C180/c200 K what's the difference?

[Gaspode]

180 and 200 Kompressor seem to be the same engine in different states of tune.

Are there any mechanical differences to justify the £1700 price hike?

In driving terms is it worth going for the 200?

Have test driven the 180 and 240 back to back - while the 180 felt quicker off the line, the 240 felt more refined once on the move - sadly - can't afford the 240!

 

[portzy]

Hello, when I got mine the salesman said the only difference was a pulley on the
(k)compressor drive (bigger) and different mapping in the ECU, as you say £1700 is a lot for an alloy cog and a different chip! Did the two cars you tested have a manual gearbox? if so the ratios maybe slightly different which would make the 180 seem quick of the mark. In the end I got the 200 becase I didnt see many 180s about and thought there maybe a resale problem. The 200 does sound slightly rough when cold but get it run in and hot and it flies, sounds nice to! I think the "200" on the boot also sways some, it did me!

 

[Ian B Walker]

A 200 Kompressor passed me last Friday on the A56, Black and my thoughts then were..........Nice car !! I was travelling at a fair rate but he made me look silly (no comments please, we all know I am stupid , runs in the family)

 

[Shude]

In the end I got the 200 becase I didnt see many 180s about and thought there maybe a resale problem.

That's due to some creative badging on the part of MB back when the w203 was first released! There was no C180 at the release of the w203, the 1.8 models were badged as C200s!

 

[cbenz]

Hi Gaspode,

I have been looking at buying at C Coupe for a while now, but waited because of the launch of the new engines a while ago and then because of the facelift. Consequently I am now poised to buy and have a similar choice to you! Here is my understanding.....

When first launched the C Coupe (similarly to the saloon) came in 3 petrol engines :-

c180, 2.0 litre, 129 bhp and 11.0 secs for 0-60
c200K, 2.0 litre, 163 bhp and 9.3 secs for 0-60 and
c230k, 2.3 litre, 197 bhp and 8.0 secs secs for 0-60

(the c230k has not been available in the saloon, but from reading mbworld.org, is now in the USA)

I viewed the non supercharged c180 as a bit of a snail especially in auto form (times shown are for manual). I therefore decided on a c200k as I can't really justify the c230k, I'm no speedster! Also, who wants a relatively slow non supercharged c180 C Coupe at resale and I (rightly or wrongly, no flaming please I'm just being honest!) regarded the c180 badge as having a bit of a stigma attached to it, like a beemer 316i. Sales chat seemed to think the c200k would be the most popular variant.

Then came along the new quieter, more frugal twin pulse engines with their balancer shafts etc. These are now all 1.8 litre displacement but badged 180k, 200k and 230k :-

c180K, 1.8 litre, 143 bhp and 9.7 secs for 0-60
c200K, 1.8 litre, 163 bhp and 9.1 secs for 0-60 and
c230k, 1.8 litre, 192 bhp and 8.1 secs secs for 0-60

By comparison the c240 v6 with its 2.6 litres has 170 bhp and reaches 60 in 9.2 secs, though is more thirsty - saloon only, not available in C Coupe.

Clearly the winner in terms of performance improvement is the new c180k, benefitting from the application of a supercharger. It's not much slower to 60 than the c200k either and as you say, is around £1700 cheaper! I haven't been able to compare both by driving back to back.

However, prior to the engines changing I was setting my eyes on a c200k and even though it probably makes more financial sense, I'll be sticking with that rather than going for the £1700 cheaper but only marginally slower new c180k. Like Portzy, rightly or wrongly, the badge sways me as for me the c180 still carries a bit of a stigma, even though it has the Kompressor badge on the end. I'm a victim of marketing I suppose! I really don't see how they can justify the £1700 increase for what is essentially the same engine, but for the wrong reason I'll pay it (albeit grudgingly!).

I suppose one way to look at it is if you spend the £1700 on options on the c180k you'd get lesss of it back at resale time than if you spend the £1700 on trading up to the c200k (presumably!????? I guess???).

If you get a chance to try both back to back I'd be interested in your feedback.

At the end of the day, they're still gorgeous cars and you'll love whatever you have. What options are you going for?

If I was buying with my head it would be the c180k, with my heart the c200k. I buy cars with my heart! Nuff said, as I get the flame proof suit out of the cupboard.

Let us know progress.....

 

[Robbo]

Interesting argument, but is a C200 really going to be worth £1700 more than C180 when you come to sell it in a few years time?

Robbo

 

[cbenz]

No a c200k won't be worth £1700 more than a c180k in the future.

The point being that presumably the proportion of the £1700 you'd get back would be greater if you spent it on the c200k than if you spent it on options on the c180k.

I'm no expert, but they usually say you get little back on money spent on options. Though of course leather, auto and metallic seem to be a given so I'm talking other options perhaps Parktronic, upgraded audio - might make your car more attractive at resale but not going to increase the price much.

Fuzzer (hope he doesn't mind me quoting him on the subject) has spoken good advice on this subject before:-

'Take my advice Don't be fooled with options. You get next to nothing for them when you trade the car in but the dealer will punt the options when he is selling it.'

'I know this from experence after i had a FULLY loaded C240 W202 and got a pittence when i took it back.'

'C200k is noticeably faster . Ive driven my C180k and jumped into a c200k and felt the diference. Its all down to budget . I would also like to spec a car up but you will loose all the option money . Go for a bigger engine and you will loose less money . '

There is also the arguement that you buy what you want now and enjoy it, not what someone else might want in the future!

Have what you want and enjoy it, that's what I say.

 

[portzy]

Hello again all, ceratinly some pros a cons there then. If you saw one of my earlier replies to an SLK thread you will see that I once bought a Vauxhall Tigra (yes yes yes 2nd admission in as many days!). This was when they were doing a 30 day return if you didnt like it, well I originally bought a 1.4 with extras which I soon regreted and swapped for a 1.6 with those same extras but now included. The upshot of this was the salesman (a different one to the original, this one was about to retire) told me on the q/t that you never get the true or fair value back on options on trade in so my exchange was a wise move.

I agree that things Mercedes are different in respect to leather, auto, metallics (silver?) etc and yes you do tend to pour over spec sheets and brochures with your head but, when I found myself in MB of Harrogate knowing nothing much about the rarified atmosphere of such a dealership, to me anyway, my brains must have been way back home in a bucket in the fridge .

I thought, Mmnnn auto would be nice, give me some of that panorama roof stuff as well and lets be having those alloy pedals which seem to be a pre-requisite of Yorkshire or even forum wide ownership (thats not a noble by the way! I like em, Pammy, and every one else!) and dont forget the chrome C200 on the back please! So, maybe I got carried away? but I thought if i've come this far, and I dont mean from Shipley to Harrogate , whats the point of worrying over 1700 when I was looking to part with about 25000 ish? life was dealing me a good number of duff hands at the time so for probably the first time ever I thought bu**er this and went for it, got the C200 and extras and now I enjoy them.

The gist here is ive been there with the 180/200 bit and I did worry about resale but if your heart says C200 my advice is do it as I dont think MB do a thirty day exchange and that salesman I mentioned earlier as long since departed/expired or gone to live somewhere on or in the Isle of Skye.

Please excuse the over-use of commas and brackets, I know, sometimes I find it hard work reading my posts as well

 

[C240Sport97]

why not get the C320 Sport Coupe as an ex-demo (say 3 months old) for about the same price as a new C200K?

That way, you have real power and 6 cylinders

 

[Flash]

why not get the C320 Sport Coupe as an ex-demo (say 3 months old) for about the same price as a new C200K?

That way, you have real power and 6 cylinders

And a car that has not had its engine gradually broken into for the first 1000 miles and evey Tom **** and Harry has pratcised their 0-60 times... and God knows wot else....

 

[miro]

And a car that has not had its engine gradually broken into for the first 1000 miles and evey Tom **** and Harry has pratcised their 0-60 times... and God knows wot else....

Personally I am not convinced the engines are not run in. I know for a fact that Mitsubishi (the maker of the current C class engines) runs in engines before they are bolted into a car.

 

[C240Sport97]

Salesmen tend to accompany customers on test drives; and so customers should behave. In any event, the C320 SC is not in the same vein as say an Impreza BIG Turbo etc etc

And a car that has not had its engine gradually broken into for the first 1000 miles and evey Tom **** and Harry has pratcised their 0-60 times... and God knows wot else....

 

[Flash]

Salesmen tend to accompany customers on test drives; and so customers should behave. In any event, the C320 SC is not in the same vein as say an Impreza BIG Turbo etc etc

Unfortuantely, that is not the case always - alot of cars these days go on 24/48hr test drives and corporate customers even get to keep te cars for longer periods - not even MB Techncians/staff look after our (customer) cars - my car came back with a kerbed alloy wheel the other day from a Dealer and they had to refurbish it after it went in for some warranty wrk... - they even denied damaging the alloy and blamed it onmyself - some of them are animals the way they treat our cars...

From my experience salesmen will let u do wot u want to the car just to get a sale - as long as u do not damage it - one sales person said to me on a test drive in a MB - its ur license do wot u want.... and sat back...

 

[Dave Kerr]

Take it and keep it for the day I was told at Worcester MB on test driving a C220.
Of all the cars I test drove VW, BMW and Audi only the Audi salesman insisted on coming with us and that put me right off and I never even gave it further thought.

Dave

 

[Robbo]

Although the opportunity does exist, I wonder how many people who take a test drive do thrash the nuts off the car and treat it like sh*t? I would think it is likely to be a minority, especially with non sporting variants. In general, I would say MB customers are a pretty sensible bunch (ourselves excluded of course!).

MB engines are bulletproof anyway

 

[GrahamC230K]

You cannot drive a Mercedes harder than the rev limiter allows, so what are you worrying about?

So far I have ideas above my finances so always buy used. I always drive hard on my test drives (usually let out on my own) and then obviously buy the very same car.

Too much molly coddle and cotton wool is not good for an engine! Get it run in nicely

 

[Shude]

I wonder how this thread has lasted so long without being moved to the correct section! Moving...

 

[Flash]

You cannot drive a Mercedes harder than the rev limiter allows, so what are you worrying about?

So far I have ideas above my finances so always buy used. I always drive hard on my test drives (usually let out on my own) and then obviously buy the very same car.

Too much molly coddle and cotton wool is not good for an engine! Get it run in nicely

But in the manual for all our MB cars it has stated something along the line sto take it easy for the first 1000 miles and not to use sudden excessive acceleration/speed....

Too much molly coddle and cotton wool is not good for an engine! Get it run in nicely
I absolutlely agree with u but only do this myself personally after the first 1500 miles.... - any car that I am given/drivng I treat as my own with the utmost respect...

 

[Dieselman]

absolutlely agree with u but only do this myself personally after the first 1500 miles.... - any car that I am given/drivng I treat as my own with the utmost respect...

But the engine needs running under full load to seat the rings and avoid bore glazing.

Note full load, not high revs.

 

[altreed]

How long do you plan on keeping the car. Even an engine run in hard will last over 30k without any real signs of problems or history.

I have noticed that most people who buy new mercs tend to replace them regularly. {I only drive 2nd hand and keep them for 80-100k}

A 3.2 litre engine would be a tad too powerful for a 'normal' driver to do it any harm? I have an old c36 and even when I am feeling pesky I get a bit twitchy when it hits the powerband and I am always looking over my shoulder.