jaredmac11

Hey guys, new to the forums.

I drive a 1978 BMW 320i (no hissing!) and I'm looking for a newer, more reliable ride. I put some work in to my BMW, and she treats me *very* well for a 30 year old car. But sometimes something will pop up where I have to put her off the street for about a week as parts come in and I do work on the vehicle. Also, the car doesnt have AC and that's becoming a killer. Enough about my personal story.. the main points:

I have a price range of about 8k-12k (yeah, I know it's a low end range).
I'm looking at the c240. I hear the 04/05 models are pretty reliable? What of 02-03?
I'm really just looking for a clean, nice ride that can be my daily drive. If I have to *occasionally* work on the car, I'll use my 320i, but really I don't want to have to take her to the shop once a month. I'm looking for something really reliable.

Is the c240 for me?

Can someone give me a candid idea of how much service a 6+ year old car will get? I see so many old mercedes on the road and yet I feel like I'm the only one driving my BMW model. So maybe Benz is doing something right?

Any opinions are greatly appreciated.

I'm considering lots of vehicles: Volvo S60, Saab 9-3, Acura TL, IS300.. Just looking for the right fit.

e1000

Are you looking for a more luxurious ride or a more sporty ride? Most of the C240's out there are the luxury variety and will feel quite a bit more vague than a BMW of similar vintage. The C230 Sport Sedan however, will feel more like a BMW, almost as composed as a sport package equiped 3-series.

If I were you, I would try to look for a 2005+ C-class. They did a major upgrade to the electronics, and did an exterior facelift that year. The 2005+ cars also seem to be more reliable. In 2005, the available engines were a supercharged 1.8L I4 (C230), a 2.4L V6 (C240) and a 3.2L V6 (C320). In 2006, the engines were updated across the lineup as follows 2.5L V6 (C230), 3.0L V6 (C280) and 3.5L V6 (C350).

In general, maintenance on these cars are fairly straightforward. Any maintenance item is pretty easy to work on with no unusual technologies like SBC or Airmatic to deal with. I do most of the easier maintenance items myself and was very pleasantly suprised to find that it's easy to work on the C-class.

If you can stretch it, I would go for a 2005+ C230 for a sportier car or a 2006+ C280 for a more luxury oriented car. Good luck, welcome to the forums and I hope you find a good ride.

Glyn M Ruck

The C240 is a 2.6 litre V6

Listen to e1000. If you have been happy driving a 320i you will find a C240 2.6 litre M112 engined car or a C230 2.5 litre M272 engined car fabulous. If you are prepared to rev them their performance is more than adequate. The Europeans consider them the pick of the bunch. The other thing with the smaller Benz V6 engines is that they are not overstressed & they do not stress the transmission. They will do huge mileage! I know of one at 745,000 Kms & another at 685,000 Kms that are still running beautifully with zero major mechanical repairs. Just lots of tyres & brake pads.

Try & get a facelift if you can. I presume you are in the USA - If you are not in the USA then the pre facelift cars were far better spec'd with full leather & all the bells & whistles & are in some respects more desireable. The post facelift cars had many of the nice to have features removed to cut complexity & cost.

e1000

Oh yeah the 240 was a 2.6L wasn't it. I stand corrected!

omg its nate

I would try for the c230 sport face-lifted.

MW_ATL

I would look for a post-facelift if I could find it also. They made some significant changes in the electronics.

Take a look at Matt's thread on his car. He has done a great job of giving an idea of what life with one of these is like, and overall is pretty happy: https://mbworld.org/forums/c-class-w...es-review.html

I think one that had not been cared for or had a serious wreck could be a problem child, but I think that most of the vehicles you will find are going to be pretty reliable.

jaredmac11

Great information guys, I appreciate it.

I assume by "facelift" models you are talking about 2005+ and not some package that offered a sportier look.

And yeah, the 320i was a simple 110HP 4 cylinder machine. It's just a fun little go-cart. I'm sure anything will feel like a racecar. The c230 seems appealing with its i4.. any 4 cylinder engine seems like, to me, that it'd be easy to maintain. The c240 also seems nice. You guys sell these models very well..

I dont need alot of muscle. It's going to be a DD and I'm sure at th end of the day, I'll appreciate the gas mileage more than the extra power. I think the c320 will be out of my price range anyways.

I'm trying to break down the c230/240 a bit. I'll be honest, Mercedes badging always threw me for a loop.

c230-1.8L I4 (is this the kompressor?)
c230-2.5L v6? M272 Engine
c240-2.6L V6 -- M112 Engine

e1000

c230 - depends on year, but 2004-2005 it was a supercharged 1.8L I4 (kompressor) (M271)
c230 - 2006+ = 2.5L NA V6 (M272)
c240 - 2.6L NA V6 (M112)

Some things to note: Kompressor just denotes that it's supercharged. For example, the W211 E55 is also a Kompressor. The supercharged M271 may be an I4, but it also adds the complexity of a supercharger, so that's something to consider maintenance wise.

Glyn M Ruck

Yep - It was lower capacity in the W202.

To the OP - You seem to keep your cars a long time. If you intend keeping this car for a long while the V6 engines will offer lower maintenance cost.

LILBENZ230

My car has 85000 miles now and has never had any significant problem. There's a guy on here with a 2005 C230 with over 200,000 miles without any significant problems, as well.

You'll be hard pressed to find a 2005 car for your price range, though.. and it would be even more difficult to find a 2006+ one.

Stay AWAY from the 1999-2003 Acura TL cars. They're pleasing enough but have widespread transmission problems (I had an 02 that went through 3 transmissions in 40,000 miles). The problem was in the design and has never been fixed. All extended warranties are up on these cars at this time.

A Lexus IS300 is a solid choice. That's probably what you should go with if you're looking for reliability.

Midnight Koop

we should have a sticky with all the general benz questions for a w203 newbie which describes a breakdown of the different engines with reliability etc...