Road Dog

Hi!

So I've been looking at the C230 as I tend to gavitate towards "hatchbacks".....
I went to my local MB Dealer and they had no 6-speeds to drive, so I didn't, but I do have questions if others can share their thoughts, it would be much appreciated....

The first thing I noticed was the really poor paint job on ALL of the new MB's in the showroom - not just the C230. Is anyone on this forum familiar with an auto paint inperfection call "Orange Peel"? It was as previlant on the $100K cars as the "cheap" $30K cars.
Do your C230's suffer from this problem (all the ones on the lot looked pretty bad)?

The supercharged four cyclinder; does it have any history of not being so reliable..? Uses oil (more than 1/2 quart in 6k miles)? Electronics problems (I had a MB and the theft "feature" liked to go off in the middle of the night - in the garage)?

Does the Bose system sound that much better considering there are only 2-3 more speakers?

I saw a posting about a "service charge" when taking one's car in for work that's covered in the
four year / 50K maint. IS there a fee for a "visit"?

"ESP/ASC": Can you turn this stuff off and on?
If I can't turn "it" off, am I going to be able to do a 4-wheel drift on a clover-leaf or see if I ca melt the tires somwhere with a hot start...?

The car strikes me as a "commuter car", which is what I'm looking for. My experience is that most German built cars are much quicker than they seem (sensation). IS 190 horses going to be enough for a 3300+ pound car around town as well as passing on country two lane roads?

I really appreciate any feedback that you all could provide....

Thanks!

Doug

Steve H.

I have a desert silver C230. 6 speed manual . I love this car.

As far as I can tell, the paint job is perfect. What is "orange peel"?

I got mine in Nov. Have 2000 miles, mostly commuting, roughly 18 mi each way. My oil is at the mid point of the dipstick measure. Don't know what I started at.

I have the bose system but it is wasted on me as I am partially deaf (at least according to my wife).

Don't know yet about service. The car won't need service for another 8K. I believe standard service is included for the first 50K

There is a toggle switch to turn off esp and another way to disable all of the electronic controls at start up. See thread titled smokey burnouts.

Car has good kick. See performance pages for available warranty voiding upgrades.

MarkL

"Orange peel" is when you can see a slight overall texture to the paint which resembles, well, an orange. It used to be considered "bad", but I think the newer paints (water-based) tend to look this way. This is what I have heard. Actually, my Capri Blue (C240) looks pretty smooth, so there may be some variation from car to car. Other than this appearance, the MB finishes I've seen (including mine!) are beautiful, IMO. They're high gloss with great depth.

BTW Doug, if your dealer doesn't have a 6-spd C230, maybe he has a 6-spd C240 you could try. Different power but you could check out the manual trans.

AndrewK

Since I dont have an '02 Coupe I cant answer all of these, but I can chime in on the reliability. I have a 2000 C230 Kompressor sedan (same engine except it was reworked for '02) and we just past 22,000 with absolutely 0 problems. mbtech208 also claims the 111 series 4 cylinder is one of the most sound engines Mercedes is building right now.

Andrew

jpgroom

Road Dog

We checked out a Magma Red C230 6 speed (no other options) and the paint seemed rough, almost dirty. A nearby C240 was the same, although an SL500 was smooth as glass. I am not sure if this was bad paint or they needed a good wax job.

Lynn

Orange peel is very common with the "environmentally friendly" clear coat paint which is required to be used these days. It is more apparent with metallic paint. The only cure is to find a body shop willing to repaint the car with old style paint. And yes, my car has orange peel.

The Bose system sounds better, but not a lot better. If you order C5, then the Bose is prpbably worth the money. If you are buying the Bose system as a separate option. I feel it is not worth the price.

The ESP can be turned of with a button on the dash. ASR, at least the part which emulates a limited slip differential, cannot be turned off with the button, but there is a way to do so. mbtech208 posted how to do it in the tech forum.

I think the services charges you mention might be for non-scheduled service, such as oil changes at less than 10,000 mile intervals, or changing the dust filter in the air conditioner.

The car has more than adquate power. Just ask the a-hole in the supercharged Buick who was tailgating me and then tried to pass on the rignt. Remember, the 0-60 time is 7.2 seconds, which was muscle car territory in the '60's.

p010sp0rt8

In regards to the question of having a bose stereo system, if you are an audiophile like me you definately want it. Since we took the first 230 on the lot (someone had canceled) it did not have A bose system in it. however my I30t and the S430 both came with the systems. The sound quality is on another level. If you are used to a regular stereo, the mercedes one will sound just as good if not better than ones in other cars. However if you like hearing clean crisp notes especially if you have the CD player, the bose system will play every note and you will feel every beat, the artist intented. If you think the price of the Bose system isn't worth it, if you take a look at upgrading the current system for an MBQuartz one of the same standards you will prolly end up spending thousands more. Since you need a new amp, and proper subwoofer housing and such.

Btw, you can turn ESP off but i'm not sure about the other one.

Personally and i think i might get letters of hate and abuse for this. but if you like throwin ur car around. like you say you do (4 wheel drifting and such) i would go for the Impreza WRX. another 4 cyl, great communter car, completely different class than the mercedes tho. but hey. it's fun as hell to drive. The 227 horses are all ones you can feel in ur ***, trust me, i power slid all the way out the dealer lot by being a lil too trigger happy.

hey just my opinions! i love the C230k!!!!

zimmer26

Turbo lag sucks! Unless you like running at 4000+RPMs.

Rick

The paint on my car is flawless...

The Kompressor 2.3l motor was proven in the SLK...enough said

The Bose is a no-brainer when you consider the C5 package is only $235 more than the roof/leather/rain sensor ala carte...

ESP/ASC and traction control can be turned off...but you want it on when you need it, which is usually unexpected.

My service charge was for a non-warranty oil change...

Performance is amazing...and I've held an SCCA superlicense, owned many muscle and performance cars...and I'm impressed.

My advice to you, Doug...if you want to throw a car around, get a Subaru WRX. If you want to spoil yourself, splurge for the extra $$$ and get the Benz.

Steve H.

I can chime in that my C230 does not have any "orange peel". The only paint imperfection I could find is a small area 2sq in of a slight color change at the base of one of the pillars. Overall I was very impressed with the paint job.

MarkL

Lynn, my 2nd car (wife's) is a Regal GS w/ the 240-hp supercharged V6 (I hope we don't fit into the a-hole category :p ). I think the 0-60 for that car is also about 7.2, so it might have been the gearing at the speed you "blocked" the driver, or he was not flooring it at the time. I'd guess the Buick might be able to take the C230 w/ the added hp and much higher torque, I think it's 227?

Black230

The paint on my Black 230 Coupe has very little orange peel effect, however when they delivered it to me at the dealer they had so called "detailed" it and it had the worst swirls I have ever seen, I went home and removed them with Meguiars and the car now looks awesome. I got to say that the combo I have is one of the best looking black with Oyster leather, panorama.

As far as the ESP yes it can be turned off or on, but the ASR is always on though

As far as the Bose well I love music and loud music and on my '01 Audi I have the Bose and on the C230 I don't and it sounds as powerful and good as the Audi's enough for me.

For service yes, it's for non-warranty service

The reliability of this engine well only time will tell, however we have one of the first SLK's produced and have had zero problems since then, great engine

As far as power, well I'm a speed demon and can tell you that the 230 Kompressor is more than adequate for city driving as well as any other driving you need. Coming from a person who drove an S4 from Audi I can tell you that the 230 Kompressor is no "Slow-poke" and with a pulley upgrade that little engine can pull hard, and I have the auto. and it's above average in acceleration for 4-cylinder autos.