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Join Date: Jun 2013
Posts: 6
Drives: c230 kompressor


2002 C230 Coupe
HI, my daughter is looking to buy a 2002 c230 coupe. she found one, but it had gone through 6 owners, a few states - texas, Colorado, Arizona, new jersey, and was in the auction 2x. she found the car in a very small dealership, they only carried high end cars-Porsche, mb. the car was in 2 accidents, 1 minor and second one moderate. the car looked clean, but my worry is the front bumper does not seem to be correct, the right front headlight had a bigger gap fromt he bumper than the left one. the back bumper to the right is also not sitting perfectly. the accident was in the right of the car. the dealer said that most mb bumpers when replaced does not sit perfectly. I would really appreciate your thoughts. thank you.

 

On a personal level from me, I would not trust a 6-owner, 2 accidents and 4 states with 4 different climates. If both the front and back bumpers don't fit right on the right side, I would think the car has permanent frame damage.
Do you know how many miles the car has and the price they're asking?

 

Thank you ildd for your input. They are asking for $5500, 132k miles. My husband thinks its just a matter of adjusting the clips??? To the bumper. My daughter drove it, and she said it drove very well compared to 2 others she tested the same day, no wobbling, or pulling. Honestly, I am a little glad that we swayed her away from a 2002 Toyota celica with 100k miles. She is getting rid of her 2009 Yaris which we bought brand new which only has 41k now.

 

It may just be the clips, I don't know though. It's pretty mid-grade mileage for a 2002 and that's a fair price. You might want to wait until somelike like phister or Glyn M Ruck comes in. They know basically everything about anything.

 

WTF?!?1 I SOLD MY 2002 ORIGINAL OWNER (ME) C230 COUPE WITH 90K MILES NEVER ACCIDENT CLEAN INSIDE OUT COUPE FOR $5200 LAST YEAR AND IT WAS PROFESSIONALY MODDED

 

way too much money, way too many problems probably considering how much its been around the block... look somewhere else. For your daughter i would want something reliable..

 

hit CL and search of a private seller for the same cra and you will get a bteer deal, carfax the car and you will be more happy.....I paid 6250 for the same car 2 onwers and 82K miles.......perfectly maintained etc etc... but private sale....

do not buy from these small dealerships they have cheap bodyshops that do fixerupper damage redemiation and make a quick sale....

you can get a much better car for that much money then the one you are looking at currently......my honest openion being an onwer of a similar car...

javvy

 

Way to expensive for a wrecked car. Also the early w203 is an expensive car to own for many people and can get very expensive fast if anything breaks and you can't work on it yourself. Is you daughter/husband/you good at working on cars or at least doing basic maintenance such as oil changes or break jobs? If so then that can save you a lot of money but parts alone can be very expensive. If her heart is set on a w203 coupe I would say try to find a low mileage one and make sure if it has the m271 engine that the timing chain has been replaced recently or plan to do it asap as they are known to stretch and cause expensive issues.

To be honest though what was wrong with the yaris?

 

Just bought my son a 2002 C230 Coupe with 132k miles here in Arizona for $3300. Took it to emissions; passed without any issues. It had 7 previous owners and a clean Carfax with no service history. Did a quick inspection and a forum read to see if I can tackle the issues and I'm confident I can:

1. LCD display fading/unreadable - fixed replaced it with a new Ebay display for $125.
2. Pano roof slipping gears - Disconnected for now - to do.
3. Front RH fender has a small dent and the plastic bumper has a previous low grade paint job and has a 1/2 noticeable alignment issue with the fender. Got a quote from a local body guy to fix the fender and respray the plastic bumper cover for $400. He does good work.
4. Passenger door lock does the Pogo stick. - probably the broken spring issue.
5. Both Radio rear speakers are not working or sound is faint - to do.
6. Rear Hatch sometimes doesn't unlock with the handle - to do
7. Transmission shifter lock doesn't seem to be working (can move the shift leaver when in park and ignition out). Had an intermittent fault where the shifter won't move to "R" or "Park" from Neutral and the ignition key/fob is locked in the key receptacle. This happened after parking on my drive way which is at a slight angle. Took it for a spin and it cleared itself. - need to open up the housing to see whats going on - to do.
9. Right hand steering wheel buttons, horn and the back light doesn't work. Took the switch apart, build the solder for the contact points to see if that was the issue. Still not working and I'm waiting to see if there is a way to test the Clock Spring (which I suspect is the problem).
10. Both Stabilizer bar links to struts worn. Waiting for replacements. - easy fix.
11. Brake wear warning light was on. Brake pads were new without a replacement sensor. Put a wear sensor and the warning message is now gone.
12. Changed plugs, air filter, blower filter and performed an oil change with Mobile-1 High mileage 10-40w with a Mann filter.

Apart from these issues, the car is in very good condition mechanically with hardly any wear on the paint or interior apart from the broken rear speaker door grills (appears to be a common problem with the seat belt buckle getting trapped) and headliner material coming off from the pillars due to Arizona heat. I'll be wrapping them with Black suede this weekend.

Hope this helps.

 

Enjoy your great purchase. Now get a pulley on that Coupe!

 

4. Passenger door lock does the Pogo stick. - probably the broken spring issue. You need a new door lock module.

Apparently this is a 20c spring fix inside the door lock module.

5. Both Radio rear speakers are not working or sound is faint - to do. If it were me, I would just go aftermarket.

Just installed a Pioneer AVH-X5500BHS unit. Have the Axxess steering wheel control unit which I can't connect without getting the right side switches to work. May go after market for the door speakers. Not sure if they are driven by an Amp or straight wired.
7. Transmission shifter lock doesn't seems to be working (can move the shift leaver when in park and ignition out). Had an intermittent fault where the shifter won't move to "R" or "Park" from Neutral and the ignition key/fob is locked in key receptacle. This happened after parking on my drive way which is at a slight angle. Took it for a spin and it cleared itself. - need to open up the housing to see whats going on - to do. This is the one that scares me the most. Its possible, and I mean possible you have an obstruction like a penny that worked its way into the shifter housing. Years back my shifter housing COMPLETELY locked up on me. As in, wouldn't move, wouldn't budge out of drive. Plus I couldn't get my key out. I disconnected my shifter from the power and sensors. Gave it a few moments and viola darn thing started shifting for me while I had it on the bench. Re-installed...4 years later, never happened again.

I need to take this one apart to trouble shoot.
Now get a pulley on that Coupe!

Thanks for the reply; didn't mean to hijack the thread but all good info for potential new buyers. Its my son's and he is a young one. His old car was the 1993 190e 2.6 he is just getting used to the extra performance on this.

 

Thank you for all the replies and suggestions. I tried to find another c230 coupe, but the best I can do was a black one, at $6400, she only has $6000 budget. She wanted the blue. Anyways, she drove to the place earlier this afternoon to pick up the car. Young kids can be very excitable. I'll try to post the picture of the car, it looks good. But after reading Javvy's post, I am a little nervous.