wow ive never seen an 03 c240 with factory installed xenon headlights and clear fogs on a pre-facelift bumper. I guess since you're in South africa its different over there.

 

With our own MB plant here we can order pretty much customised cars - but this was not - The BIX kit was a standard option here as with Europe from day one on the W203.

Some wierd things seem to happen with US speced cars. I see some cars with MB Tex upholstery - while it's offered here everyone takes full leather. And I see AMG cars in America with standard lights. In South Africa & Europe all AMG cars come with BiX & Parktronic - not optional. They are full house (fully loaded I think you guys say)

You might notice that my car does not have clear indicator repeaters in the mirrors. They were not available when my car was built. Even the AMGs were configured like mine.

Sorry - I see you are in Canada & I'm talking US specs but they are similar. See also my drivers door. US cars still come with golf tee shaped lock pins. Our cars have had plain fluted ones for 20 years. I think the tee shaped pins look like a '65 Cadillac

 

Ok, this is an upclose of the headlights. I don't think their BiX.

 

man i wish i could have a SA-speced w203! would be awesome!

 

Glyn...the information you consistently provide is always invaluable and helpful. Thank you as always my friend.

Cintoman

 

Billbugger....you're right, yours unfortunately are not bi-xenon, but rather the standard headlights that appeared on the slightly facelifted 2005 model cars.

As Glyn mentioned, the US spec'd cars are quite different than the ROW (Rest of World). We have C55's with non bi-xenon lights, cars with 1/2 leather 1/2 MBTex, and then in 2007, full MBTex (with full leather optional). In the US, Parktronic (and Linguatronic for that matter) is not available. Also, as Glyn mentioned, in the US, we still get the golf tees for door lock pins. These, mind you, look exactly the same as the ones on M-B cars of the 60's

Option packages are re-worked; other options are just not available. Even in Canada, things vary from the US. For example, in Canada, you can get a 2005 C230 without the AMG appearance package (standard front/rear bumpers and standard lower valances), whereas the US, all 2005+ C230's come with the AMG appearance package.

Compared to the US Spec'd cars, Glyn's is quite different, in the ways he mentioned. Notice the parktronic (small round circles on the bumper strip) and lack of an amber side marker on the side of the bumper strip. Beautiful car Glyn.

I found some pics I have showing the different style lights. I know I'm repeating here, so apologies. But here they are nonetheless...

These are for US (and perhaps Canada spec) cars:

2001-2004 standard halogen lights (xenons look the same but have the xenon elements behind the light covers. Very difficult to tell standard vs xenon with them off, because they're both frosted style and it's tough to see thru the lines on the lenses:



2005 saw a mild facelift for the W203's in the US. They included among other things, clear lense headlights and clear side mirror turn signals. Below are the standard halogen lights. This is for 2005 thru 2007:


2005 also introduced the bi-xenon headlights in the US spec'd cars. This is for 2005 thru 2007 as well. Here are 2 pics, one with the lights off, the other with the lights on:





Hope this helps
Cintoman

 

Mu - your car looks pretty damn good to me

 

Thanks Paul - You do a fine job yourself We all have our strengths & weaknesses!

Thanks for these pics above - they just got filed!

For other members - Paul is the "attention to detail chap" - he notices every minute detail.

 

A little bit of fun - Ever wondered why American Cs look a little tall in the tail?

Another subtle difference - see the rear plastic, body coloured, number plate surround on SA cars versus American ones. You have a small plate so they have filled in the sides. On the SA one it is wider for our plate which creates an elusion that the SA model has a lower, wider tail. This is not a great photograph to illustrate the point but is all I have!

 

Hey thanks alot! My car looks just like the 2005 halogen lights. Are there any aftermarket bulbs that you can add to this car to make them look 'better'?

 

So Paul - by definition then - with no Parktronic you guys could not have Distronic either because it uses the Parktronic sensors. I did not realise this.

 

This is the kind of information that helps a newbie learn!!!

 

glyn,
nice photo... I love that scenic background.

 

Yeah Keith,I always make a point to check out Glyn's posts,no matter the subject. ALWAYS informative,funny & witty & ALWAYS on point! Really learned ALOT from Glyn's insight!

 

Thanks for the compliments Glyn... He's right, I'm very detail oriented, and try for perfection in everything I do. Can't say I achieve that all the time. Far from it. But I love researching things in detail.

A pet project I've been working on for quite some time is a spreadsheet for documenting as many W203 VINs I can find. Most of my information comes from sites such as autotrader.com and eBay's autos page, and the pictures they have of the vehicles for sale. So far I have over 1,400 VINs. I try to obtain as much info as I can from all the pictures listed for a vehicle. With these pics, I can determine what options the car has, and document accordingly. Just by looking at the pics I can easily determine what options the cars have. Example: they may not have a pic of the front door panels, but by looking at the headrest posts of the seats, I can determine if the car has the full power seats or not. How? The round plastic piece surrounding the left post of the headrest. If it has a little section to press in, then the headrests are not power adjustable, and hence, no full power seats. If the surround is all round with no push tab, then it has the full power seats. Or if there's no picture of the inside of the trunk. If there's a pic of the back seats, I can tell if they have the split-fold option or not by seeing the way the cutout of the seats are made. Things like that.

I have also found some interesting patterns in the production of these vehicles, especially with VINs that are close to each other. Example: a group of VINs might all be C320 4-matics, others might be alabaster white C230's, etc. Also noticed running changes throughout the years.

A good example is the switching of the lock/unlock button on the dashboard. From the beginning up until the 2005 model, the unlock button was on the bottom and the lock button on top, which is reverse to how the knobs work on the doors...up it's unlocked, down is locked, so you would think the buttons would mimic this.

Well apparently Mercedes realized this, and a running change was made during the 2005 model year to flip the button layout on the dash to have unlock on top and lock on the bottom. I'm close to pinpointing the actual VIN when this change was made, but for now, I know that it happened either in August or September 2004 for the W203's made in Bremen, Germany. VIN#: WDBRF40J95F618121 had it reversed. VIN#: WDBRF40J85F620667 has it corrected. So basically, somewhere between 620667 and 618121 the change was made.

Another running change is the removal of the center vent knob between the middle vents on the dashboard, a change that was made sometime between the 2003 and 2004 model years.

I'd love to get info on the SA (and ROW) cars, as I have no exposure to these. In fact, I'm not sure if these VIN numbers are similar to the US ones.


Yes, that's correct. I forgot about Distronic. So yes, no Distronic, no Parktronic, no Linguatronic for the US W203's



Billbugger...I've seen different threads on the forum here regarding aftermarket halogen lights that give a look close to the BIX look. I'm not too familiar with which are the best. They go into detail about 4000K, 5000K, 8000K outputs, etc. Definitely worth doing a search on it, as there's a lot here in the forum about it.



10000% agree with your comments about Glyn ArsnlKen.


See...I told you keithgy that you'd find a lot of great people here, and a wealth of information. And if you learned anything so far, you'll see that my posts always seem to be so looooonnnnnnng.....


Cintoman

 

I rest my case and I'm an **** Virgo!!!! Here's your first SA VIN - VIN WDC 2030612R124304

 

Ken & Paul - you make me blush - I would not be on the forum if it was not for great friends & the enjoyment I get out of it

 

Thanks Keith - I live in a beautiful piece of the world - see some photos











Sorry - we had a mountain fire on the one pic

 

See...I can't help it !!

Cool...VIN added to a new SA tab on my spreadsheet.

Cintoman

 

Paul is going to notice a wreck in some pics & not others. Winter storm swept it off the rocks

I'm showing this link here . Some members are leading a Spanish member astray

https://mbworld.org/forums/showthread.php?t=267748

 

Holy Cow!!! Party at Glyn's!!!!!

 

I own a little place in a nice place Ken & you're welcome

 

those photos are breathtaking... I live in Savannah, Georgia (on the east coast) Our oceans do NOT look like that


I second this... lets move for a vote.

 

does anybody know how to take off the hood emblem?