Hello all,

I come from the jeep world but have been looking to get into a nice german car for some time. I have had quite a few vehicles including cars, trucks, and jeeps in the 5 years I've been driving. I'm currently building a 99 XJ and am DD'ing a 97 2wd ford ranger.

Anyway, I've been looking for a new car and got off work early one day so I went to look at used cars. I found a 2007 C280 Luxury with a little under 53k miles on it at a local used car dealer. It has the 5 speed auto gear box and is awd. I did some research on this model and aside from the broken door handles, I have done a VIN search and found the 272 engine was made after the balance shaft issue was fixed.

I do all my own work on my vehicles and have done transmission seals, timing belts, transfer case rebuilds etc. I also am pretty knowledgeable when it comes to electronics. So, I feel like I could do most of the work necessary on this car.

Basically, what would be a fair price from a dealer for this car? It is a 1 owner and no accidents. It will be the first car that I finance myself and want it to last. The car is beautiful and I don't think I could find another in this condition with such low miles. I have not asked the dealership about maintenance records for the car yet.

If anyone can offer any advice as to buying a first MB I would greatly appreciate it.

 

Here is a link to the dealer's posting for the car.
http://choiceautosalesonline.com/200...4/Details.aspx

Nevermind the listing for the engine. The guy who made the page probably has no idea what he's doing.

 

Did you check KBB?


http://www.kbb.com/mercedes-benz/c-c...&mileage=53000

 

Thanks for your reply Kazi. I did check KBB and NADA and see that the price they are asking seems in line with these benchmarks. I guess more so than fair price, what I am looking for is some things to check on this car that may tell of future problems. It could be simple things like the crappy door handles or big things like the balance shaft issue.

Basically, I am looking for any less-well-known problems with these cars. I would love to own this car and am trying to justify financing this 9 year old machine for another 4 years. This may not seem like a huge decision for some people but it will be my first financed car instead of paying cash and it has me a little on edge.

Next time I get to that dealer I will take a closer look at some of the normal things like checking for sludge/water in engine oil and feeling for blowby at the oil fill cap. What are some MB specific things you guys look at when buying one of these cars?

 

Hmm, from what I remember about post-facelift cars, there is an issue with the power seats draining the battery - do a search on that. Other than that, there are the normal electrical issues with any W203 and I'd assume that the wear items on the suspension will all need to be changed, unless they come up with a service history, it shows that they were changed, and a visual looks like things are up to snuff.

Generally, W203s that new are pretty good, but I'd just check in the rear wheelwells and all of the lower cladding for any signs of rust, especially since it's in black and gold territory . The car is pretty slow and also not good on gas mileage, but if those are not concerns of yours and you're just looking for a decent daily then it may foot the bill. As it's a one owner, I would be curious about the low mileage.

Good luck.

 

Thanks for your info tommy

Can you tell me what you mean by curious? I received an auto check history report and everything seems to match up.

I'll try to post a clip from the report

 

2007, so it's really going on its 11th year. That would mean less than 5k a year. That's a lot of sitting around for a car that would normally not be used as a winter car or really be special enough to be put away for the winter, either. So I'm a bit curious, that's all. Could be that pesky little old lady from Pasadena who drove it every Sunday or something similar. If it's just that the person didn't care to use it all that often, perfect.

 

Is there another way to verify mileage with the VIN for this car?

 

Did you buy the car? Ask for maintenance records. Transmission fluid and filter change? How are the shocks? How are the arms/bushings? How are the rotors and pads? Tires?

11.8 is a little too high. You can get a 2011 C300 with same miles for 1-2k more. Unless you are really in love with the w203 chassis I would pass on it.

 

This is just a random example but here is one (4matic also). - http://tinyurl.com/jzb9o9r