When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
In the market to get a W203 for my daughter, as she will start driving pretty soon. We currently have a W204 (wife's) as well as a W211 (mine) and we are very happy with both cars.
I am thinking the C230 Kompressor would be a good starter vehicle, if I find a nice one? Or the C230 Sport with the 6 cyl. engine. I would like a sport package car, my budget is around 5K.
Which year to get, which has the least issues?
Any input/insight from you guys would be greatly appreciated, thanks very much in advance.
C230 Sport Coup + 2006 W164 ML350 + 99 Ford Escort (What the heck, it gets 38 mpg!)
02 Coupe has the earlier M111 2.3L engine, and is less prone to problems. I have 240K miles on mine.
And I love the hatch.
03-05 has the 1.8L with issues with carbon buildup, due to faulty head design which causes other issues
with the valves. Also they went cheap and went to a single row timing chain that stretches and
causes even more problems. ie cam gears, etc and in combination with the carbon buildup,
prevents the valves from seating, end result burnt valves.
Supposedly the head design was updated in '05. Also the interior, so that's the best year for
for a 1.8L model. or even 3.2L.
06-07 has the new M272 6 cylinder with balance shaft issues, and early 7 speed, just skip it,
Sport coup is available also from 03-05 as C320 Coupe, or sedan.
Earlier M112 6 cylinder is a good engine, with long life,
but has 12 spark plugs, 12 coils and 12 spark wires, so those need to be done everyone once in a while
and the occasional intake manifold issue.
C320, or C240, but C240 is pretty gutless. 6 cylinder uses more gas.
it just comes down to Coupe? Or Sedan?
4, 6, or 8 cylinders? (C55 2005 AMG)
All early 203's share one potential issue, crappy Valeo radiators that leak coolant into the
transmission cooler. Behr is the one you want.
Likely it's already been replaced or didn't have it in the 1st place.
But worth checking, There's many threads on this with photo's.
I went to a dealer and took pics of a Behr unit, and posted....just search.
Oh, 2 other things, oil wicking into the ECU from leaking cam sensors, (there's a service bulletin) and
trans oil getting into the transmission computer under the passenger floorbaord from bad orings, again you gotta search.
Last edited by C230 Sport Coup; 02-07-2018 at 05:02 PM.
I bought a 2005 C230 Sport Sedan in August. I use as my daily driver and it performs well during my 60 mile daily round trip. I have 6 speed manual so it’s engaging to drive. The traffic is tolerable where I live and work so a manual may work better for me than for someone who loves in a more congested area.
By the way, my daughter prefers her 2006 Honda Civic EX Sedan to my C230.
Found a very clean and well taken care of 2006 C230, 6 cyl., not a Kompressor. This will be a starter car for my daughter.
Car has 106K miles on it. The seller does no longer use it much, as he got married and is now driving a smaller commuter car (Honda Civic) for his daily 120 mile roundtrip commute, and the wife is driving a brand new Range Rover.
Asking Price is 3700 bucks, but will let it go for 3K.
Anything to look out for, do I stay away from it? Looks pretty clean in the pictures, interior is supposedly very clean as well and the seller will send me additional pictures.
Read everything you can find about the balance shaft in the 6 cylinder C230.
At $3000 it seems like a low risk/high reward scenario. It is a great price for a relatively low mileage car if it doesn’t have any major problems. I didn’t see a decent car in that price range in my area when I was looking in July.
Read everything you can find about the balance shaft in the 6 cylinder C230.
At $3000 it seems like a low risk/high reward scenario. It is a great price for a relatively low mileage car if it doesn’t have any major problems. I didn’t see a decent car in that price range in my area when I was looking in July.
Thanks very much.
What i cannot find is the percentage of failures? There must be 10's of thousands of these engines out there, how many do fail? I read somewhere it was only between 5%-10%, des that hold true?
If yes, then I would agree, this car could be low risk/high reward scenario.
Thanks very much.
What i cannot find is the percentage of failures? There must be 10's of thousands of these engines out there, how many do fail? I read somewhere it was only between 5%-10%, des that hold true?
If yes, then I would agree, this car could be low risk/high reward scenario.
It depends on luck and how often the previous owner changed the oil but eventually ALL of them fail. This is a manufacturing defect. Has the owner already done the repair? Is the CEL on? Does it make any strange noises?
It depends on luck and how often the previous owner changed the oil but eventually ALL of them fail. This is a manufacturing defect. Has the owner already done the repair? Is the CEL on? Does it make any strange noises?
Have not seen the car in person just yet. Owner did not mention that the CEL was on. He is the 3rd owner, so not sure if the repair was done. I would imagine my MB Dealer would be able to find out with the VIN #, of course only if the repair was done at an MB Dealer.
What does "eventually" mean? Car currently has short of 107k miles on it, so that could be at 110k, 150k? Whenever, ..... maybe over 200K miles?
I am not planning on keeping this car forever, so if it will get me 50K miles with a purchase price of 3K, I would be more than happy!
There is no set mileage when this failure occurs. It can be 50k or 150k but it will occur eventually. All 2006 and some 2007 m272 engines have the faulty balance shaft gear. That includes C230, C280 and C350. Even if those 2 codes haven't popped up, you wont be allowed to transfer the title of car in California until the CEL is turned off.
What does "eventually" mean? Car currently has short of 107k miles on it, so that could be at 110k, 150k? Whenever, ..... maybe over 200K miles?
I am not planning on keeping this car forever, so if it will get me 50K miles with a purchase price of 3K, I would be more than happy!
Well, i'm 20 years old and just bought my second car - A 2004 220cdi with DPF. I live in an urban area and i went for the 5speed automatic. I have full leather option but only a classic line. Equipped it with nice rims (in my opinion) and upgraded the interior with a COMMAND radio and AMG 3spoke wheel. It has 320tkm and it literally feels like new. I've only got the car for a couple of months since i bought it for my birthday in august. Nothing rattles, everything is solid, interior aged amazingly well. No cracks on the seats, a little bit of rust i had to get rid of on the trunk and around the grill but nothing too major.
Almost every mechanic that i talked to about this powertrain said its really reliable and solid. Diesel + automatic is definitely less fun to drive than a gasoline + manual but i'm fine with it.
Definitely go get a FL model as they are generally thought to be of better quality on the outside.
Anyway your c230 would be an amazing choice, the car looks great, drives amazingly well, just look for coilover issues and if there's any oil surrouding intercooler intake etc.
C230 Sport Coup + 2006 W164 ML350 + 99 Ford Escort (What the heck, it gets 38 mpg!)
I never mentioned cdi since we didn't get them in the states, but wow...the mileage.
Or rather km per liter right?
a bit slow but going 500-800 miles on a tank?
Priceless.
Yeah, averaging about 600 Miles per tank (after rough conversion) - if you are interested in the numbers you can always look for facelifted w203 diesel on autoscout24 for example in germany. I live in Czech, so most cars are imported from Germany anyway. The point is - most of them have twice as more mileage than i do currently, its really surprising to see people sell their cars with 600 000 Kms and more.
02-07-2018, 04:39 PM
