Hey guys,

I am new to the forum and I am looking to purchase a MB.

I am from Dominican Republic and I have 2 cars so far that I like.

I have not seen any of the cars yet in person just thru a webpage that sells cars in my country.

I will post the pictures so you can take a look at both and get an idea of what I am talking about.

So one of the cars is white and the other one is grey, they are supposed to be both 2002.

Here is the grey one which is a C200 Kompressor with something like 64k kms, I called them and they told me the car comes with Xenon but it doesnt have projectors headlights. The price is in Dominican Pesos which is equivalent to something like $13k USD.

http://www.supercarros.com/Carros/Me...0C/130856.html


This is the white one which is a C240 and when I called them they said the car has around 51k kms I will look that myself. I like the white one more because of the color and the projectors in the front, but when I called I also asked them if the car came with xenon and they said that the car doesnt have any xenon ??? I thought all the benz with the washer on the headlights comes with factory bixenon???? This makes me think that the person who answered the phone is not that informed about the car
the price for the white one is in USD already.

There is something else in the ad of the white one that refers to the seats, they mention something that the seats are not leather ???? Is there any MB out there that comes from the factory without leather???

http://www.supercarros.com/Carros/Me...0C/133101.html

So what are the things that I should keep and eye in both cars when I go look them myself in person this saturday and any personal advices you guys would like to share????

Thanks in advance.

Emir-

 

Hello Emir,

I want to start by welcoming you to the MBWorld community and for eventually becoming a proud Mercedes-Benz owner. You'll find a lot of great people on this forum, and a lot of great information as well. I wish you well on your decision to purchase a C-Class. I believe you'll find that there's nothing quite like the feeling you get when you're driving a Mercedes.


I took a look at both cars, and here's what I can tell based on the pictures I've seen, and the information I'm aware of.


The first car: 2002 C200 Kompressor. This car may have Xenons, but I can't tell. The first years this new C-Class came out (2001 in the United States and 2000 in the rest of the World), Xenon headlights were available. However, they were not the Bi-Xenon headlights which are the projector style headlights, but rather the Xenon elements were behind the frosty headlamp lenses, which this car has. In the first few years (2001, 2002, and perhaps even 2003 and 2004), in the US. the headlamp washers were part of a "winter package" which included, among other things, heated seats. So, this car may have the winter package, and it may have the frosty Xenon headlamps.


The second car: 2002 C240. This car has the projector headlamps, which are very likely Bi-Xenons. However, I believe these were added by the previous owner as either OEM replacement or aftermarket replacements. The reason is that, at least in the US, these cars did not come with these projector lense assemblies from the factory. I am not sure about the Rest of the World cars, including in the Dominican Republic. For example, forum member Glyn has a late model South Africa build C240 that has these projector lenses. However, in the US, we didn't get these lenses until the C-Class was mildly redesigned for 2005.


In the US cars, the C-Class Coupe does come in fabric, however none of the C-Class sedans come with fabric interiors.
The either come with leather seating surfaces with MB-Tex, or the full leather interiors. As for the seats in the white car, the picture of the interior does look like the center of the seats are perforated, indicating that it has the leather seating surfaces. It likely has MB-Tex for the rest of the seats because the material in the doors in stretched and tight, whereas if the car had the full leather package, the material would be "gathered." MB-Tex is a very believable fake leather material that holds up exceptionally well. Many people can not distinguish between genuine leather and MB-Tex.

Something else to note on the interior of the white car: looks like the driver's seatbelt is missing part or all of the black outer covering.


I hope this helps you out a bit. Please keep us all informed on your decision and your thoughts after seeing each car in person.


Cintoman

 

Hey Cintoman,

Thanks for the welcome and your reply. I also noticed the seatbelt thing too just forgot to mention on the post good catch tho , anyways I am desperate to go take a look at them both but will have to wait until Saturday to do that.

Is there anything else that I can check in the computer display under speedometer of each car like when the next service is due and things like that ?

Thanks

Emir-

 

Yes, Emir - what you do is, after start-up, the odometer should show up in the central display. You then push the "up" button on the left-hand side of the steering wheel - eventually, it will show you how many miles until the next service is due.

Good to see someone from the DR; lived there from 1990-92 myself (1 year in SD, one in Sosua). Need to go back sometime - I'm sure it's much different than when I was there.

 

Thanks tommy for the tip, and yes, DR is way different now than before. I was born in SD but moved to Santiago when I was 1yr

 

One more thing guys, is there any way to trick the computer and make the odometer shows a lower mileage than the current ? Like remove a couple of douzens of kms from the odometer so the car appears to be well cared for its age or something like that ???

People in my country invent a lot when it comes to trick others so they can sell things fast and make it look good when they are not.

 

I could have not said it any better

n0ferz Welcome to the Forum.

Yes there is a way to rollback the odometer.

Please see here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jI_kE9It9R4

 

xenon = the light

bixenon/projector = the headlight assembly

 

wow thanks for the video, looks like a very easy thing to do when you know what you are doing

Well I will take a look at the cars this weekend and will let you guys know how I find them. My uncle will go with me too and I am trying to get another friend to go, he has a repair shop and deals with MB, BMWs and cars of that line.

Emir-

 

Unless you like constantly breaking cheap engineered interior components over a solidly engineered engine and chassis all at exorbitantly high parts and labor costs... stay away from mb

 

Well guys I went to both dealers to take a look at the cars and both dealers were close so all I could do was look the outside of both cars only.

To my surprise the silver one is in better condition than the white one. I really like the white over the silver because of the color and the bix (assuming they are really bix) but when I saw it today in person it has too many flaws that take away the charm of a MB.

I will have to arrange another trip so I can take a look on the inside of the silver one and start the engine and stuff like that.

 

Excellent commentary Cintoman. Both those cars are ROW spec - not US spec

The first car is an Avantgarde

The second white car is an Elegance with MB Tex upholstery. It has the factory Bix package. I can't see if it has clear glass fogs which it should have. It has the Thermotronic aircon fitted, Sunroof, Steering & seat memory package - pretty much a full house car. Very few markets had those wheels. They were mainly fitted to Coupes. I believe it to be a Euro spec car. Has some wires running around the battery that are not original.

 

You sir are correct. Thanks for your input .

I just noticed today when I saw it in person that the silver is Avantgarde lol. Now according to your description on the white one, it doesnt have the clear glass fogs(I was there with my uncle today and he believes that the white one was involved in a front collision before or something like that, maybe they changed the headlamps to Bix and thats why it doesnt have the clear fogs lights??), now the Silver do have the clear glass fogs fitted in