. Hit the service brake and put the car in gear, either R or D.
3. Release the parking brake once the gear is engaged.
4. Drive normally.

It is only bad to use the parking brake when the car is not utilized for long periods of time, this is according to the Ferrari Owner's Manuals. Thus, park on a flat surface and don't use the parking brake.

ultraseven

You should go through some of the technical service bulletins that's been posted on this forum before you decide.

If I were you, I would look at 2005+ models. They have an upgraded interior and other minor upgrades.

patrick_y

I don't know about Great Britain, but in the US, you can only buy the "Mercedes-Benz North America" extended warranty in the first 12 months of owning the car. Furthermore, I think only the original purchaser can acquire the warranty.

There are other companies that will provide a warranty though.

fasteddie

Pat;

It is available on Used Mercedes Cars purchased through the dealer, prior to end of the regular warranty....at least in Canada. That is how I got one for my Ml. I believe it is also available on all Starmark used cars (not quite sure what makes a car Starmark or not). I assume that means all the used vehicles comming back from Mercedes lease.

If possible stay away from other warranty providers as much as possible. The starmark warranty is definately the sh*t to get - other than duration it covers just about the same as new car warranty, and includes free roadside & loaner vehicle.

You pay Tires, brakes, bulbs, wipers, and regular service.

patrick_y

Oh yea, don't worry. We keep our cars until they're about to go out. So thus, we expect to keep them for a good 100k miles minimum. We've naturally invested in the extended warranty, and since we bought our cars new, that shouldn't be an issue.

ceindusa

LOL! I am not in Great Britain, I am in good old Lake Havasu City, AZ... The "London Bridge" was bought and moved here by Robert McCulloch in 1971... Hence we became the New Home of The London Bridge. Other than the short history lesson, if I can't get a warranty through MB (which from what I see would be the ideal route) are there any third party companies that will provide the same, or close to the same level of sevice?

patrick_y

I think it's called Western General or something like that. I could be mistaken.

How many London bridges are there? I'm thinking of the London Tower Bridge that goes over the River Thames. Quite fond of that bridge.

fasteddie

My thought exactly Pat;

I was in London 2 years ago. What bridge did my wife and I walk over?

ceindusa;

Did you say Britain...or London Ontario?

Ed

patrick_y

I was under the impression that there was only one London. I didn't know there was one in Canada.

There are a few bridges in London that you can walk over the River Thames with. I think the most famous is the London Tower Bridge, the one with two towers. There's another pedestrian bridge that is painted white I remember. That's close to the London Eye. I'm sure there are a few more bridges but supposedly the most famous one should be the London Tower Bridge.

I want to go to the Humber Bridge. That was the longest suspension bridge in the world for quite some time.

ceindusa

There has been a bridge going across the River Thames for almost 2000 years. This particular one was constructed in 1825, it was the first one designed for railway and autos. In 1962 when it was discovered that the bridge was "falling down", they put it up for auction. Robert McCulloch (the founder of our city) placed a winning bid on it of 2.4 mil in 1968. He then had it moved here piece by piece until it's completion in 1971. There is a rumor that McCulloch thought he was bidding on the Tower Bridge, which is mistakenly called the London Bridge all too often. The Tower Bridge (which is up river from The current London Bridge) wasn't started until 1886, well after this replacement of The London Bridge. (It seems to be quite a reoccurring instance). So in answer to Patricks question, there are 2 actuall London Bridges in existence, one still resides in London, one resides here in Arizona.
Anyways, so you think the warranty company is called Western General? I'll see if I can dig up some info on them.