C230Komp

My C230K should be in this week (I hope), but my God, I have read so many problems on this board I'm almost afraid to get it. I was under the impression that Mercedes was the pinnacle of quality, but since reading this forum, and the magazine reviews cited herein, I am really shocked at all of the problems you guys report. There are so many little PITA problems, not to mention a few serious ones. After driving two Honda Accords and a Civic since 92, I can honestly report no problems and no complaints whatsoever. I took one of those cars back once for a rattling speaker under warranty, and that's it! They were great cars. It sounds like a trip a month to the dealer with the MB. I am going to get the add'l 50K miles and one year warranty extension since I put about 20K a year on a car, and that sure sounds like the right thing to do. My choice now was between the Acura RSX Type S or the C230. Hope I made the right one....

BlackC230Coupe

i was thinking of the RSX-S also but the c230k is a much better choice. I bet u will not have a problom with it i dident yet. People will find something to complaign about on every car even the best in the world there will always be some with probloms. and if u read bad reviews i would not belive them they might talk bad about the car just because mercedes made a car that starts at $25,000 so they have to find something to say bad about it. i would not go by reviews i just go by your own luck and your getting a good car its a f*cke* Mercedes i have had alot of them like 3 E320's 1 ML430 and a SL500 and now also a Jaguar XK8 and i have to say to me this is just as good as all of them were. and u might hear probloms here only becuase if people have probloms with there car they might want to see if other people do to or how to resolve a problom so u are just hearing everyone with a problom here or on anyother site. Not that i am saying people here have probloms with their car. most dont. like me. good luck your gettin a great car.

petercrase

I hope you get a good one, C230Komp. I just got mine back from the dealer last week. I haven't had it three months yet. This is my second trip to the dealer. This time he put in a new rear end (pronounced pinion gear whine), a new switch under the clutch pedal (squeaking every time I depressed the clutch pedal), new oil level sensor (dash readout said add 1 quart, dipstick showed very little). They still haven't been able to solve four other problems. The hatch hits the body, (check the lower outside edges of the hatch and the same spots on the body opening), the seats rails catch on the carpet mats, (see grease marks appear on your mats and seat gets hard to pull forward), the smart key won't open the windows unless I'm standing right next to the car (new keys didn't help), and the trip computer reset itself ("from reset" is supposed to reset only if you are viewing that function and you push the little black shaft coming out to the left side of the guage pod. Mine zeroed all on its own).
In spite of these problems, I still love this car. It has great power, decent economy (27mpg average), handles very well, great stereo sound, excellent quality interior materials etc.
I enjoy driving it very much.

BlackC230Coupe

damm u had all those problems and still enjoy driving it. lol the only problems i ever had with my old mercedes was the windows getting stuck up or down. oh by the way my smart key only opens the windows basicly if i am holding the key up to the driver door knob. but i consider this a very minor problem if any. i would never use that feature anyway. maybe to just show it off but thats it.

young

blackc230, i got <strike>probloms</strike> problems w/ your spelling! heheh

c230komp, i had an acura integra before this car and i loved it! no problems, rock solid, etc. but i knew that MB would not be as good in terms of reliability. but i wanted to try it out. so far, i've been more fortunate than others here. also, blackc230 is right; you're sort of getting a skewed perspective from this forum. no one posts and says, "nothing wrong w/ my car today."

BlackC230Coupe

please dont even start this i have friends with civis si's and rsx's and i have been on those boards before and those little teenage wannabe gangta **** try to correct evey little thing u say wrong. i am sorry i will admit i have alot of typos and i dont care its probably because i am not a MBworld Fanatic!! with 1271 fu*ke* posts so i will see i will never win this fight. so please act your age i hate when people correct my spelling especially if its not important and u still know what i said or meant to say.

well have a good day

renncpe

Reading about the problems that others have had makes me feel good about the mods that I have done. I have not had one trip to the shop with the exception of the A service and all the upgrades. I think that the c-coupe is rock solid. I drive it much harder than most, and love every minute of it.

Randy

young

ok! just messing w/ you! and i will.

speedfrk

I drove an RSX-S and it rides worse than my Dakota R/T. No power until at least 5000rpm, no console/armrest, cheesy looking interior materials, 10dB Higher interior noise, no rear seat headroom, much less cargo room, but it does have a nice feel to the 6 sp shifter, and a indash 6 cd changer. This car is only good for people who drive in autocrosses or on racetracks. Definately not a good day to day car. The C230 is a much better balanced car no matter what the magazines say. My only problems have been that I don'y like the shifter feel, and the deer that ran into me. The deer wasn't really Mercedes fault, unless the deer detector wasn't working properly. Or maybe I didn't have it turned on. I still haven't figured out all those different screens in the dash!

chronopassion

There is also a little bit of "hey, since I paid $30K, I do not want a single problem with the car" going on.

For example, I have a hairline crack on one of the buttons. Do you really think I would actually take it to the dealer to have it replaced if it were a Toyota? Would not be worth my time to wait for them to switch it out. Mercedes, however, gives me a loaner so it is no problem for me to take it in.

Brings up a good point, though. Do I report the hairline crack as a problem with my Mercedes when I get those surveys in the mail? I think not. Why should I contirbute to an overexaggerated "reliability" problem that really does not exist.

CP

Cullen

You might want to take a look at a board poll I posted a while back about how many times people have gone in for unscheduled service. It is at:

https://mbworld.org/forums/showthrea...&threadid=4647


I think problems are far less common that posts on the board make it seem.

SoCal240/6

Don't kid yourself, these C's (my own car included) have not had a good reliability record, and its for real things (car won't start, doors won't open, car dies on highway, etc.), not hairline cracks on the buttons.

Say what you want about these cars, but *overall* they have had quality control and reliability problems that are not really acceptable for a car at ANY price level. That is just a fact.

WyattEarp

Perhaps Mercedes just wants to be mounted and ridden hard. That's the way some of the finest phillies like to be treated. My bi*** never complains. So get on her.... oops wrong forum

Today makes 126 days of ownership only one problem reported. Problem was solved in one day, got a loaner too.

WyattEarp

Spelling is important in and <s>off</s> (oops) of itself.

greg230

get real, "not really acceptable for any price" go buy a ford explorer or something, and then get back to me on reliablity.

lets see, my c class has a broken panic button feature on my smart key, some people had messed up sun shades, some rattles an oil leak for a couple of guys, broken steering wheel buttons (actually just cracked) and one or two people complaining of a system power loss.

my moms ford, recalled 6 times for safety reasons, one time, dealer showed up at her work, loaded the car on a flat bed and dropped off a focus, too dangerous to drive the car. Thats my idea of quality concerns.

people gripe about a lotta stupid things "my sun shade is busted" or "my window roll down feature only works when i am close to the car" I understand we all want perfect cars, but if you dont have to pay to fix it, and the dealership gives you a nice free loaner, just roll with it.

These are highly technical electronic marvels, they have lots of tiny little systems to fail, its the nature of the beast. The more complex something becomes, inherintly the less reliable it is.

as far as RSX reliability is concerned, well i hear its no where near as solid as the last gen integra.... complaints are abound about oil consumption, 1-2 shift notchiness, road noise, rattles, sun roof leaks, body rust, poor fit and finish on door panels, cracked wheel wells, and so on.

i loved my teg, and the new RSX is what got me shopping for new cars, but in the end, i am amazingly happy with my MB. PITA problems and all

C230Komp

Well, I'll say this.....you guys are dedicated to your Benzs, and I am all fired up to get mine. I know I'll love it once it gets here, and I'll probably overlook the nitnoy crap: however, I am just having a hard time believing that so many people can have the same silly problems, e.g. the fuel gauge and the cracked buttons. I'm thinking a Benz shouldn't be having those kind of problems, whether it's a $25K car or a $125K car. I just assumed Teutonic craftsmanship and engineering made the world a better place to live. I used to own a Porsche, drove it for 10 years, and although it was old it was a quality vehicle all the way. Call me naive, but I just sold my 95 Civic in anticipation of this car. Civic had 135,000 miles and I just changed the original front brake pads at 130,000, and they still had another 15,000 left. I just expected no problems, day in and day out, and had none. Having said that, I still can't wait to get the C230, and just hope my heart (and my fuel gauge) won't break in the process. I also look forward to reading these threads every day, and have learned a ton already. I appreciate everyone's insight, and rest assured, I will keep you posted on my adventures!

shen_q

The fuse on my 2002 C230 Coupe was BLOWN from FIRST day when I bought it. I had to take it back in to get that replaced. Other than that I havent had any problems in about 5 months.

mbtech208

Body rust already?? The car hasn't even been on the market for a year! Where are they getting these claims, dealers north of the Arctic Circle?

raymond

Hey C230Komp

I am one of the poor sods that got a genuinely bad car, with safety issues like cutting out without warning or reason at any speed (3 times).

I've had a lot of PITA problems, and I will most likely never buy another MB, but because of the dealership's service dept, more than the car.

Even with all the problems, it is still a magnificent car to drive, even in its automatic form

It still turns heads (in fact I have people gawking out of their windows like dogs on the highway), even if it's boring old Alabaster white.

Hope you got the panorama roof!

Have fun. It really is a nice car. My heart loves it, even if my brain doesn't.

Cheers

young

well, you've summarized my opinion... sometimes, you gotta go w/ the heart even if she breaks it.

greg230

check out the www.clubrsx.com i lurked there for a long time while i was decieding which car, and people had body rust, in a car less then a year old. acura uses some grade A crap paint, my teg had the softest paint ever.

MB-BOB

C230Komp, don't get too paranoid about the threads around here... Mercedes-Benz drivers have a penchant for complaining about the pickiest of things. (I'm not the first to make this observation.)

Major driving problems, like the cut-out throttle in Raymond's case is nothing to sneeze about, but most of the b!tches on this forum are about insignificant stuff. Just keep a list until you have 7-8 items, then schedule a dealer visit. Enjoy the free loaner.

My fuel gauge works perfectly, and I have no cracks in my steering wheel buttons...

galaxygrrl

C230K,

First, MB-BOB is right again! (wisdom must be the benefit of gray hair :p) This can be a finicky bunch of people.

I decided between the RSX s-type and the c230 too. I bought a c230 because I think it's a better and more fun car. As far as relability, MB is not a Honda, it's just not. If you are buying on relaibility alone, MB looses to the Hondas and Toyotas of the world. If you are looking at a pure fun to drive car that you will enjoy and will be pretty reliable (consumer reports recommends the c-class) , the MB is one of the best choices on the market.

So you know, my car has had tons of problems that I have not really complained about on this board. The dealership has been able to fix most of my problems. There is one major one hanging on and they have decided to call in a MB tech to fix it. I've been really, really happy with my service department, and the service manager always makes sure I'm taken car of. And I certainly enjoyed the tank...I mean the e-class... I recieved as a loaner. When I had problems with my VW, never I recieved good service. I would not expect this level of service from an Acura dealership.

Would I buy this car again, absolutely!!!!!!!!!!! If I end up in a lemon law suit (which I might) would I get a replacement c230...you bet. Isn't that the highest praise? Bottom line, I smile everytime I drive this car.

You should ask youself did you make the right decision after you spend a week driving your c230.

Hope this helps!

Richard 88

Hi C230K,
I bought my RSX-S when it first came out last year. It's a well-balance car and it is pretty fast. However, after half an year, I decided to trade it in for c230. There is no serious problem with it. The main reason is that I don't think RSX-S is worth $23650. You can get BOSE in-dash 6CD with subwoofer, sunroof, 200 horse power and leather for the price, but the audio system sucks!!! the sunroof also makes noises, the weight is too light for hight speed, the quality of interior really not that good. If Acura lower the price to $20000 for RSX-S, it would be a excellent car. I made a rough decision last year, hope you make the right one...

avlis

I found this is true for ANY message board. I've browsed many auto, stock, and consumer electronics forums and found that most activity is negative. I think the reason is that people have no reason to seek answers (unless they are enthusiasts) if they have no problems. Satisfied customers don't speak as loudly as dissatisfied customers.

The thing to remember is that even though there seem to be a lot of people complaining, the memebers here represent an extrememly small percentage of the buying public. You can easily count the number of members complaining here and compare that with the number of cars sold to check me on that. Remember too that a lot of these posts are repeats of ealier posts by the same members.