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Newbie to the forum here!
My husband is looking to buy a used car for commuting 70 miles RT on weekdays. He really wants the C300 so we are going to look at one tomorrow with 35k miles 2015 CPO. I've been trying to dig up information on it all day for him and have read several posts about the wrist pin issues which is giving me serious cold feet! The car will have 60k miles on it this time around next year, so if this wrist pin issue comes up we should still be under the CPO warranty. But what do you guys think? Steer clear? I can count on one hand how many C300 owners I found that were happy with their car. It seems either everyone had a wrist pin issue or bolted and sold it for fear of one. I don't have the details for when the car was manufactured but I have the VIN 55SWF4KB9FU074766. From my understanding, the car was manufactured here at the dreaded Alabama facility (?). We are going to see the car tomorrow at the dealer. Any advice at all is greatly appreciated! Thank you
Newbie to the forum here!
My husband is looking to buy a used car for commuting 70 miles RT on weekdays. He really wants the C300 so we are going to look at one tomorrow with 35k miles 2015 CPO. I've been trying to dig up information on it all day for him and have read several posts about the wrist pin issues which is giving me serious cold feet! The car will have 60k miles on it this time around next year, so if this wrist pin issue comes up we should still be under the CPO warranty. But what do you guys think? Steer clear? I can count on one hand how many C300 owners I found that were happy with their car. It seems either everyone had a wrist pin issue or bolted and sold it for fear of one. I don't have the details for when the car was manufactured but I have the VIN 55SWF4KB9FU074766. From my understanding, the car was manufactured here at the dreaded Alabama facility (?). We are going to see the car tomorrow at the dealer. Any advice at all is greatly appreciated! Thank you
this one appears late enough to be out of the range of the service bulletin on the wrist pin.
coming up on 7 years old it doesn’t look like it has the plugs changed or transmission fluid serviced. Just googled the vin and see the history.
this car won’t have Apple CarPlay or parking sensors - so be careful what options you’re really looking for before realizing it doesn’t have them.
aside from that - looks like they did a thorough reconditioning. You’d be surprised what’s not covered under CPO though - it’s not like a new car warranty. I would at least have them change the plugs after 7 years now.
look for the fuel door hinge if it’s cracked , suspension squeaks , check for leaks around the turbo or in the engine compartment , make sure all the features work , and see if you can get them to do the trans service and plugs as it’s due time wise and no record of it on the carfax.
Read about piston cracking on C300, E300 and GLC300 with the M274 four cylinder 2.0 liter engine. If you buy one of these read every word and punctuation mark in the extended warranty you buy to see if broken pistons are covered. Then wonder to yourself how easy or difficult it could be to find a replacement engine in the current automotive market.
thats solid advice we would have never thought about! i’ll definitely ask about all of this and see what they say. thank you for that!
No problem.
like chassis said it really is a gamble though. I know the Benz is appealing and I own two of these with the m274 engine - but I am aware of the potential expenses. Another is the PCV oil separator tends to go and it’s around $1300 to repair out of warranty. Gives a P052E code which seems all too common.
if you’re set on it though - I can appreciate wanting a nice all wheel drive black Benz. If you want any advice while at the dealer - send me your # and I’ll send you a text to open a line of communication should you have any questions needing a quick answer.
Thank you both for your time and great advice! And thanks Camaroguy72 for offering to text. I didn't read that until now when we got back from the dealer. So it turns out the 2015 C300 was snatched up pretty quick! I did tell my husband just as you both said and mentioned that it was a gamble when I was reading up on all the issues yesterday. We saw a 2019 CLA 250 for sale that we took interest in, one owner lease with very low mileage. So it looks like we'll be going for that. I looked up information on the CLA and found that the head lamps aren't very bright which I did notice. Apart from that it seemed fine. What do you think? He just wanted another MB to commute in and not add all that mileage to our current MB. Here's the VIN if you want to glance at it: WDDSJ4GB8KN719318
Last edited by ratty; Mar 12, 2022 at 01:24 PM.
Reason: added VIN
There are too many unscheduled visits to the dealer for this CLA. Looks nice though. The CLA is in a different league compared to the C-Class. This CLA has some time left on the new car warranty but keep in mind that the CPO warranty is not the same as the new car warranty. The CPO warranty covers a lot less. Some would say to buy a non CPO and then buy (not at the dealer) a 3rd party warranty for 5 years/100k for about $3500. There's a guy selling for Freedom on here on MBWorld. I am considering this for when my CPO expires.
I bought my 2018 C300 CPO after a lot of research. Consumer reports gives the 2018 C300 top marks for reliability. The C-class is the most reliable vehicle that Mercedes sells..I was aware of the cracked piston issue but that is mostly for 2015-2016 and a few 2017-2018. The wrist pin issue is mostly for 2015. l looked at least 100 car fax reports for 2018 c300's that were for sale at the time and didn't see many problems (unscheduled dealer visits). One exception was a C300 that had 14 alignments in 18 months. Don't give up on the C300, it's a great car.
OP, please help us help you by letting us know what you want or need in a vehicle, like what options you want or packages, the vehicle's colour, your budget (and therefore what model year range you are looking for, and what mileage).
ie. there is a 2018 at the same dealership 55SWF4KB2JU273327, I haven't looked at the carfax yet though,
According to your public profile and what you stated as the model you have being a GLE, I am wondering if the second car is preferred to be an SUV as well, based on your needs?
Edit: Matter of fact there are several 2018s I see (again I haven't check the carfax yet): 55SWF4KB1JU280415 55SWF4KB8JU272912 55SWF4KB0JU281670 55SWF4KB4JU273636
The 2019 is the facelift: 55SWF8EB3KU289640 (with the M264 that has no reported issues so far compared to the M274 but I am not sure if it is still too early to tell)
2015 was the first MY in USA for the W205 C-Class , so the later the better as the more likely the glitches and flaws are patched/repaired.
Edit2: Since you are looking at a 2019 CLA with VIN WDDSJ4GB8KN719318, which is currently selling for 34,901, I would assume your budget is way higher than the 24,905 2015 C 300 you were looking at. In that case, I do recommend looking at the facelift, MY19+ C 300.
Edit3: Here is another 2019 C 300 with the M264 engine. listed at 35,905. 55SWF8EBXKU284810
Last edited by W205C43PFL; Mar 12, 2022 at 04:18 PM.
Thank you both for your time and great advice! And thanks Camaroguy72 for offering to text. I didn't read that until now when we got back from the dealer. So it turns out the 2015 C300 was snatched up pretty quick! I did tell my husband just as you both said and mentioned that it was a gamble when I was reading up on all the issues yesterday. We saw a 2019 CLA 250 for sale that we took interest in, one owner lease with very low mileage. So it looks like we'll be going for that. I looked up information on the CLA and found that the head lamps aren't very bright which I did notice. Apart from that it seemed fine. What do you think? He just wanted another MB to commute in and not add all that mileage to our current MB. Here's the VIN if you want to glance at it: WDDSJ4GB8KN719318
the CLA has the M270 which is basically the same as the M274! With that you get a clunky dual clutch transmission - highly not recommended
Alright folks! Again, highly appreciated everyone’s input! Husband was grateful too. We did end up going with that CLA and we are content for getting from point A to point B without burning a fluff ton of mileage on the GLE. The cons to this car are definitely the headlights and i hear the run flats are a headache too (but we knew this going in). Otherwise, it’ll do lol. Thanks again everyone!
Alright folks! Again, highly appreciated everyone’s input! Husband was grateful too. We did end up going with that CLA and we are content for getting from point A to point B without burning a fluff ton of mileage on the GLE. The cons to this car are definitely the headlights and i hear the run flats are a headache too (but we knew this going in). Otherwise, it’ll do lol. Thanks again everyone!
For the runflats I guess get rid of them to improve the ride quality a little?
For the runflats I guess get rid of them to improve the ride quality a little?
100%!!! I can totally see why the C300 is preferred over the CLA though.
Also looking at upgrading headlights to LED vs stock halogen. That doesn’t seem very straight forward unfortunately but need to look more into this.
We did get $4k off the sale price so that helps. Reason we didn’t go too crazy on car choice was cause husband plans putting high mileage on this car (about 450-500 miles/week). He insisted on doing it with a Mercedes!
100%!!! I can totally see why the C300 is preferred over the CLA though.
Also looking at upgrading headlights to LED vs stock halogen. That doesn’t seem very straight forward unfortunately but need to look more into this.
We did get $4k off the sale price so that helps. Reason we didn’t go too crazy on car choice was cause husband plans putting high mileage on this car (about 450-500 miles/week). He insisted on doing it with a Mercedes!
Curious, the rest of the C 300 in the inventory didn't excite you?
As for the headlight swap, I heard it is plug and play but as you mentioned, research is a good idea.
Curious, the rest of the C 300 in the inventory didn't excite you?
As for the headlight swap, I heard it is plug and play but as you mentioned, research is a good idea.
We didn’t want to go past 30-31k so I asked if they had anything else at that price point at the moment but they didn’t. I did see newer C300’s but at higher price points. We also wanted something with relatively low mileage since we were going to be adding high mileage on it. Also not a gas guzzler which is why we didn’t go for another SUV. Our current GLE is eating $105 at the pump every 4 days. Now we’re using it less so that will chill out!
Yes, plug and play on the headlights. IDK why they have halogen headlights on that car anyway!
We didn’t want to go past 30-31k so I asked if they had anything else at that price point at the moment but they didn’t. I did see newer C300’s but at higher price points. We also wanted something with relatively low mileage since we were going to be adding high mileage on it. Also not a gas guzzler which is why we didn’t go for another SUV. Our current GLE is eating $105 at the pump every 4 days. Now we’re using it less so that will chill out!
Yes, plug and play on the headlights. IDK why they have halogen headlights on that car anyway!
To be fair, it is not your truck, it is the gas prices but the CLA 250 will use less gas either way due to physics (less weight).
Well tell me about it, they also offer halogen headlights as standard on the pre-facelift C 300.
I have 65K on my CPO 2015. There were a couple of things that needed to be fixed immediately (low pressure fuel lines, front axles) that made me think the CPO inspection service is smoke and mirrors. But everything got fixed in a single service visit, cost me nothing, and the car has been running like a top ever since then (20K at time of purchase), 65K now.
Of course, every car is a new roll of the dice and anything can happen. But this is one data point.
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