Howdy fellas,

I am thinking of purchasing a 2002 C32 as a daily driver, and relegating the C63 to occasional use/weekend drives.
I have just gotten the C63 to a stage where I am happy with it's aesthetic, and I would hate for someone to open a door onto it or vandalise it....again.

I had been on the hunt for a manual hot hatch as my daily, however I came across some reasonably priced C32's, and after a bit of research about the platform I am intrigued. The thought of a supercharged AMG makes me giggle. I have always wanted an E55, however a decent one cost's in the realm of $30K and I don't wish to spend that much on a secondary car. Also, I know I will get pedantic about it. The C32 seems like a suitable stop gap to this.

I have narrowed my search down to two vehicles. One with ~210,000kms (130487.95 miles) and the other has ~179,000kms (111225.443 miles). $100 separates the two vehicles. The one with the higher kilometres has been in the same family since new, and from the photos, it looks as if it has been very well looked after, seats are in fantastic condition with minimal to no wear on the bolsters. Both cars are located in another state, so I plan on asking the sellers to email me more detailed pics of the engine bay and boot, as well as taking them to a reputable AMG specialist for a detailed inspection prior to me flying out and viewing the car/s. I am biased towards to the one with the higher mileage, due to the fact that it is a one owner/family car, and it appears to be in better condition than the other one. Wheels are in the original colour and have no curb rash etc.

Ideally I would have liked to have gotten a 2004 model year car, however there aren't any for sale in my country. Are there any glaring issues with purchasing a car of this era, with such high mileage? Any common faults/issues? What are they like to live with?

Cheers to you all, and Merry Christmas!

 

C32s are some of the most reliable/sporty Mercs ever made. There's no airmatic to fail (huge bonus) and the engine/trans are damn near bullet proof.

Typical problems associated to most C32s are:

- rust (wheel arches, trunk lid and especially the door bottoms)
- supercharger bearing (cheap part and low labor cost to replace or DIY)
- broken seat heaters
- trans cooler radiator leaks coolant into the engine oil
- high mileage 32's can be susceptible to cam lobe separation which shows itself as random misfires on one side of the engine

I'd strongly consider the one owner car that's been well maintained.

 

I daily a C32 AMG and except for a couple mishaps (bad throttle body causing a bad idle and limp mode, bad fuel pump sender causing non start), it has been very good.
Rust isn't a big issue in Australia however, the rest do apply. Check if the radiator is a valeo or behr and if valeo, ensure it is newer than 2004 (you can see it on the top) as the older valeos can mix coolant with transmission fluid as stated.
Moreover, other major common issues involve a clicking dashboard due to stepper motors/flaps, various oil leaks like all M112/3 motors, squeaking thrust arm bushings, leaking water to air intercoolers/broken water intercooler pump and broken passenger occupancy sensors. Parts (Excluding the intercooler and supercharger) are pretty cheap and shared with heaps of other cars so even with these common issues, it's not expensive or difficult to repair.

 

Cheers for the replies, I will be contacting the seller of the one owner/one family C32 in the new year and requesting more information about the service history, and parts that have been replaced. i.e radiator. If it's a behr radiator is it all good?
Hopefully everything checks out, as I would love to add a C32 to the stable and use it as my daily.

 

Correct. An updated valeo is also okay. Mine is a valeo but from 2006 so it has been replaced and is not in the bad era of valeo radiators.

 

This is a sound and economical advice
The Supercharged C32 is a heavy consumer of gas, if you have this car as a daily and long distance to work, think again before you buy?
If you still want an AMG, look for a car with natural aspirated engine, they don't lush on gas driven sensibly.
If money is no object buy what you desire.

 

The C32 AMG uses less than the NA C55 or other NA AMGs of that era. The supercharger is clutched so it is only engaged under certain conditions, saving fuel otherwise. I get 9l/100km or so on the freeway and 14l/100km urban (if driving normally). If i'm driving with a lead foot, I get around 18-19l/100km but all cars will give you terrible fuel economy if you drive that way. The only benefit the NA AMGs provide is reliability (due to less parts; no supercharger, intercooler etc) and the V8 sound.

If you really value fuel economy and want a fun daily, I'd look into a GTI or something 4 cylinder albeit those have their own range of issues.

 

Who drives the AMG as an old fart?
We drive them coz it's fun to drive, and fun is most of the time at no legal speed limits.
I bet the C32 driven the snot out of it uses more gas than my car.

You are correct, the NA cars should be more reliable than SC cars.

 

I have been daily driving my C63 for the past year and a bit now. Fuel economy isn't high on my list of priorities.
Quick question regarding the sound of the C32, Do they dound "alright" with a stock exhaust? Any supercharger whine? All the videos on YouTube I have found so far have been of cars with modified or aftermarket exhausts

 

They're pretty quiet stock, you need a resonator delete along with secondary cat delete and it will really open up. I can only hear whine down low (stock intake but resonator and secondary cat delete done) but if you fit a third party/custom intake (needswings intake for example), you will get a lot of whine.

 

If I do decide to modify it(im in two minds about it), I would probably start with some basic exhaust and intake mods. Would a remap be required for a resonator delete? Just so that I don't throw any engine codes or a CEL?
I don't plan on changing out the supercharger pulley, headers,etc until I have lived with the car in stock form for a while. If I decide to go down that road and up the boost, I will get it retuned, but only after I have fitted a bigger intercooler/heat exchanger.
No idea how the stock system would handle changes to the supercharger pulley.

 

No remap required for resonator or secondary cat delete. No CEL either, nice and easy to do. If you do up the boost, I would change the heat exchanger as these cars do get heat soaked, even in stock form. I would personally only ever change the supercharger pulley as the crank will cause all parts to run faster too, not just the supercharger.

 

Well thought I would provide you with an update,

I asked the seller about the service history of the car, about the radiator being replaced or updated to one that isn't prone to failures, and about cam lobe separation. I also asked him to provide me with more photos, showing the engine bay, body and interior in greater detail.

He informed me that the car has a full service history, which is good.
He said that it's the original radiator, it hasn't been replaced, and that he doesn't know what cam lobe separation is, but his mechanic hasn't said anything about it.
He said he would text me some pics later today(Yesterday), still waiting on those. He also said that the car drove through a puddle of paint at some point, and has all the usual dents and dings that come with parking lots. I have asked for pictures of these as well, as I am not in the mood to restore or repair major cosmetic damage. It makes no sense to spend $3k fixing/painting body work on a car that costs $9-10k. At least to me anyway.

Thanks for your wealth of knowledge and advice, I will update you if/when I hear back from the seller and what my decision is.
Have a great New Years and all the best for 2020

 

I put 100,000 miles on my 2004 before regrettably selling it after I bought a 63. I went through 2 radiators for some reason. I had an oil leak from the head as previously mentioned. I had 1 pulley seize on me, not the supercharger one though. Fuel economy is a hell of a lot better than the 63 if you're heavy footing it. The ticker for me was the stepper motors. Of the 4 vents in the front, all but 1 of them broke meaning it the passengers right vent was the only one putting out cold air. Sucked here in FL. Repair job was really expensive. I really miss that car though. That super charger really brought that car to life. I remember reading about the development of that supercharger, and they did a lot of work to keep the typical supercharger whine to minimum. I've owned the C32, C55, and C63. The C32 was the only one where you could almost floor it off the line without spinning the wheels. When I had the C32 and C55 at the same time a friend of mine would race with the other one and it was always too close to call. The 55 seemed to have .5 - 1 mph higher trap time, but felt heavier than the 32 and to me didn't quite brake as well. Mine was 2004 in Capri blue. Good luck with your hunt!

 

I drive a C32 daily to work. I average 20 mpg and have 146k miles on the clock. I have changed the supercharger pulley bearing, the fuel pumps, and the rear SAM. It willingly slingshots to extra-legal speed on the interstate whenever foolishness strikes me. I am going to put money into this car to keep it going because I can't imagine a higher dollar-to-enjoyment factor. I sell MB for a living and all the old guys in the service department know my car and have nothing but admiration for the model.

Having said that, every caveat mentioned in this thread is true.