HLSD

Hi folks. I just brought home my first Mercedes, a black/black 99 C43 with 39K miles. I got the car at Carmax, of all places. The price was a bit high at $23K (typical Carmax price gouging) but they overpaid a little on my trade and I was able to get a 3 year, 36000 mile warranty for $1300.

I love the way these cars look, exterior and interior, and the punch and sound of the v8. Both the old and new version of the S4 were on my short list. The Audis are very impressive cars, but I think the C43 has more character. I also was hot on the W210 E55 - fierce pull, great styling, and an awesome interior that includes a little box in the center console that is chilled by the car's A/C system. In the end though the E-series was just too big for me.

By the way, I need C43 floor mats and an owners manual. Please let me know if you have any leads on where I should check.

Cheers

StapleGun

Howdy and welcome aboard! Nice catch w/39K miles! Just be very careful with follow up on repairs at Carmax - they ARE horrible.

Anyways, I got my all-weather mats (MB ones) through ebay for $75 plus ship, the seller is "hambmw". I would check same place (ebay) for the manual.

HLSD

Thanks for the info on the mats and manual. I will check it out.

With the Carmax warranty I can take the car to a MB dealer (or any other certified repair facility), but the deducible is slightly higher ($75 vs $50 if I take it back to Carmax). I am just planning to take it to my local MB dealer.

StapleGun

Good idea! I took the better half's car (2000 328i BMW) to Carmax and they destroyed the wood center console with a screw driver to remove, along with a laundry list of other items check the link below. Also, make sure you get a Carfax from them too! They did not provide the fact that her car had sustained "minor" damage.

LINK

MANUAL ON EBAY RIGHT NOW -----> LINK

e harmon

Grats on the new purchase. If your car didn't come with an owner's manual, you should be able to buy it at the dealer and ask Carmax for reimbursement. I bought mine from Carmax as well with similar mileage about 18 months ago. Fantastic buying experience, IMO.

In case you haven't already, you might want to research this forum and club202.com for preventive maintenance that you should consider, not the least of which is transmission service. The entire bill won't be cheap, but IMO is worth the peace of mind.

Regards,

e harmon

Vardar

If they took care of you on trade, you are in good shape.... I paid same amount for my extended warranty for 1 YEAR! Lucky you man!


I bought mine for 17k with 76k miles..... I traded in my 99 Saab 9-5, I think I got a fair deal....

Enjoy your car.... I can't even begin to tell you how much I love mine.

HLSD

Thanks for all the responses folks. I am enjoying this car more and more every day. BTW, one of my coworkers has a 99 C43 (black/silver) and another has a 97 (i think) C36. There's a lot of W202 AMG per square mile around here I will take some pics of the three cars to post sometime soon.

StapleGun

Mr Harmon is right - you might want to consider servicing the transmission at about 50K. If you maintain it now properly, it'll last you forever...DON'T let MB Service Advisors talk you out of it, no transmission fluid is made to last 100K

C43AMG

..............or filters for that matter.

HK C43

Try books4cars.com for the manual. I bought mine from there along with a
C43 technical manual and a MB Sevice Book

StapleGun

HK C43 is this the book you got from them? Any chance you can scan the front cover on it - that web page has NO depictions of the books in stock.

AMG43 Technical Introduction Service Manual by Mercedes for C43 (98_S_2695_098)

c55m8o

Congrats and welcome!