Greetings all...I am a refugee from the 190 2.3 board after my daughter wrecked it...but she is OK thanks to that fine car giving its life away...

So off to look at a replacement car for the first time in 9 years.

My wife had a loaner 300C while her 2007 ML (likely to become my daughter's college commuter vehcile..212K miles) was in for service. She really liked the 300C. Im sort of lukewarm to two things about it:

+ The styling (guess Im still a fan of the big long hoods and standup grille)

+ Price of new 300C and first year depreciation (big!)

I have not had car payment in 4 years and like that concept :0

Any steer regarding new vs 1-2 year old 300C?

You can still get the standup grille if you buy a car with the luxury package. It may be easier to get that if you special order a new car, as dealers stock very few luxury packages on their lots, and the cars with the package typically are loaded up to near 50,000 price points with options. If you special order and your goal is to keep the price down, you could do the luxury package (~$300) and whatever your one or two must-have options are (backup camera, or heated seats, or whatever strikes you) and get one out the door, after price negotiations, tax, and fees, for about 40,000, maybe even a little less. If you're planning to keep the car for nine years or so (time will tell if it's as reliable as your 190, but it should be about as reliable as your 2007 ML), depreciation is not a big concern after purchase.

I would avoid buying a 2015 C300 because the first year had a lot of early production problems, and you could well be buying someone else's problem. It seems that things have recently got a bit better, but a 2016 that's already back on a dealer's lot is a red flag because most leases aren't for this short an amount of time—it could be a "lemon" (whether legally, or just in practice) that someone traded in or was bought back. I would want to get a car as late in the production cycle as possible with as much assurance as I could get that glitches had been ironed out, so I would buy a new one. Since you like the standup grille, it seems like an especially good argument: find or special order a new luxury packaged-spec C300. It sounds like you, like me, don't get new cars that often. Treat yourself to what you actually want.

I had a 190 2.6 myself. They don't build them like that anymore. The lux C is an odd looking bird IMO. Typically when Benz does a lux version it's still the base body style but with a different grille, a hood star, some chrome bits but same front and rear fascias.

On the W205, it's got it's own body kit that's not doing it any favors, and as mentioned they're rare. I think a base (neither lux or sport) late production 2015 CPO car would be ideal. They were used a lot as service loaners so not hard to find. CPO adds a year of warranty (or 3 if you want)

$40 to swap the hood medallion for a proper stand up star if you miss looking over the hood and seeing it.

I am a big fan of buying cpo. Let someone else take the big depreciation hit and cpo warranty is unlimited miles and if you purchase two extra years for a couple grand, you are covered for 7 years from in service date. Look for a late build car.

My S Classes were always CPO. $21k in covered repairs over the 3 years on my first one. Last one had over $10k. Which goes to my point about MB not building them like the 190 E anymore. Much more complex, much less physically substantial, very expensive to repair (and lots of soft spots vulnerable to expensive repairs). The 190 E felt like it was carved from a solid block of iron and weighed three tons.The C is a great little car, drives nice, super comfortable, lots of safety stuff but I feel like it would lose in a collision with a decent sized moth.

I'm guessing that Luxury-model CPO C300s would also be slower movers, so you may be able to get better deals on them if you're willing to cast your net nationwide. The ratio of Sport to Luxury grilles has been a good 20:1, at least.

Timing-wise, we're also approaching a first sweetspot on initial 2015 C300s coming off 2-year leases. If you get a 2014-sold CPO 2015 C300 w/24k miles, that gives you 2 years of factory warranty, plus 3 years of CPO warranty.

Also, as Mike5215 mentions, the base C300 is essentially a Luxury - including the suspension settings - with the Sport grille. All it takes is a new grille to make it look like a full luxury, and you shouldn't have much trouble selling or swapping the Sport-style grille.

I personally would get a certified preowned but I'm speaking out of recent experience and a great deal of luck I picked one up from a friend of mine who worked at the dealer it had 19,000 miles a C300 4M sport AMG package and some other small upgrades! Personally I think you should go for the 350 as it is a luxury model and encompasses everything you seem to like plus it has more horsepower than the 300 same engine different tune .

I've bought a 1 yr-old C300 Sport CPO with 5 yr warranty from the date I took it from the dealer...great deal ! Just make sure you do a thorough inspection since loaners tend not to take care of the car as owners do.

Note that the luxury grille cannot be retrofitted to the base or sport W205 body. It could for the W204. So if you got a standup star, it would be the gauche standup-star-plus-star-in-the-grille arrangement.

Based on feedback I think we are going to look at a pre-owned 2014...lots of low mileage deals out there for cars w less than 30K miles...

BTW I kept my old 190E hood ornament before it was towed off to the great wrecked car heaven....maybe I tack weld it on a 300...

The 2014 was actually the last year of the W204. That was a well built car, and you should be able to find some great deals on a C300 4matic.

I got one for 21,000 C300 4 matic sport Obsidian Black AMG package plus every other package you can get under 20k miles 9.5 out of 10 ! The only thing is make sure the Nav mod is in glove box they love to ****** them out and tell you I can get one half price 250.00 they did not realize they were talking to a NY Sicilian who grew up around people that made them look like they were selling lemonade out of there radio flyer wagon . Hint of you are going to do that make sure #1 you take the bill of sale and options list out of the manual# 2 clear the saved destinations especially the home one that matches the first owners address Dummy's ! That was a few service A and Bs to keep my mouth shut ! Lol

Congrats on the car. I did a build and loaded one up as well: AirMatic, Pano, P2 Burmester, Multimedia, Lighting, Air Balance, HUD, Drivers Assist, Park Assist.

You're referring to the $600 Garmin chip? That may have been an honest mistake. Most dealerships remove any portable media (navi disk, Chip etc.) while the car is on the lot to prevent it walking off. In the case of the Garmin SD card, it's worthless in any other car but yours, so it's not like they could sell it if you hadn't asked for it. So the dealer tried selling you your own chip for $250, or was that just your read on the situation based on the fact you had to ask for the chip?

I'm guessing the car didn't get the Multimedia package since those cars have HD based navigation and don't use the Garmin chip?

This is what I have package wise . Premium 1 ,multi media ,AMG sports package, driver asst and lane tracking. Now for the interesting part I don't know how the car has multimedia package but no back up cam AMG sport package no Red Seat belts or red stitching which is perfectly fine with me as I am not 16. So what I was referring to was the Becker navigation module that is located in the glove box the Popson pops out it's just a square black box looks like a hard drive . You have to forgive my lack of MB terms as I was A Cadillac guy and this is my first MB!

Ahh, got it. Yeah, a hard drive based navi system needs a hard drive.

So the red belts were a no-cost option and had to be spec'd with the build, and if you didn't get the Park Assist package the rear cam had to be ordered extra as well. (Park Assist gets a 360 cam instead of a rear view cam.)

I think coming from a Caddy you'll be pleased with the C.

You know he's referring to a w204 right? I think the packages may have been different.

I did not know that.

As you were.

I didn't either until I saw the price he paid, then I looked at his profile, because I knew 21k would be impossible, even for a salvage title w205.

I do not know what any of the W 2 O whatever's mean lol ! All i know is it's a 2013 C300 4matic Sport with what I listed above I am the second owner so I only know what I can see and read in the paper work that I was left I seen he ordered everything that I would of except seat heaters I hate them and have no use for a hot *** while driving .here are some pics

Good looking car! You want the W204 forum, one floor down on the list of forums.

Lol thanks!

Hi all...thanks for the great steer! Looks like our best bet is a 2014 C