C Class W203 revisions

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Meldrew2

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Mine: BMW X4 2.0d M-Sport (Red) Hers: BMW X1 2.0d M-Sport (Black) Sorry about that...
I've just got a personalised plate for my "51" reg C200K.

K200 MBC - well it seemed appropriate.

As this will conceal the car's true age, are there any "give-away" revisions that a sharp-eyed MB fan would spot?

I know that the speedo & tacho dials on the dash were changed ... any other clues to the true age?
 
Clear lenses - headlights and repeaters on face-lifted models - these are the most obvious

I believe there were subtle revisions to the dash along with the one's you have already mentioned!
 
Exterior:

Clear lenses, Grill, Bumpers, tail lights, wing mirror lights, alloys


Not very clear this picture:

800px-Mercedes-Benz_W203s.jpg
 
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The other thing that gives the cars away on the road is the wider track of the facelift models. Not sure if this is just a wheel offset or a suspension mod, but it's the first thing I notice.:eek:
 
Door window mouldings (called garnish mouldings) also get chrome inserts on Elegance & Avantgardes.

IIRC Aero Wipers also came in around facelift time.
 
Almost more important than anything else or cosmetic, the facelifted W203's became fully galvanised.
 
I've just got a personalised plate for my "51" reg C200K.

K200 MBC - well it seemed appropriate.

As this will conceal the car's true age, are there any "give-away" revisions that a sharp-eyed MB fan would spot?

I know that the speedo & tacho dials on the dash were changed ... any other clues to the true age?

A sharp-eyed person should know that there were no W203s of any revision at K Reg time....
 
One exceedingly minor difference between the pre and post facelift W203's is that on the post facelift car there is a tiny small hole on the centre underside of the interior rear view mirror. This is for a small amber coloured "ambient" light that throws a dim glow over the centre console/gear lever area at night. Pre facelift cars dont have this and I doubt whether any owner of a pre facelift car has ever gone to the bother to add this small feature. And there are dozens of other tiny little mods like this.
A real ultra-sharp eyed MB spotter will pick up on at least some of these little tweaks.
 
A sharp-eyed person should know that there were no W203s of any revision at K Reg time....

LOL

The K was meant to stand for Kompressor........

:)
 
Also, the facelift 203s have a chrome strip in the trim immediately below the windows (maybe only elegance and avatgarde?). You can see this in the photo in post #3.

And the interior trim on the avantgardes changed from a cheque metal effect to a small ribbed alloy pattern (God, I'm really scraping the barrel here!)
 
someone told me here that also prefacelifted W203 are equipped with aero wiper starting form end of '03.
They do - I have an 04 pre facelift and it has them. (Although it is now an N reg with the private plate!)
 
One exceedingly minor difference between the pre and post facelift W203's is that on the post facelift car there is a tiny small hole on the centre underside of the interior rear view mirror. This is for a small amber coloured "ambient" light that throws a dim glow over the centre console/gear lever area at night. Pre facelift cars dont have this and I doubt whether any owner of a pre facelift car has ever gone to the bother to add this small feature. And there are dozens of other tiny little mods like this.
A real ultra-sharp eyed MB spotter will pick up on at least some of these little tweaks.

I retrofitted my CL203 with dimming rear view mirror(mine was non dimming), which just happened to have the ambient light!
This was one of the quickest & most satisfying upgrades, as you actually see the difference(ie the dimming) whenever you drive. Many retrofits/mods are unseen whilst driving as they are on exterior.
 
They do - I have an 04 pre facelift and it has them. (Although it is now an N reg with the private plate!)


I've retrofitted new wiper arms to install factory aero wipers:) since mine is a '03 W203 without them
 

to be correct you gave me the idea, but as known your part number was totally useless for me:D :D
 

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