aquasition

Decided to get a used AMG. Friend of mine drives a 1998 C43 with 186k miles on it. like it a lot. Not concours but a nice DD. No issues. all resolved. Looked at the one being offered on ebay in DE, and it appear to be a rust bucket with 190k miles. passed on it. Now Im looking at E55 amg, and there is a TON of mechanical/electronic issues being discussed over on their board. So, what is your (biased..I now...) opinnion between the C43 and the E55, with regards to reliability and low maintenance up keep? I don't really need the almost 500 HP of the E55, but the extra creature conforts and leg room are nice, however the C43 is plenty for what I want (DD), plus savings. C43 are much more rarer to find than E55...what you think? Thanks a bunch....cheers.

503C43 ////AMG

I LOVE my C43, pretty much bullet proof (except the tranny ) I am a HUGE fan of the E55 and plan on buying one in a year or two after I get my C43 how I want it. No doubt the C43 is more rare than the E55 but this is a blessing as well as a curse. If you are looking for a car to mod than the C43 is probably not the car for you as the mods are few and far between and are costly. For the C43 reliability is high and IMO upkeep is low. If you are looking for a DD I would imagine the C43 would make a better DD than the E55. My C43 is my DD currently and I have no complaints, comfortable heated seats, decent sound system, and enough power on tap to keep me satisfied for a DD. Look around you can find god deals on C43's if you look hard enough.

aquasition

Thanks 503C43///AMG. I am with you on that. My preference is the C43 too. What would you say/think about a 2000 year model E55 AMG? there is one near Dallas for sale for just over $11k, and with a nice (not detailed) history of service a MB dealerships, no pending recalls, etc. Very tempting....what are the differences between this 2000 model and the 05/06 models? What about the body? It seems to be between the E55 and the C43? Do we have a list of MB shops on each state, where I could find a mechanic for a PPI? Thanks.

austinholloman

I went with the C43 over the E55 because the E55 was so large for living in Downtown Dallas, parking it was a PITA and there are a lot more of them on the road than the C43. If you like the 5.4l engine then drop it in the C43 for less than 5k total and bam you got the best of both worlds. C43 is more fun to drive imho because its smaller and more nimble. The E55 tranny is much better than ours but if you take good car of ours the you should be ok (Change fluid every 20-30k miles) or find a car with the rebuild already done. After owning my car for two or three months, I wouldnt change it for an E55 ever. I love this car and its a blast to drive every day! The only car I can see loving as much as my C43 is a 500E.


Dream car:


Looks a lot like our cars though side by side, guess thats why I love it so:

Frank Castle

Depending on what he wants, the C43 is a better looker IMHO. I'd bet cheaper than the E55. I got mine knowing the transmission would go someday and it sucked to have to go through. So find if it was replaced, or set some funds aside for the inevitable.

I placed a E55 transmission with 20k miles in it. No more issues hopefully. You can always put an E55 Motor in it down the road...or if you have now enough...get it made

Outlawlatemodel

i am think of selling my 98 574 274 2543

austinholloman

I think a C43 with the 5.4l V8 and if you need to, the 55 tranny, sounds like a dream machine to me!

aquasition

either C43 or E55 would be fine, as far as body size , as parking is not aconcern for me at all. Most driving would be between Houston and Austin weekly..

austinholloman

My C43 got an average of 27 mpg on the way back from California when I purchased it and the the E55 surely cannot do, the ride was VERY pleasing and passing highway speeds are addicting!

OK55

Pretty much up to you. The e55 is obviously going to cost much much more to run than the c43 but the power is in a different league altogether and it's voice more Wagnarian. If you can get a good warranty the E may make some sense, otherwise the C seems a more logical choice as a DD...
Brgds

OK55

Oh, I can do the 'passing highway speeds' bit. In the last 1 year, however, I've only managed an average of 12.55 miles per US gallon...! And these have been largely traffic-free highway miles. Tried my e55 in town initially but in really bad traffic sometimes saw 6.5~7.
Brgds

FLYNAVY

First of all, the w210 E55 (2000 MY you mentioned) doesn't have nearly 500 HP.....you are likely thinking of the w211 E55's that have around 475 HP, vs the 210's 354 bhp.

Secondly, if you are already looking at getting an E55, then you could certainly put that extra money towards finding a much lower mileage C43 while you are at it. There may have not been all that many C43's built, but they are not too hard to find, and many have less than 100k even today with acceptable histories.

I'm personally a lot more of a fan of the w202 than I ever was of the w210, so that is where my suggestion would take you, though it really comes down to personal preference. You would have a lot more room in an E55, and it may hold it's value a little bit better than the C43, though I think both have pretty much hit rock bottom for the time being......and may or may not ever recover.

I'd be guessing here, since I have only owned a C43 and not an E55, but my *guess* is that you would find similar problems in both cars, and likely a similar level of reliability. Only exception I can think of off the top of my head might be the weak C43 trans, but then again, I never had any problems with it in 100k miles and 4+ years of ownership

FLYNAVY

Jesus, you must drive like a maniac I regularly got 25 mpg in mixed driving, up to 27-28 on long freeway trips, and generally 18-20 in purely in-town driving. I didn't tend to exercise the loud pedal that much however, so driving it more in the spirit of an AMG would certainly yield lower results

OK55

I actually drive with restraint...but, of course, once in a while I do unleash the beast. The truth of the matter is that the consumption of these things is diabolical. Very few people have any idea how bad. Trouble is, like other enthusiasts, I love my beast. So I don't bother about the fuel costs...well, I try not to!

As for maintenance costs, in the last 12 months or so I've spent almost 13,000 US Dollars on scheduled maintenance and repairs - IC coolant pump, airmatic shocks front and rear, and ball-joints et al. Current odometer reading is 20,600 miles out of which roughly 6,900 was done in the last 12 months.

I believe this is about par for these cars - like I said in my earlier post, very expensive to run.

austinholloman

The w211 E55 is a totally different league in age, purchase cost, maintenance cost and power. I would guess he is talking about a w210? The w210 is a bit faster but not a whole lot more when both cars are bone stock.

FLYNAVY

Yeah that is what his post seemed to elude to, given the price range he was talking about. Agreed that the w211 is a whole different animal, and those fuel efficiency numbers make a lot more sense in this context

Saaboteur

I'm believe that the E55 and C43 transmissions are virtually identical. However, if anyone knows of detail revisions in the trans on certain years of E55, that would be nice to know.

I do understand that -'99 W210s had an issue with the front shock mounting structure if I remember right? Could be kinda messy.

I remember thinking that the C43 was a big car to drive around, after I first drove one. That was years ago. Now that I have mine, it doesn't seem that large. I drove my friend's dad's W210 E430 4-matic and thought it was huge. I'm sure that feeling would probably subside after extended time in the car, but my personal preference is to drive smaller cars. My wife's LR3 is nice for moving lots of people or stuff, so it's nice to have the capability of larger vehicles though. That said, in a W210 E55 you have a big engine in a medium sized car. In the C43, you get a big(ish) engine in a smaller car. That's always a good equation in my view! And has been discussed, it's always possible to put that big engine into the C43. Can't wait to do mine.

503C43 ////AMG

I was under the same impression... I too would be interested to know what the difference (if any) is between the 2 trannys.

austinholloman

The tranny in our cars is a modded version of the R129 tranny and it does not hold up as well as the tranny for the W210 E55.

tasho3

Buy mine, everything is pretty much done to it!

http://www.cars.com/go/search/detail...5&aff=national

austinholloman

WTF? I thought you were selling off the C63? Post your sale add in the section man, with more pictures. Good price too. Why are you selling it?

tasho3

to tell you the truth the C63 market is very rough and we might keep it, not really pushing to sell it, and with the C43 I m kind of testing the waters, my brother has a 2001 Audi A6 4.2 fully loaded with 90k miles which he is willing to sell it to me for 5k because he never uses it, and it is sitting in the garage and its in mint mint condition and quattro which i can really use in the heavy Chicago winters, cuz all 3 cars that we own right now are terrible in snow. But I m also moving downtown soon for school and the place we looking to buy has only 1 car garage so we kind of have to sell one at least so right now i m kind of confused as to what to get rid of and what to keep

MarcusF

In 2000, aside from touch-shift transmissions, the failure prone brass bushing was jettisoned in favor of the improved roller bearing design. The input and output shafts are different, rumor has it this was to accommodate the bearing change. In 2001, the AMG shift programming was improved (faster shifts).

austinholloman

This is the POS I just sold because it was such a JOKE. The tranny in that car fails every 80k miles and good luck finding one for under 4k! USED! BTW 300hp never felt so SLOW. Look up the times in that car. Its a total joke. Not to mention how much the timing belt change cost on the crap. $1500 if your lucky. The whole front end has to come off of it. Please god find a different car!

503C43 ////AMG

Is there anything about these cars you don't know???? Thanks for the info