MBZ4LIFE
New Member
- Joined
- Mar 9, 2008
- Messages
- 27
- Location
- Cape Town, South Africa
- Car
- 1999 C230 Kompressor Sport Manual
BaldGuy
MB Enthusiast
Use the search facility on here... There are quite a few members on with C32's....
MBZ4LIFE
New Member
- Joined
- Mar 9, 2008
- Messages
- 27
- Location
- Cape Town, South Africa
- Car
- 1999 C230 Kompressor Sport Manual
I am buying in South Africa and at the current exchange rate I should be able to it for less than 10k with 102 000 km on the clock. Which I think is an absolute steal seeing a BMW E46 M3 would cost me 9k extra.
Is it a chargecooler system rather than an intercooler then?
a 2001 with average mileage books at about £7200 so should get a screaming minter for £10K
BenzedUP
MB Enthusiast
I love c32's they good cars, ideally you should look for a late model as the earlier models have issues with the memory seats they drain the battery.
Whats faster a 2003 m3 or a 2003 C32 amg?
Whats faster a 2003 m3 or a 2003 C32 amg?
- Joined
- Jan 21, 2005
- Messages
- 30,209
- Location
- Mittel England
- Car
- Smart ForFour AMG Black Series Night Edition Premium Plus 125 Powered by Brabus
A snapshot of my thoughts on the C32 AMG:
The Intercooler pump is very common and very very very easy to diagnose. With this problem it is only a matter of time. Expect them to last 40,000 miles - any more is a bonus. Easy DIY job though (apparently), and the same part is used on the Ford Lightning at a much lower cost (about $70 IIRC) - there's even a how to guide on a US forum.
The supercharger bearing can fail making it noisey, although this is very rare. If you hear that a supercharger fails you can be fairly confident it's probably the bearing. Dealers replace the whole unit, but US owners have found the correct bearing for the job, and is apparently not difficult for an experienced mechanic or engineer (about $20 IIRC).
Heated seat base will fail on the drivers seat, as the integrated element gets damaged. Again only a matter of time on this one. Expensive fix is a new seat cover at about £300 or about £100 if you insert a separate pad from a different model.
Air injection relay (and air injection pump) were both recall and items and should have been replaced. Not strictly necessary as it's only required to pass stringent LA smog tests AFAIK.
Purge valve can audibley 'tick', if it irritates then the bracket can be adapted to isolate the noise from being transmitted. Nothing to worry about.
Jerk at 1500rpm, although it seems all cars suffer with this and seem to be a combination of the adaptive settings and the torque converter locking up. Not noticeable and no fix - it's just the way they are.
Lumpy idle in a 10 second burst after a cold start, but only when stationary at about 2 minutes. Bizarre set of circumstances! Just another quirk, no fix.
The Valeo radiators (cars built pre 09/03 IIRC) can leak and cause glycol contamination. At worst can require a new transmission, albeit uncommon. Can be replaced with a later Behr radiator to ease concerns. There's lots of info on this. Other models are affected too - not just C32 or W203.
Suspension bushes can be noisey, but there's a replacement part 'with boots' to prevent re-curring problems.
Can feel vibration of window wiper sweeps through brake pedal when foot is on it at rest. Just something you live with.
Near side tilting mirror can fail, albeit not exactly common!
Rust - not really heard much on the C32 but Andy (CYP) had a successful claim for his bonnet IIRC. Watch out for this though as the earliest examples will now be 8 years old.
On balance it's not that bad. The two dead certs can be fixed cheaply DIY. The other problems with be a PITA if you get them, but could affect any car.
I hope this is of some use...
The Intercooler pump is very common and very very very easy to diagnose. With this problem it is only a matter of time. Expect them to last 40,000 miles - any more is a bonus. Easy DIY job though (apparently), and the same part is used on the Ford Lightning at a much lower cost (about $70 IIRC) - there's even a how to guide on a US forum.
The supercharger bearing can fail making it noisey, although this is very rare. If you hear that a supercharger fails you can be fairly confident it's probably the bearing. Dealers replace the whole unit, but US owners have found the correct bearing for the job, and is apparently not difficult for an experienced mechanic or engineer (about $20 IIRC).
Heated seat base will fail on the drivers seat, as the integrated element gets damaged. Again only a matter of time on this one. Expensive fix is a new seat cover at about £300 or about £100 if you insert a separate pad from a different model.
Air injection relay (and air injection pump) were both recall and items and should have been replaced. Not strictly necessary as it's only required to pass stringent LA smog tests AFAIK.
Purge valve can audibley 'tick', if it irritates then the bracket can be adapted to isolate the noise from being transmitted. Nothing to worry about.
Jerk at 1500rpm, although it seems all cars suffer with this and seem to be a combination of the adaptive settings and the torque converter locking up. Not noticeable and no fix - it's just the way they are.
Lumpy idle in a 10 second burst after a cold start, but only when stationary at about 2 minutes. Bizarre set of circumstances! Just another quirk, no fix.
The Valeo radiators (cars built pre 09/03 IIRC) can leak and cause glycol contamination. At worst can require a new transmission, albeit uncommon. Can be replaced with a later Behr radiator to ease concerns. There's lots of info on this. Other models are affected too - not just C32 or W203.
Suspension bushes can be noisey, but there's a replacement part 'with boots' to prevent re-curring problems.
Can feel vibration of window wiper sweeps through brake pedal when foot is on it at rest. Just something you live with.
Near side tilting mirror can fail, albeit not exactly common!
Rust - not really heard much on the C32 but Andy (CYP) had a successful claim for his bonnet IIRC. Watch out for this though as the earliest examples will now be 8 years old.
On balance it's not that bad. The two dead certs can be fixed cheaply DIY. The other problems with be a PITA if you get them, but could affect any car.
I hope this is of some use...
- Joined
- Jan 21, 2005
- Messages
- 30,209
- Location
- Mittel England
- Car
- Smart ForFour AMG Black Series Night Edition Premium Plus 125 Powered by Brabus
Pah!! Stay away from the track and technical drivers and you'll reel 'em in!!
Just ignore the text - focus on the numbers!!
BenzedUP
MB Enthusiast
Pah!! Stay away from the track and technical drivers and you'll reel 'em in!!
Just ignore the text - focus on the numbers!!
Nice one, always knew the c32 is a beast! The figures of the m3 are wrong I think there is no way a standard m3 can do 0-60 in 4.8 only the M3 csl.
Standard E46 M3's are 5.2sec and 5.5sec for cabs!
I've had my friends 2003 M3 SMG in the E55 AMG a couple of times very close though from 0-80mph there is about 1 car's length between the two!
Thats a really nice c32 amg and very nice colour combo!
Auto Trader UK - MERCEDES-BENZ C CLASS C32 AMG AUTO 4DR SALOON
- Joined
- Jan 21, 2005
- Messages
- 30,209
- Location
- Mittel England
- Car
- Smart ForFour AMG Black Series Night Edition Premium Plus 125 Powered by Brabus
That's the full Autocar road test for which they measure performance rather than use manufacturer figures as they might for a non-road test review. One of the rare occasions that they road tested two cars at the same time though.
Autocar road test data is pretty much the best of any motoring magazines IMHO, so I'd go with it's accuracy.
Autocar road test data is pretty much the best of any motoring magazines IMHO, so I'd go with it's accuracy.
