I love the car, I just wish mine was a manual, which is available in w203s so thats not a w203 problem just a problem with me changing my mind on what I want to much.
All in all I think w203s are great cars

 

It's funny that this thread was recently revived. I went back and looked at some of the first replies and then I got to mine...

I think it was before I had to replace the A/C compressor and the SRS wiring harness (thankfully, those were both taken care of by my MaxCare warranty).

Now that I've had more time in the car (and had more problems) I have a more jaundiced view of the car. I still like it, but some things are just crummy. For example:

1. single gang timing chain on the M271 engine. It seems like it becomes an item you replace, but on a slightly longer interval than a belt. Good Job, MB!

2. the alternator clutch pulley arrangement on the M271. I do not understand this and there may be a good reason for it. For the life of me, I can't come up with one. For those uninitiated, the alternator has a clutch in its pulley (never heard of this before on any other car) and when it goes out, it takes your A/C compressor with it. That's what I'm talking about! A sacrificial A/C compressor! Two A/C compressors in one year could be a bad sign. Way to go MB!!!

3. In my original post to this thread I mentioned the 6MT was not quick shifting and the pedals were poorly placed. Those are gifts that just keep on giving. WRT the 6MT, the shifts are clunky and slow compared to most MTs I've owned. Downshifts are an even bigger challenge. Matching the revs is a hit or miss proposition for me (maybe it's my advanced age). I was taught and always practiced a gentle touch on the gear shift lever. I let a friend drive it and he seemed to shift quicker than I could, but then he pretty much man-handled it (that may be my real problem). I guess if you shift it like a truck, it works better. The pedals have basically the same placement as the old (current, too?) US cars used to have. No thought to putting one foot on brake and gas pedals. By contrast, Jap cars with MT place their pedals in exactly the right place. I don't remember fighting that in my old 320i so I expect and assume that other German sports sedans have good pedals, too. Not MB!!!

There are certainly a lot of things I do like about my W203s, but there are some where you have to wonder what they were thinking when they designed it. The bloom is certainly off the rose.

 

Yeah - The MT's are a challenge. A little agricultural.

My C240 was a fine & completely trouble free car & tight as a drum - never a rattle or squeak.
SA built cars are sold with a 10 year perforation warranty & I've never seen one with rust.

 

The Subwoofer rattle, seat creaks, the LCD on the speedometer. and i have this annoying squeaky clanking sound coming from the rear right wheel that does NOT seem to go away after i accidently used the wrong lugs (Longer) lugs on my spare. =/

 

Agricultural - very good description!
I might say that my wife's '06 C230 has been very good. We have had no problems with it (mine gets more use). It is a very smooth drive. It disappoints in the fuel mileage area, but other than that it has been very good. Of course it has an auto tranny and the V6. I don't know if it shares the same alternator clutch pulley situation as my I4 - the SA seemed to imply that it was a 4 cylinder "feature".

I would also say that the fit and finish of our two C230s has never been a problem. No squeaks or rattles. No rust that I'm aware of - and mine stays outside (the wife's car and the Lotus live indoors).

 

Only had the car a couple weeks so no major complaints.

1) The LED display on the dash is a little faded around the edges when car interior is hot.

2) The front passenger door pull was broke when I bought it.

3) the radio option I have is the cassette deck with 6 disc changer. Seams a bit out dated, but i typically put aftermarket stereos in my cars anyways. I just need to figure out what to do with this stereo. I would like to go to a nav radio with iPhone controls and a steering wheel interface.

Really like the car. It replaced a 99 VW Jetta. Much nicer than the Jetta. It is roomy for a compact. No issues with power or rattles. I bought the 2.6 liter with expectations of a good balance of power and mpg. If I want power, I drive my 2006 jeep grand Cherokee overland with the 5.7 Hemi, but mpg sucks.

 

haha.. that's a good question. Let me see...

1. Makes me **** about where to park.

2. Constantly thinking about it being damage, while I am away doing my thing.

3. Gets me pissed off when another car parks near it (Jealously??, nah).

4. Little issues of noises that gets me worried.

5. Spends my $$$ to fix it up and make it looks nice.

I guess they are right about a car being a wife or 2nd wife, eh?

To sum it up, sounds like a new love, wife or gf. Caring and looking after it as it is a part of my life. I suppose as much as it provides for me (bringing me to places and enhances my lifestyle, physcially and mentally), I will provide for it (take care of it). Seems like a long term relationship to the end or until we part ways.

 

Not enough power (I wish there were more performance mods) and the backseat is too small.. Also sucks that my alt took out the ac compressor but w.e. I can live without it. A real handbrake would be cool too.

 

Yup. That's what happened to me!
Live w/o A/C??!! I guess it's cooler in So. Cal. Not possible in NC. We've been maxing out at 110 deg. this week.

 

my c32 amg ac is leaking but i can change that mahself. it's not that hard, just pull the belt and the plastic piece under the car. there's a few screws holding it on and two bolts for the high and low side freon tubes.. fill compressor with proper oil.. reverse removal process.. vacuum and charge. 2 hours max and about 500 dollars. a lot cheaper than benz doing it.

 

This thread is somewhat depressing, but I thought I had to jump back in here and make a few comments...

The '06 C230 is overall a very good, reliable car. I honestly can't think of much I don't like about it, other than a couple of options that I wish I had, but hey, that's not really negative about the car since the options are available, I just don't have them on mine (GPS, heated seats, sunroof).

The 1 thing that pisses me off more than anything is that the rear seats do not fold down so if I want to go snowboarding in this car (which is my absolute favorite thing to do in the winter), I need to either wrap my board in a blanket/towel or put it in a protected bag and put it in the backseat. I mean why the f*** is it not standard to have a back seat that folds down into the trunk??

The other thing is the serpentine belt tensioner pulley. Apparently most German auto makers have an issue with this part, but for some reason it's this one little piece that's not as high quality as the rest. Mine shattered and the serpentine belt shredded when I was out on a drive and I was blasting the heat and turning the car off on down hills to get it back home, terrible experience.

Other than that, this car has been great to me. About to hit 102k miles and the only "major" repairs were: thermostat (shop, ~$200), cam magnets (did it myself, $80 parts). The 6 MT I love.

Now the '05 C55 AMG (64k miles) which I have only had a couple of weeks on the other hand has all the options you can get and is a very good looking black on black, but:

-first week I have it I go to the car wash and I move the power seat all the way to the front to vacuum under the seat and it gets stuck all the way up front and won't go back. Turns out the seat frame needs replacement and mechanic says $1000

-Opening the trunk was making a funny noise when I pulled the handle, I guess it's some kind of electronic locking mechanism? Anyway, this weekend I tried to open the trunk and it stopped functioning so I can't get into my f***ing trunk and now I have to fix this to!

I'm hoping this isn't a prelude to the C55 becoming a problem car, maybe I just need to take care of it and I'll be ok. But I have to say, there is absolutely NO ISSUE when I push the pedal to the floor and feel the power of the AMG V8, and it reminds me that this car is worth keeping and taking care of!

 

Add more interior rattles to this list.
My W203 has tons of them from the A/C vents, speedo cluster and wood trim.

 

well since this isn't dead yet haha

i agree with other peoples stuff on somethings
like pedal placement is just awful it really is and it is soooooo hard to rev match my track civic and rx7 are so much more thought out in this

and auto wipers just confuse me they are really random from time to time.

rear sway bar bushing are shotty previous owner did them i'm going to have to do them again they are all cracked and ****ed up might just do ES bushings if they have any i'm sure they do.

and the damn parking brake is just stupid haha besides that i love this car. i would not say underpowered. but i'm used to under powered it has twice the power of both my autox cars and it feels that way even for being so heavy.

overall i'm very very happy with this car, lets hope it treats me well I haven't had it very long

 

There is a solution to the pedals from these guys: http://www.ultimatepedals.com/catalo...?cPath=112_113

They aren't cheap, but the do look very nice and I think you can give them some dimensions and they'll make them for you. I haven't gotten around to getting them. I may try to make a new gas pedal to screw on the current one out of plain flat aluminum...

The tranny... there's no solution for that. It is what it is.

 

Guys the hanbrake wire keeps on hitting on the metal thats over the exhaust pipe. So whenever im driving in a small street everyones looking which makes me hate my car! Thats stpd!! Did it happen to anyome here? I found nothing on the forums

 

I really like my coupe. The interior does seem to be fragile in some areas, but it is a 11 year old car and I'm not sure how much abuse the previous owners put on it! My passenger side door handle broke, which was a big shame.

Other then that the only thing that bothers me is the height of the car. It looks a bit awkward in some angles even with H&R lowering springs. But I guess I could just be used to lower cars

 

 

Guess this thread just won't die!

But the number one thing I like least about my car is the ESP! It's more of a love/hate relationship because I know one day it will save my life, but when I'm trying to drift around in the snow, the ESP automatically pumps my brakes for me and I end up understeering and looking like a tool.

Second would have to be the transmission. I drive an auto, but it's weird how they set it up. I can shift it up to 4th gear without actually being in 4th gear?! In my A4, the cluster would actually project which gear I was in, and I didn't have to downshift in order to access the tiptronic mode.

Number three is definitely the parking brake. Foot activated parking brakes are reminiscent of old, clunky GM vehicles and the last time I checked I had purchased a luxury German automobile with a semi functioning sun roof and non powered passenger seat.

Oh wait...

 

Seems there are some unhappy/happy owners out there. My 2003 C200 K Wagon is basically a beautiful drive - well balanced, goes where it should, performs as it's spec says it should. If owners wanted more power, or more room, why buy this model in the first place? BUT!!! Mercedes engineering and build let this car down. This estate model was built in Germany - unlike sedans. So, you would think that some more care would result in fewer squeaks and rattles, interior door closer handle not falling off, cam-timer sensors not leaking (very poor engineering, parts quality control, and non-existent customer 'service'). The resultant oil leak cost me new wiring harness, ECU flush-out, alternator, SRS controller, audio faults, and now, I am experiencing transmission 'moments' I never had before.
Overall, what's wrong with my W203? It wasn't made by Toyota!

 

Well, I purchased my '05 C230K (US Spec) two months ago. When I bought it, it had the broken passenger side door pull handle broken, the AC footwell stepper motor issue, broken cup holder, multi-touch sunroof (LMAO), broken rear sunshade, broken center console lid, driver side sun visor makes an awful noise whenever you move it, the list goes on. The car had two previous owners. The first, a nice older lady who really took care of it and got all the services done when they were due (only two MB deakers here in San Diego so I was able to verify the car's history), had all the campaigns taken care of, all the service As and Bs done by the dealership and so forth up until 70-something k miles. Then came DOUCHE BAG! Who broke all things broken and fixed none!... Now there's me who acquired the car at 107k miles.

I have always been the type that works on his own car. I have owned and raced Mazda Rx-7's and Rx-8's for a long time (hence my username) and as such have seen my fair share of fragile (rotary engines are WAY more fragile/tempermental than any other engine in the world!), good and bad design, good and bad materials. That being said, in less than two months I replaced the passenger door pull handle, fixed the AC "clicking" stepper motor issue, learned how to re-sync my sunroof to make it back to one touch type, and have sourced half of the components to make the car bluetooth handsfree, and bluetooth ipod control. Soon after I do this upgrade I will be installing comand. I love the ride of the car. I like the HEAVY feeling! To me it's more like STABLE/PLANTED (think Autobahn guys!) The e-brake....well I look at the center section where the e-brake would go and I just can't see myself picturing an ugly lever invading that space. You guys already said it "the car could use more room..." well, that's probably what they thought which is why they condensed the "Two" cupholders into one...to save space in the center/front. The lack of a pull up lever e-brake there helps give the center area a cleaner look I think. Seats being partially manual/power? Well... the manual settings are ones that don't really ever change (seat bottom front-section height and seat rail position front/back) at least as a driver right? I mean if the same person drives the car everyday to work like in my case then why would those two change? In the winter I may wear jacket in the morning and that changes my position but then I do have an electric adjustment for my back so that's pretty easy. Pedal placement/layout? If you think of it as a car designed by a company that has EXTENSIVE formula racing presence/heritage and position yourself and the seat as LOW to the floor as possible you will see that soon most of the cockpit layout makes a lot more sense and just feels better and just right. I'm tall enough to be able to do this with no issue. I've read on here that a lot of people seem to have trouble with pushing on the gas pedal and the car not really going anywhere. My wife had the same complaint at first. She drove the land rover before this everyday so she was used to sitting high and then using the tip of her toes to push on the LOWER part of the gas pedal. this works fine because in the LR4 the pedal is hinged at the top so you get a lot of movement of the pedal and consequently a lot more response from the engine for your effort. In the C class (and like in many race cars) the pedal is hinged at the bottom and most people seem to try pushing that bottom section and then complain because there is not much response for the effort. If you try positioning yourself with your seat low, then you will find yourself being able to place your heel right where the hinge point of the pedal is and being able to move the pedal pivoting on your ANKLE not your HEEL which is a more ergonomic approach, and not sitting higher and having your feet "dangle" down and your heel landing somewhere away from the gas pedal which cause only the toes to be teh ones doing all the work trying to push the pedal which is why it feels like you have to push SOOOOooooo hard to get the car to respond. I still agree that there's a DELAY in the response but thats due to the the nature of the FBW throttle (the land rover behaves the same way in this department).

The cupholder does suck and the issue with the chrome trim that peels off and can cut you is real but I have seen a new cup holder and couldn't help but to wonder how it ever got broken in the first place. My only possible explanation was that the cup holder must've been in the locked up and open position with a giant 64 oz Mega GULP from 7-11 and the driver must've been putting the car through some high lateral G's in order to get that thing to break the way mine was broken. After playing with the new one I help in my hands and knowing my habits, I'm confident that I won't break it once I replace it. I can't say that the chrome trim will stay though.

Window switches seem fine and sturdy.

Rear legroom... well I don't ride in the back, but with my daughter's car seat in the middle of the back, the sides are pretty much useless as no adult or even kid gets any usable space BUT again, I was aware of this and it didn't matter since 99% of the time my daughter is the only one in the back.

rear sun shade... will fix myself.

Driver-side sun visor... will attempt to lubricate with silicon-based lubricant... should be good! If not, replace it.

Rear fold-down seats... well I'll just say that I did my research before I bought the car, knew that it was an option and also knew that this particular car didn't have it but honestly I didn't care for it. If I need to go to Lowe's to buy some plywood, or go up to Big Bear to snowboard, I'll just take the LR4 which has way more room and folding third-row seating.

Timing chain, cam sensor, spark plugs, serpentine belt pulley and tensioner have all been done at the last service at around 75k miles so... while I will continue to keep my eye on the engine/tranny and other things I think the car will be fine for a while longer. In the meantime I will continue to gather the tools (all the european stuff that I don't already have or any special tools), PDFs, and KNOWLEDGE from this FORUM for when those bad times come I may be prepared.

Now the car was bought for commmute duty everyday in the SoCal area (mainly the I-15) and in that department it has been doing great!... My wife already has a speeding ticket as proof! (clocked doing 102 mph in a 70 mph zone....) while getting 28 MPG!!!.... to me that's awesome! It's an eight year-old car so yeah... it's going to be rough.... but overall I'm very happy with the car!!!

 

I have an 06 c230, I bought it used and got lucky that the one I bought has every option offered from factory. Still with that being said, I know its only an 06 but my gripes are

- Wish the navigation was easier to use (touch screen)
- fuel economy - I average 25mpg... from a 2.5l v6 is kinda bad IMO
- power - like everyone else says 201hp is terrible, this thing is just slow
- Camshaft sensor issue - have to call Mercedes and try to get them to 'good will' the replacement since its a known issue.

I bought it because I needed a more "mature" car for work, and honestly, it was cheaper than the 3 series I wanted. On the other hand, I love the ride, its very comfortable for my standards, its an elegant design, my paint is still as glossy as the day I bought it but then I have her detailed twice a year and get her washed every 1-2 weeks.

Honestly, I am looking at other much more fuel efficient options, but being that shes almost paid for, even a car that gets 40mpg hwy isn't really any cheaper in the long run.

If Mercedes would bring the c250 tdi to America, I'd trade my 230 in tomorrow.

 

I dislike the following:

-Foot operated parking brake.
-Cheap painted plastic grab handles to close the door once inside the car.
-Somewhat over-engineered but flimsy cup holders which have peeling chrome trim.
-Radio pre-sets placed to the right of the screen vs. the left like on Japanese cars. Minor issue though.

Other than that it's a rock solid and comfy car that's a pleasure to drive.

 

Overrunning alternator pulley - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
It's because without that pulley the belt would be jumping around. I.e. if you were to install an alternator with a fixed pulley all you would be doing is replacing AC compressors
See the videos:
Solid pulley vs NULINE Overrunning Alternator Pulley, OAP - YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EXYP1CmL9Q
AFAIK VW also uses these pulleys, and probably others do too.

 

So much this!
We have 6 months of snow here in Norway..
For the same reason I hate the inability to disengage ESP properly without turning of ABS. Also takes to long to get into Dyno Mode

Otherwise it's a keeper

 

I don't like how the rear windows in the coupe don't go down, and I don't like the foot-operated parking brake. Though I understand why it is where it is, there isn't a whole lot of room around the centre console.

Also I have to complain about leg room. The bottom of the dash under the steering wheel should be lifted a bit. I have to fit further back to not slam my knees into it while driving. I'm also not that tall, I'm 5'11 and I'm running into this as an issue.

Also I dislike how the manual mode isn't actually a manual mode. The transmission still tries to think for me, which occasionally can get annoying. And don't give me **** for not getting a manual, the manuals in these cars are rubbery and generally suck in comparison to the automatic.