Advice on buying a C220CDI sport 2007

[doublem]

Hello All

I'm new to the site, and forums for that matter, so hope I'm doing this correctly!

I've decided to buy a 1 or 2 year old C220 cdi sport in it latest form (2007 onwards) and was looking for some basic advice such as,

> what are considered the essential extras to aid resale. I was thinking of looking for leather, Comand and parktronic as a minimum?
> where is the best place to buy from? I am looking mainly at Merc Direct or dealers within 30 miles from me
> what does it cost to service one of these on average so I can get an idea of running costs
> anything I should look out for when choosing and how much should i expect to pay for either a 2007 or 2008 model?

Would appreciate any input really as new to Mercs.

Thanks in advance

 

[greggster]

sorry to answer only one of your questions, but i would buy from Merc Direct but do a nationwide search and buy over the phone if required - once they deliver you can always send it back if not as described 100%

 

[A210AMG]

Hello


what are considered the essential extras to aid resale. I was thinking of looking for leather, Comand and parktronic as a minimum?


All extras seem to do are make the car nicer for you when you own it, seems when you sell it its always missing something that would sell it quicker. Saying that Command is a good one, Leather almost a must as is Auto. Parking sensors almost take them for granted now. So those would be good.


> where is the best place to buy from? I am looking mainly at Merc Direct or dealers within 30 miles from me

I would widen your search to all of UK, if your having the car for 3 years say and want to find one with as many toys as possible for the best price why stop your search at local 30 mile cars??? Look all over the place. It will be worth it.

> what does it cost to service one of these on average so I can get an idea of running costs

Easy enough to ring up any Merc garage and ask cost for A service and B service? is it fixed price on these?... ask the questions.



> anything I should look out for when choosing and how much should i expect to pay for either a 2007 or 2008 model?


I guess like any car check everything even though its quite new, low miles probably means a demo car (driven bt everyone) but could also mean good spec. They are pretty new so not sure of anything to look for.


I would think for a sport with command and options mentioned less than 20K miles your looking at between 22K - 26K depending on level of options. Bargain hard though..

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/946386.htm


http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/904449.htm



Also this looks nice... but petrol look nice in while and NCO


http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/940600.htm

 

[doublem]

Thanks, I'll hunt around and see what I can find !

 

[HowardD]

Thanks, I'll hunt around and see what I can find !

If you're interested. My girlfriend owns a 58 plate C220Cdi Sport Auto, with black heated leather and other goodies like Parktronic, multi-changer, telephone prep, 5 spoke 18in AMG's, split fold seats and the obligatory cupholder. No Comand.

She'd like to change it now. It's the one pictured on the left. It's done 3,000 miles.

When she gets off her butt and advertises it this weekend, it'll be sold at £20k for a quick sale.

It's a great choice of car all the best with your search. Howard

 

[st13phil]

Looks like a good buy... Hope your GF isn't a victim of the current financial turmoil, Howard?

 

[doublem]

Thanks for the offer Howard but Comand is a must for me, otherwise would have seriously considered it.

 

[st13phil]

I know COMAND is more than just a navigation device, but check out the UMI available for the W204 as a retrofit before you dismiss cars without COMAND.

 

[HowardD]

Looks like a good buy... Hope your GF isn't a victim of the current financial turmoil, Howard?

She cant get on with the C-class. It's too big for her needs, and she doesn't enjoy driving an auto. I pushed her into buying it on the pretext that it would be safer for the kids (no self interest of course!!). She's not a confident driver and gets paranoid about having an accident every time she drives.

At the moment, she's pinched my car, until we work out what to do with the Merc.

 

[fred52]

Mercedes Direct recomemnded

I totally agree with sourcing nearly new vehicles from MB Direct. My W203 which gave me 5 good years service came from there, and my W204 which is about 12 months old, came from there about 8 months ago and saved me around £8k on a showroom price. Agree that you should do a nationwide search as they are happy to get the car to you for a nominal deposit and seem happy to take it away if it turns out you don't like it - at least Adam in Birmingham will do this!

My suggestions on MUST HAVE:-

1. Auto
2. Leather
3. Xenon - so much brighter
4. Memory seats - if there is more than one driver
5. Sports version - much better visually than Elegance but I guess thats down to personal choice
6. Parktronic - even Vauxhalls have this now

I would put COMAND into the 'nice to have'. Both the W204 and W203 had this but wow, what a fortune to keep the SatNav up to date! Yes, I know its more than SatNav (the audiotronic is a nice gimmick) but what a price. Interestingly if you buy from MB Direct the chances are that it will come with this anyway.

Good Luck!

 

[Rory]

I bought my W203 from MB Direct Birmingham and was very pleased with the deal. Mine does have COMAND but it's pretty rare - it might even be rarer now as stand-alone sat-navs are so cheap now. Also, in W203 it does tend to "lift" the cabin, whereas it's somehow doesn't seem such a big deal in W204. You wll be really limiting your choice is you want COMAND. As others have said, it can be retrofitted anyway.

You asked about servicing. Recent MBs are on fixed interval serving of 15,500 miles or 12 months, whichever is first. Servicing alternates A & B, with list prices around £250 for an A and £450 for a B service. However many dealers will do it for less, sometimes a lot less. These services though, are little more than oil changes and lots of checks. B service also changes the pollen filter and key battery and the checks are a bit more in depth - they take the wheels off to check the brakes, for example.

As well as the basic A & B services, MB then has a matrix of additional work that is required on a time/mileage basis. For instance, brake fuild is required every 2 yrs, auto transmission fuild change is required once at 37,500 or 4 years. On the diesel, I think the only other routine items are fuel (quite expensive) and air filter and off the top of my head I can't remember the intervals.

 

[hawk20]

One of the problems Doublem is that to answer your question most will tell you the extras they like. And that is important to them.

But what may be important to you is what extras have value when you come to resell the car, or cost money when you buy secondhand.

According to Glass's Guide the automatic gearbox on an Mb is the only extra that gets back what you pay for it.

I love parktronic but it adds little on resale.

Avantgarde/Elegance/Sport etc upgrades are very nice to have and after 3 years you get back about half what they cost new.

Leather gets back half what you pay for it.

COMAND adds about £1,000 to 3 year old resales according to my local MB dealer.

Small engines have the least depreciation. Diesels the least of all.

To minimise depreciation, when buyinh new, stay out of the toy cupboard, seems to be the message. And avoid big engines and things you enjoy

But when buying secondhand as you intend, many extras come free. Others, as I've listed above, typically add about half what they would cost when new.

 

[fuzzer]

Miss out the comand and have the UMI navigation fitted which comes with 7 digit postcode and USB/ipod connectivity that comand won't. Only Costs about £800

 

[doublem]

Thanks for all the advice.

I've looked at the UMI retrofit and will keep that in mind. The comments about spec also taken on board but I can't help myself when it comes to gadgets - thanks Rory for the detail on servicing costs which has helped give me a clear idea of what to expect.

Now just have to find the right one !! :bannana:

 

[et0609]

I bought my C200 3 years ago from Mercedes Direct in Manchester. The service was quite good and the youg lady I bought it through was very helpful. However, they wouldnt budge an inch on price, wouldnt even give me a tank of diesel, but I guess you would get a better deal from them at the moment.

 

[Rory]

I bought my C200 3 years ago from Mercedes Direct in Manchester. The service was quite good and the youg lady I bought it through was very helpful. However, they wouldnt budge an inch on price, wouldnt even give me a tank of diesel, but I guess you would get a better deal from them at the moment.

Was the price already pretty good, especially compared to "normal" MB dealerships?


I got my C270 in March 05 from MB Direct Birmingham. It was up for £26,995 and they knocked £2K off over the phone to get me to pay a deposit. I then got a further £1,500 off when face to face, but then just hit a brick wall. However they did then include the phone cradle. When I got the invoice they'd itemised out StarShield (paint protection) at £299 and wanted me to sign the StarShield warranty. I said no and told them to knock the £299 off the price but they flat refused - always tough to judge these things but I think they'd have let me walk away.

I came away with the impression that they realised they'd set the price too high in the first place and had adjusted it to be a bit below MB dealership prices. One thing that was noticeable is that they seemed to attach no real value to the COMAND and phone prep that my car had - they were happy for me to compare with cars in dealerships which didn't have those options.

I will say that (at least the salesman I dealt with) they were very keen to sell the car - quite a refreshing change from Dealerships who really don't seem bothered whether you buy or not.

 

[et0609]

My car was originally located in London so they had it moved up to them. When I originally enquired they said there had been a mistake in the price by the London branch because it was very cheap. Personally I didnt agree, it was about £1k less than a main dealer. I remember there were a lot of people there buying cars.

The journey down was a nightmare. The prop plane from Wick to Edinburgh was broken and had to do an emergency landing at Inverness. We were then thrown on the Gatwick flight. Got to Gatwick, the Manchester flight was then delayed. Finally got to Manchester at 2am, 12 hours after leaving Wick.

Still, when I drove out of the dealer I was well chuffed with the car.