Two0hTwoC43AyEmGee

Some history...

Used to own a beautiful C36 AMG, but had to sell and ended up leaving the forums for a while, for personal...ahem...reasons (hence the username). Was really sad to have to had let go of the old girl, now i'm back in a better position finally and would love to upgrade to a 43 (i'm just a fan of the 202, other mercs are nice...clk63 amg black....hmmm, but until i become a baziollionaire...C43 AMG....DROOOL....)

I'll be the first to admit, I'm no mechanic so I know I'll have to be o.k. with an 18 year old car that may not be perfect, which is fine.

So i'm looking at a few cars.

So I found a car located in the south on sale for just a shade under $5k.

I had a pre-purchase inspection (thank god) done. Now before anyone says "head for the hills," a couple of things. I'm most likely gonna use it as a daily and I live in a northern state here in the US (ahem, snow and salt), so i'm asking for opinions...granted all of which are subjective, but I really would like to call on those of you who've got good to great knowledge of these cars and costs associated.

A caveat, I tend to lean more towards keeping the car mechanically sound and reliable, of course, if mechanically speaking the car is easy to get up to speed, I wouldn't mind trying to get the exterior as close to 8 out of 10 as possible.

So here's a snapshot...

99 C43 AMG - at just a shade over 100k miles....$5k

Summary from my inspector...

"This looks to be a below average vehicle needing work. "

and a few of the more important things IMO that need the most immediate attention...

Engine is seeping oil from the underside, will need to be cleaned off to verify source of the leak. Block is at least one quart low on oil.

The transmission shifts well and lock up seems to be fine.

There are malfunction lights on the left side of dash, not sure what they are for, possible emission issue with the engine that will need further diagnosis and repairs.

Tires are mismatched, right rear wheel has curb rash. Vehicle pulls to the right will need an alignment and really should have a matching set of tires.

there are other lesser important, but nonetheless important issues but if these first issues get fixed first, the car isn't that far gone IMO...

The conundrum....would you try to bust down the dealer and try to get him to part with it for as least as possible and drop the dimes to get the car up to top nick???

OR...

Should I run for the hills and just pop for a more sorted car with similar mileage at a higher price???


Thoughts???

ML63 AMG

Run, y0u can get a great example for not much more

mickey13

Here's a few. Amazing, but these things are popping up all the time.

http://portland.craigslist.org/clc/cto/5726836511.html

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/pen/cto/5724817666.html

http://sacramento.craigslist.org/cto/5697478197.html

Two0hTwoC43AyEmGee

I've seen those cars on CL, they're ok, dings & dents...

also in love with Vlad NJ's car...

https://mbworld.org/forums/mercedes-...nyc-nj-pa.html....

but thats def out of the budget...for now...

here are some local ones to me...

http://chicago.craigslist.org/sox/cto/5733435512.html - possible

http://chicago.craigslist.org/sox/cto/5691324373.html - this one's a no, rust, looks abused...

and there is another car local to me, but I think its over priced, they want $9995 for a car that has 130k on the clock, offered $7k, waiting to hear back form dealer...in your opinions is $10k a good price for a C43 with 130k on her? If that's the case, I'm hitting up VLAD NJ...

mickey13

I drove by him on the highway once, but I never had a chance to really stick my nose around his car.

lol

Value with these cars is really an individual decision. I would spend $10k on a C43, but my notion of value might not be the same as everyone else's. I might not want to spend $10k on a car that someone else would and of course someone else might not want to spend $10k that I would be willing to part with.

The big question is whether that particular car is worth $10k to you. Requires you to answer some other questions like what your budget is like, what are your long term plans if any, what other vehicles are available at what cost and what it might cost you to get to where you want to go (if anywhere) compared to your cost with this one.

Sorry I cannot give you a more concrete answer! lol

Two0hTwoC43AyEmGee

Yes, you're absolutely right, its true, these cars are definitely a personal decision at the end of the day. I'm beginning to think that its worth more to drop the coin on a sorted and most likely longer to last car than to try and revive a car that is past the tipping point.

Decisions, decisions.....

DRBC43AMG

I would certainly run from the example you have seen. Probably better to invest a bit more $ for a good and sorted example, specially if you want to use it as a daily driver. Personally I would look for a "normal" w202 if you are going to use it in winter, but that's just my 2 cents worth...

KJI3jflarryfe93

this is a real beat up c43, dented hood, fender and rear door
i hope no one on this forum owns this car, it's a shame to see this car in such poor shape
http://sacramento.craigslist.org/cto/5697478197.html

KJI3jflarryfe93

to threadstarter i wudd say, run as far as you can from the first object.
buy a car in poor shape will cost you a fortune to get her back in shape.
pay more for an enthusiastic owned car then just drive it, there won't be any headaches for you

DRBC43AMG

That does look like a decent one, with plenty of new stuff done to it recently despite some dings on the bodywork. If it has lived its life on the West coast, it could be rust free too.

Sulaco

I'm the only guy unafraid of the first one. I bought 2 used C43s with way, way more miles and for very little money had them sorted and my wife and I daily drove them for years. You barely scratched the surface on whats wrong with it.

They ALL leak oil from the rear lower area of the valve covers. Every single one develops that. What lights on the dash? Pull codes! Was the interior in amazing shape? 100k miles is nothing on these.

But yeah for 5k you can find ones with zero issues now. I'm a sucker and prefer to rescue poor lost souls but there's a cost benefit ratio others might not ignore

Two0hTwoC43AyEmGee

Yeah, ever since I lucked into the 36 I've been a fan. Truth be told, I'd love to (time, cost, and space considered take on a more sorted project, but gents your opinions are noted and methinks you'd all not steer me wrong, looks like I'll be upping the budget for a more sorted ride rather than trying to save this one. That being said, if your up for a project car, it's located in OKC...here's the ad..

http://www.buzzzmotors.net/1999_Merc..._262550420.veh

Thanks again for the input gents, if you guys know any good cars fitting what I'm looking for, feel free to send them my way (although I think I may have at least seen every single 43 on sale in North America by now, lol)

Two0hTwoC43AyEmGee

I hear you Sulaco, maybe I've just got a soft spot for cars that have had a hard life. Maybe you could take her on and bring her back... then I could buy it from you...for cheap of course, lol!

mickey13

The good about buying a car on the cheap is that you make the repair and you know its sorted. A car that hasn't broke down yet or suffered a problem could be a problem waiting to happen.

If you are close to any of the members here and they are willing to help, ask them to look over one for you. I think some of the guys on this board are practically honorary AMG techs. LOL

With that, take a hard position on a car if necessary. If they are selling it for x dollars then it's important to discover what is wrong with it. Really get under the car, in the engine bay, find out how to test for common problems cars this age have. Bring a code reader with you, smell the oil, check the filters, check the a/c, see if the seats are inflating/working, take a really close look at the headliner, look very closely for rust, check the suspension parts, look over the exhaust, put it up on a lift, try to move the wheels back and forth for play, run it fast on the highway, look for smoke when you start it, when you accelerate, when you decelerate, get the car hot for 20 minutes and shut it off, let it cool, turn it on again and look for smoke on start up, check the transmission, check the brakes, pull the emergency brake. Park it on a hill. There's hundreds of things to test. Rust free cars are desirable, but a bit of rust isn't the end of the world.

I think you are going to find problems which is OK, but as long as you know what the issues are and you can get a feel for the cost of repair and use that in your negotiation. I think these are somewhat valuable cars, first that they are rare, second that they are performers, third that they are reliable, and fourth that they are classic MBZ style and luxury. So definitely seek out and understand the problems if any, but don't shy away from a purchase. If you are on the cusp of spending $10k to buy a nice example, then that also means you wouldn't mind buying a $2500 car and investing $7500 to bring it there. Spending the larger amount upfront is also sometimes a way better bargain, you might find someone who really loved their car and dumped tons and tons of money into restoration or aftermarket parts.

It's great to get a pre inspection done but the inspection is only as good as the person doing it, so find a qualified tech or figure it out yourself. Sometimes just looking into the owner's eye and saying, "Don't BS me bro, whats wrong with this car?" will get you all the answers you need, lol but don't always count on it. Fair dealing isn't exactly popular nowadays.

A great way to really look around is do a lot of research on "how to repair" I think there is even a thread with a lot of videos that go over repairs in the forum, watch all of those and just read like 20 or 50 pages of threads, you'll see the most common problems pop up over and over again.

Sulco, are you fixing cars and then selling them on the cheap now? PM me bro!