C230k Bat

I will be buying a c55 in the near future since it appears they have reached maximum depreciation value and they are the best bang for buck from what I have read. I previously owned a c230k sport coupe and it never broke down ...I loved that car lol... But i am hearing the 2006 c55's have less issues vs the 2005 c55's please if someone could shed some light that'd be awesome .... much appreciated

C230k Bat

also if anyone knows the general price on a new set of tires, are they arm and leg or not too bad ... sorry for ignorance

C230 Mulac

There's actually not much difference between 2005 and 2006 from what I've seen. Mine is 2005 and I know some guys with 2006 and haven't really seen any differences. I will say that my buddy with a 2006 doesn't have the leaky rear crank seal that mine does but it could also be that he only has 40k miles and I've got 100k lol

Tires are going to vary depending on which ones you get, but if you get high performance summer tires as you should because this is what the car is made for, you're looking at roughly $900-1000 all 4 installed.

Fronts are about $200 or so per tire, rears are more around $250-300 per tire.

C230k Bat

wow that's awesome i thought tires would be much more... thanks for the input brotha... how is the reliability with yours? i noticed there are threads all over with reputable people saying all they put into their c55's is oil changes and spark plugs over the span of say 40-50k miles... What does the major service (once car reaches 100k) consist of?

C230 Mulac

Well, I'm probably not the best person to ask as mine was a salvage title so I've basically replaced EVERYTHING on this thing lol. Read my reliability thread (link in my signature).

If your car doesn't have a salvage title it will run pretty well, as long as PM is done regularly.

Oil change every 5k or less
Brake fluid flush every 2 years OR could be more often if you drive really hard
Coolant flush either every 2 or 3 years
Trans flush again depends on how hard you drive, some people do every 20k or so, others say 30k or 40k, it's not terribly expensive so I usually just do both oil and trans at beginning of spring when getting my car ready for summer driving season
Diff fluid every 50k
Spark plugs are every 100k OR 5 years
Front control arms depending on how hard you drive or how sh**ty the roads are in your area, 40-50k, the bushings wear out, DC has horrible roads and lots of potholes so 50k is pushing it for bushings for me, it won't be catastrophic failure if you don't just will have some steering wheel vibration and a rougher ride than usual
Rear control arms I haven't done yet but planning on doing an overhaul end of winter, I'm at 103k right now, although I'm not sure if these are original or not since I don't know exactly what was salvaged or replaced when the car was salvaged, I have done the trailing arm bushings already, I believe around 75-80k
This car shreds engine mounts b/c 1) it's a torque monster and 2) the Lemfoerder mounts are close to junk, just a crappy design so this combo doesn't last long, depending on how much you gun it every 30-40k they need replacing
Trans mount is recommended to be replaced when you do engine mounts, I didn't but just replaced it Saturday at 103k, again not sure if previously replaced
Strut mounts up front get worn out, I had mine replaced around 70k, going to put new ones on when I do coilovers but I think it's somewhere around 50-60k usually
Valve cover gaskets get leaky, no telling how many miles, 30, 40, 50? They're pretty cheap though so no big deal, also need to get breather hoses too when you do these in case they break or crack but they are cheap too
Last weekend at 103k I replaced my water pump and although they were fine went ahead and did the radiator hoses too just so I know it's nice and new now, also did thermostat and coolant temp sensor since those were cheap parts, also do the pump pulley when you do it
Drive belts I'm not sure of interval but basically just inspect it regularly and see if it's worn or cracking, roughly every 1-2 years, also do the idler pulley when you do the drive belt because those are known to fail
Belt tensioner doesn't have an interval but they are known to fail as well, I'm planning on doing mine sometime soon this winter
Power steering flush every 30k or so? Not sure of interval but I'm pretty sure it was never changed on mine and my rack failed. Racks are not cheap and I was fortunately able to find one for $106 at a junkyard used but online a remanufactured one is around $650, if you don't change PS fluid regularly it is a factor in rack failure
Rotors and Pads, depending on what you get OEM isn't too expensive, pads are roughly $70 front and $40 rear. Rotors I'm not sure about OEM but my Stoptech drilled cost me $426 for all four from Tire Rack

I think I covered most of it. Now that I've gotten it back into good shape from salvage it actually runs pretty well. Just a few more things to do this winter...

C230k Bat

HAHAHA that's crazy considering i read your entire thread today before i posted this thread!! that's why i was skeptical about the whole reliability thing... but i take it you love the car?! it seems to me the c55 is the best bang for your buck and still has a sleek and modern look unlike most of these new cars being released .. what's your fuel economy , i hear people getting upwards of 26 on highway and lows at 14 in city; where do you avg out 21/22 if that?

C230 Mulac

hahah yes I am never getting rid of this car! For one, they only sent 1650 of them to the states and I believe around 4000 produced worldwide, so it has a little bit of rarity. To me it's worth every penny spent, although that could be different if I had someone else work on it. I do everything on it myself except things like tires and alignment. Makes a big difference in $$.

Depending on how I drive it, 24-25 is about right stock. Since I cut out all cats and installed the Kleemann headers and got it dyno tuned, it will actually get more around 26 because of the lesser restriction. On the other hand, if I really pound it it'll get like 10 haha. But I don't care, my '98 Jetta TDI is my daily driver to work and it gets 45 mpg in the city.

Viper98912

Very small differences between 05 and 06. Only one I can think of off hand is that the radio (or the CD changer, don't remember which) could play MP3's [from a CD].

amgen

4.600 produced worldwide sedans and wagons between late-04 and
early -07. Stayed the same through productionlife.

C230k Bat

the big question is can you make these gargle ?! i'm a die hard fan for a loud gargle and I'm assuming staying in manual mode on first gear will produce the gargle once you let off the throttle?

and thanks for all the input guys, you're making me miss benz and hate my vw community lol

C230k Bat

c230 Mulac... you also mentioned coil overs for about 2k, why don't you just get bags then you can air out and up; pretty much never have to worry about bottoming out?! also off topic but the c55 takes a **** on the c32 when put side by side in a comparison right?

C230 Mulac

Get the secondary cats and resonator cut out and you'll get a pretty solid "gargle." I assume you're talking about the backfire. Put headers on and get rid of primary cats and you'll get a very large "gargle."

I've never used air suspension before but I feel that coilovers are better for handling. My primary focus isn't the look, it's the handling. My favorite type of driving is mountain switchbacks. Group of friends and I try to take a trip every year to WV or NC, somewhere in the Blue Ridge or Smoky Mountains, stay in a cabin, and push our cars to the limit.

C230k Bat

that's awesome... have you ever heard of a c55 being able to backfire? i'm trying to build a death machine as my next car since currently my big turbo mk4 20th ae is maxed out and i still want more power lol

and i think the c55 can hold power reliably ?

C230 Mulac

You obviously haven't been in my car lol, I'm running Kleemann headers just straight pipe to stock mufflers, I get A LOT of backfire

raphman

I'm also running the Kleeman headers and deleted the resonator, however I still have the secondary cats. Do the secondaries make THAT much of a difference? Is it uncomfortably loud? I get currently very little backfire

C230 Mulac

Maybe they do but I wouldn't know since I had them cut out first before anything. I mean it's not like it backfires all the time, just if I punch it to around 5k rpm or so and then let off and let the rpms slowly come back down it'll give me a few pops around 4k or so.

Not sure what uncomfortably loud is for you, but it's pretty damn loud. I personally love the noise, my gf hates it haha

C230k Bat

hahahaha *my gf hates it* that's how you know it's just about right...

i love exhaust notes, for example if i hear a loud subie outside i literally will run to the nearest window nd scream subie!! because that boxer is unmistakable .. but i guess thats what you get wen you're a car guy so i'm thinking the c55 is more the right car for me the more i get into it with info... I was thinking a e46 m3 or c6 vette but the bmw is a maintenance freak and the vette is only 2 seats so it appears to me the best bang for buck & practicality is going to be the c55 ?!

could you see yourself dailying it if you had too? ex. prob 50-60 miles a day?
and any crazy cars you've pulled on recently

raphman

I use to have an SRT-4 with a 3" turboback and a small resonator... now THAT thing burbled and backfired, holy hell!! As usual, I loved it and my neighbors hated it. In comparison to an M3, the maintenance on the C55 is nothing! I haven't taken a long distance trip in my C55 yet (it's my DD), but I'm sure it's plenty comfy for long daily commutes. The only car that gave me a run was a (very) modded s2k... thing was loud and looked good, but he couldn't catch up - I kept crawling further ahead.

C230 Mulac

Yes, the exhaust note is beautiful. I'm sure my neighbors can't stand me on these cold start mornings haha

I drove the C55 as a DD for almost 2 years before I got the '98 Jetta TDI to use as a DD. It has no issue, just jacks up your cost of gas if you're commuting into a place like DC where traffic SUCKS.

Jetta TDI gets 45 mpg and being a diesel is very low/cheap maintenance so it's not a fair comparison. However, C55 vs. something like M3, C55 is very cheap to maintain for what I would classify it as: high performance sedan. You can't really compare it to a normal Benz like a C230 (which btw was extremely reliable when I had it, '06 with the NA V6). But for being such a beast the car is very reasonable. Lots of guys on here DD it and have taken it to 150k or so miles and running strong. If you're on this forum and you know the common issues that will pop up and are prepared for them, or even PM around them you will have no problems.

And as a final note, most of us are probably going to steer you away from M and towards AMG

Spooky55

Sorry to revive such an old thread, but I have noticed a small cosmetic difference between 2005 and 2006 C55: if equipped with COMAND, the GPS antenna seems to be on the trunk lid on '05 cars and on the roof on '06 cars.

Robjr

Spooky55......

Hi......mine's an '05 and the antenna is on the top of the rear window a t the roofline! FYI..

Rob

Spooky55

Huh. Interesting. All the 2005 cars I have seen for sale with COMAND have had it on the trunk lid. Is yours late production 2005 maybe?

ODB

I bet you guys are talking about siriusXM antenna rather than gps one.

Spooky55

Just to bump an old thread rather than starting a new one...

Yes. I stand corrected. I does look like a GPS antenna though. My new 2005 car doesn't have Sirius. The factory GPS antenna is hidden under the black paint inside the back window at top center.

Having just bought a 2005 car coming from a 2006, I have observed a few more differences between the two model years.

- The seats in the 2005 look identical but are MUCH more comfortable than my 2006 car. Different subcontractor? I could only stand the 2006 seats for about an hour. They were torture after that. I could do a long road trip in the 05.
- The icon on the button next to the shifter is different. 2006 said S/C with an M below it. The 2005 shows S->C->M in a circle.
- When the passenger fasten seat belt light comes on from something heavy (groceries, dog, etc.) it give a weak little "beep" where the 06 was a bit more obnoxious
- The alarm doesn't beep when armed or disarmed. The 2006 did. So did my 06 C230.
- There is no indication that Cruise control is on or has been set. The 2006 showed the set point momentarily on the center display. So did my 06 C230. Nothing on the 2005.

Was there a software update I wonder?

The two years are still more or less the same.

ODB

2006 instrument cluster also has no option to switch from F to C and enable 24hr clock