Hello,

I am looking for a first car for my son and I am looking at 2013-2014 C250/C300’s and I am wondering how reliable they are. What are common issues with the cars? What should I look out for when looking for a car for him? My sister has a 2013 C250 that she bought brand new off the showroom floor, and about two years ago her transmission completely failed and she had to get a brand new one which was costly. Is this a common thing that happens? Your comments will be greatly appreciated.

thanks,
Stephen

First car? Buy a Honda!

I firmly believe that you can't own a Mercedes without some kind of warranty. The first 2013-2014 MeBe widget that goes bad will require a second mortgage on your house to fix. If you are going to get a 6 year old car, pick the brand that has the closest dealership.

The mistake I made was my first car being a 04 BMW 330i. It was very good looking car and a fun to drive, but that car got me the most headache ever in my life. I learned how to work on cars and worked on it as much as possible which also caused additional damages to the car which I paid mechanics to fix it for. Eventually after owning it for six years I sold it almost for nothing. Only first two years it was fine which actually had warranty for the first two years.
I have spent about 30k on that car and sold it for 1700.
i highly recommend getting a reliable car if you can’t comfortably afford a brand new Benz C300.

I agree. Dont buy a MB as your first car, specially for someone who has never owned a car before. Unless you are really loaded. At that point I would lease.

Used cars come with problems, even if they are really taken care of, they will have issues due to age and usage. To answer your question though, I have a 2013 C300 4matic sport which I have owned for 5 years. I bought it as a CPO from a MB dealership, guess it was an early return and it was in immaculate condition. I have had zero issues with the car (knock on wood) but I maintain it to the teeth with the dealer. What I dont get done with the dealer I do myself because I am a FAA certified tech, so I know what I am doing most of the time. Even then accidents happen, you will hit pot holes, service engine lights will come on etc. If you dont have a responsible person driving and ignore these signs then MB tends to cost tons of money to fix. Decision is yours.

Ken

Would I buy a 7-10 year old German luxury car with no warranty, as a first car? Probably, but I have terrible judgement with cars.

One of my very first cars, purchased in 1968 from the classified pages of the local newspaper, was a 1960 Mercedes Benz 220. I don't know what sort of warranty it started with, but by 1968 it was where is-as is. I paid $1100, and the owner assured me that it was pristine. It turned out that the owner lied about everything. The grief this car caused over the two years I owned it and the pleasure it supplied over those two years just about balanced out. So maybe you should go for it and don't worry about reliability.

The C250 has **** reliability but the C300 has near-flawless reliability. It's 100x more reliable than the C300's people have in this thread right here ^ (yes, you posted in the wrong section).

If you buy a 2013/14 C300 you should be well off. A 2012 with the old engine is even the sweet spot, pretty much no issues.

2013-14 models should be W204 which has its own forum. I've read W205 owners complaining about transmission but haven't experienced that myself. I own a Sep '14 W205.

I would suggest cars no older than 4 years old.

C300 is much more reliable than early C250s