C207 Buyers Guide

[Glasgow90]

Hi All,

New member here - currently drive a 2008 Alfa Romeo Brera Prodrive S. Coming up for 12 years and 125k miles and it has been an absolute joy to own and drive. Still looks stunning, feels great and has never let me down or caused any trouble. Since buying it I've changed job and now commute to work - about 30 miles a day. The Brera is a fantastic car but low 20s mpg, 19" alloys and lowered suspension and its advancing age and mileage are making me think it's time for a more suitable commuting car.

I've had my eye on an E coupe for a while now and think it would be an ideal whip - more relaxing, better economy but still stylish. I have a couple of questions and was hoping someone could point me in the direction of a comprehensive guide of issues to look for. I've seen generic guides on autoexpress etc but no real in-depth guide to the mechanical configurations. Aware of injector and wheel corrosion issues but are there other developing issues now the cars are ageing?

- Suspension - do different trim levels have different configurations? If so, what are they? I've seen reviews mention air suspension but do not see any coupes advertised with this. Was air suspension available on the coupe?

- Gearboxes - I've seen different numbers of gears mentioned. Can someone detail what engines and years had which boxes and are there any known issues, i.e. any particular combo to avoid?

- Infotainment - Are there any options worth seeking out here? I like being able to play Spotify from my phone in the car and would like to be able to control this via steering wheel controls.

Age/mileage isn't a huge deal for me, more keen to have a spec I like (panoramic roof is a must and tan leather would be lovely too). Would consider pre or post facelift and diesel or petrol, although I fancy a 6 cylinder so diesel is probably more available (budget approx £17k but could flex a little for the perfect car.

Would welcome any pointers and insights.

Thanks
Ewan

 

[SmartAmg]

Hi, Ewan and welcome, I've had my 2011 350 cdi C207 for 18 months and has been brilliant, thoroughly enjoyed it and still am, I went for white, red leather, pan roof etc, in fact it's fully loaded, as I like my gadgets, if you can imo the 350 cdi is a must.

 

[tonysmb]

It might help if you could narrow it down a little, ie petrol or diesel, 4, 6 or 8 cylinder, as that would reduce areas for people to cover.

 

[Glasgow90]

• As stated in my original post the 6 cylinder diesel is likely to be my pick but I’m open to all options at this stage, including petrol. The 200 CGI and 220D are perhaps a little pedestrian but then 220Ds are in plentiful supply so would be stupid to rule this out. I want a comprehensive guide so that I can then narrow choice. Other manufacturer forums I’ve used in the past usually have some form technical buyers guide that would detail everything I’m looking for but can’t seem to find any here.

 

[tonysmb]

That will teach me for not reading your post properly

The V6 diesel is far smoother than the 4 cylinder, IMHO.

The 350CDi changed to 265bhp around end of 2011, many changes to the engine including pistons, fuel pressure, different dpf regeneration parameters. I think that also coincided with the introduction of stop/start, which brought with it the revised 7g+ gearbox. These gearboxes require atf change every 5 years /76500 miles, whereas earlier 7g gearbox was a one-off change at 3years/37500 miles (IIRC). They use different fluid. Dash changed slightly at same time, more 'colourful' graphics. Hard drive storage on Comand system changed at same time as well, from c4Mb to 10Mb. DRLs changed to straight, were 'hockey stick' before - earlier SEs had twin circular halogen lights instead, one fog, one DRL.
AMG sport models had Artico 'leather', SE models had leather as std. Sportmodels use cross-drilled fr. discs, more for appearance than anything else (IMHO). Sport models have the sports suspension, all V6s have sports suspension and steering, whether SE or Sport. Sports have multi-adj seats as std.
SEs have 17" wheels, Sports 18". I think that the 17" wheels provide a smoother ride on our pot holed roads.
Stop/start cars have two batteries, one under bonnet one in boot, not sure about earlier cars.Intelligent lights are very effective.

Petrol 350s are few and far between, earlier ones might be caught under the balancer shaft issues, can't recall affected engine numbers at the moment, a search should find it. The 350 petrol is smooth, good performance but in my experience needs to be revved more then the 350 diesel, torque is noticeably lower. The 500 is a lovely car to drive but even fewer than the 350; the vast majority of cars were diesel.

I haven't driven a petrol 4 cylinder, so can't comment. Early 4 cylinder diesels might have been affected by the injector issues, eventually cured by about 2012 IIRC - try search for more info.. Pan roofs are good, lighten the interior. Sports have black headlining, SEs have light grey. Facelift didn't add much in my opinion, so I'd rather look for condition rather than pre/post facelift. I would guess that 80-90% of cars had black trim, so if you want a pan roof and tan or grey leather you might have a long wait. If you're after a diesel, I would recommend driving both V6 and 4 cylinder before deciding.

Air suspension wasn't an option. All auto gearboxes were 7 speed. I think 4 cylinders were available with manual but I can't recall now and can't imagine many are around.

No real issues, other than normal used car points, that I'm aware of. I've had my 350CDi for 7 years, opted for SE spec for leather and 17" wheels, added pan roof, Comand, intel lights, multi seats etc etc. Still happy with it, but only use it for long-distance trips.

That's a quick summary.

(eta re typos)

 

[SmartAmg]

That will teach me for not reading your post properly

The V6 diesel is far smoother than the 4 cylinder, IMHO.

The 350CDi changed to 265bhp around end of 2011, many changes to the engine including pistons, fuel pressure different dpf regeneration parameters. I think that also coincided with the introduction of stop/start, which broughg with it the revised 7g+ gearbox. These gearboxes require atf change every 5 years /76500 miles, whereas esrlier 7g gearbox was a one-off change at 3years/37500 miles (IIRC). They use different fluid. Dash changed slightly at same time, more 'colourful' graphics. Hard drive storage on Comand system changed at same time as well, from c4Mb to 10Mb. DRLs changed to straight, were 'hockey stick' before - earlier SEs had twin circular halogen lights instead, one fog, one DRL.
AMG sport models had Artico 'leather', SE models had leather as std. Sportmodels use cross-drilled fr. discs, more for appearance than anything else (IMHO). Sport models have the sports suspension, all V6s have sports suspension and steering, whether SE or Sport. Sports have multi-adj seats as std.
SEs have 17" wheels, Sports 18". I think that the 17" wheels provide a smoother ride on our pot holed roads.
Stop/start cars have two batteries, one under bonnet one in boot, not sure about earlier cars.Intelligent lights are very effective.

Petrol 350s are few and far between, earlier ones might be caught under the balancer shaft issues, can't recall affected engine numbers at the moment, a search should find it. The 350 petrol is smooth, good performance but in my experience needs to be revved more then the 350 diesel, torque is noticeably lower. The 500 is a lovely car to drive but even fewer than the 350; the vast majority of cars were diesel.

I haven't driven a petrol 4 cylinder, so can't comment. Early 4 cylinder diesels might have been affected by the injector issues, evdntually cured by about 2012 IIRC - try search for more info.. Pan roofs are good, lighten the interior. Sports have black headlining, SEs have light grey. Facelift didn't add much in my opinion, so I'd rather look for condition rather than pre/post facelift. I would guess that 80-90% of cars had black trim, so if you want a pan roof and tan or grey leather you might have a long wait. If you're after a diesel, I would recommend driving both V6 and 4 cylinder before deciding.

Air suspension wasn't an option. All auto gearboxes were 7 speed. I think 4 cylinders were available with manual but I can't recall now anc can't imagine many are around.

No real issues, other than normal used car points, that I'm aware of. I've had my 350CDi for 7 years, opted for SE spec for leather and 17" wheels, added pan roof, Comand, intel lights, multi seats etc etc. Still happy with it, but only use it for long-distance trips.

That's a quick summary.

Wow, Tony that just about sums it all up, excellent right up.

 

[Abb]

Shame you were not looking earlier, a nice example was discussed a few months ago.....

E500

They are out there!

 

[grober]

Despite being described as an "E coupe" the C207 was based on the running gear and chassis of the W204 C Class saloon and not as you might expect the running gear/chassis of its contemporary W212 E saloon. Viewed from the front track of the E coupe is much narrower than the E saloon. The first version models had a wide range of petrol and diesel engines but with the face lift the petrol engines choice was reduced to one 4 cylinder engine the v6 and V8 petrols [ rare anyway] disappeared from the UK market IIRC - the implication is if you want to drive behind a later model v6 it will almost certainly have to be a diesel
ps one of nicest looking models Mercedes produced in recent years.

 

[markjay]

As above, it's a C-Class with E-Class badge, as well as E-Class luxury and options list.

The downside is that the suspension isn't as clever as on the E-Class, the upside is that it's a smaller car, and being more nimble it is better-suited for the sporty character of the Coupe/Convertible.

 

[Srdl]

I can’t really add anything to what others (especially Tony) has said but, from my personal experience, the 3 litre diesel is definitely the one to go with. Smooth, powerful and not that bad on economy. I actually got 51mpg once (and only once!) on a long motorway drive down through France but mid 40s was quite common on a good run.

 

[400ixl]

As a former Alfa owner who has had an A207 for 4 years now, I would advise trying to spend some time with one. The A207 is pretty boring in comparison and is not a sports car, at best it is a competent cruiser and its not that it doesn't handle ok, its just not dynamic and engaging. But saying that in my case there isn't a great deal of choice if you want a 4 seater convertible which can take 4 adults, not quite so bad in the Coupe space. The Command system is also way behind in that era of car, which in all honestly probably became my biggest bug bear. It was only replacing it with the Android 10.25" system that stopped me selling it a couple of years ago.

Pre-or Post facelift has two considerations (other than price obviously). Firstly is the looks (I preferred the pre-facelift) and some of the additional changes such as the 9G gearbox (the one thing I would have liked) the gear shifter on the tree not console and the updated (but still woefully lacking) Comand system. Other than that not too much really changed other than adding emissions controls like adblue.

I had the Saab 9-3 Convertible before this but unfortunately they went out of production in 2010 (a few hand built in 2011) so that wasn't an option. The alternatives really were the Merc E Class, Audi A5, Volvo C40 (or whatever and the less said the better) or BMW 6 series (Not what I wanted to pay). I had some time to spend with the E class before I bought one as I had friends with them. I did test the A5 Sportsline and it felt like you sat on it rather than in it with the seats in that compared to the Mercedes. The RS5 a friend had was much better seat wise but I didn't want that model at the time. I let the seating position sway my decision. With hindsight I should have looked into the A5 more as having driven a few since its actually a much better car.

If I was looking for a Coupe of the same era today (rather than a convertible) I would probably be weighing up a BMW 4 series vs an Audi S5 with the Mercedes C207 as a wildard. Although I would be heavily tempted by the Alfa Romeo Giulia despite it being a 4 door.

If the choise was the C207 and I was coming from Brera S I would have to go for the V6 petrol. If you go for the diesel then you may as well go for the 250D as it is in real world driving as quick as the 350D and 10mpog better. Sure the 350D is a bit smoother sounding but thats about it. All the people I know with the 350D have had more issues than those with E220D or E250d's.

 

[Glasgow90]

Thanks for the responses. I was aware of the coupe being based on C-Class underpinnings, was surprised when I found that out.

I've only tested one so far, a facelifted 220d - it was lovely and smooth, not exactly a fireball and the steering was the biggest surprise - compared to the Brera it is incredibly light. I like the meatier steering of the Brera but the small wheel in the E class was lovely and the lightness suits the more cruiser nature. No one has mentioned any additional reliability concerns beyond a couple of known issues which is reassuring.

I've actually noticed that some used CLS are at a decent price too, but the front end just doesn't do it for me like the original CLS which I love (if I was going to buy a car that old I may as well keep the Brera).

400ixl - as you said I'll miss the drive of an Alfa, the Prodrive Brera is good fun. In an ideal world I'd replace it with a newer equivalent but because of the delay between 159 and Giulia and the fact the Giulia coupe was not due on sale till 2021 and has now been cancelled there's nothing to fill the Brera/GT's boots which is a real shame. A Giulia Veloce appeals to an extent but I just prefer coupe styling and I'm 6'3 so appreciate long doors and a B pillar that's well back.

Will keep trawling the classifieds for one that really catches my eye and keep buying euromillions tickets - then it'll be an original CLS AMG, keep the Brera and maybe a Giulia QV as the daily - and a Defender for the 10 labradors I'd get when I retire at 30. Can always dream...

 

[400ixl]

On the diesels they have a tendency to eat some of the sensors which can stop DPF regens. Mostly the sensors are sub £100 so not a huge issue, but if the NOX sensors fail this can be quite expensive.

Hood issues thankfully seem few and far between and often just failed or mis-aligned sensors. Suspension seems pretty good, the odd report of broken springs. Interior wise check the chrome on the seat release is not cracked as this can peel and become sharp and is a pain to change and the seat belt extenders can also stop working. Sticking with the seats, if they are the artico leather then check carefully for any splits as they will just get worse.

So, there are little issues which can occur, but overall it is a fairly reliable car. No better or worse than most other mass produced cars.