Early W203, should I even bother?

[Vibein]

Hi All,

I have read of countless faults and issues with the early w203, some owners so annoyed they went to the dark side or elsewhere

With this taken into consideration any thoughts on if I should bother viewing a 2001 C320 (Made in Germany sticker on door shut).

Thoughts please?

 

[BlackC55]

It all depends on price.

I bought a 71K 200K today for £1k and its in good condition!

 

[KillerHERTZ]

All the ones ive seen recently have been rustier than a W210!

As with all cars, I would avoid the very early ones...

 

[Vlad]

Well on the flip side I sold an X Reg C180 Elegance with 132,000 miles on the clock with a tide mark of rust all the way around it for £1650 and the phone went off the hook....52 phone calls!

Did have great service history and a lovely interior, but had pretty dire bodywork.

Shows that there's a lot of love for them. I've never found them to be a bad car and very little ever went wrong with it during my time with it.

 

[Deleted member 37751]

My friend has just bought a 51 plate, 100k, C320 Avantgarde W203 for £1800.

Besides a tiny scab on the rear arch, it's lovely.

 

[GP801]

We had a german built 203. Total disaster. Too many problems to list but mostly with the electronic systems. Warranty repairs came to around £6000 in the first 3 years. Be very careful. In my opinion they were released without enough testing.

 

[Mike Walker]

It all depends on price.

I bought a 71K 200K today for £1k and its in good condition!

Ollie
Can I swop mine for yours please - want to try one with a Kompressor engine!

 

[Vlad]

We had a german built 203. Total disaster. Too many problems to list but mostly with the electronic systems. Warranty repairs came to around £6000 in the first 3 years. Be very careful. In my opinion they were released without enough testing.

Thankfully most of the problems on the earlier cars have now been sorted thanks to the early buyers/Warranty claims

 

[jaymanek]

2000/2001 rust like mad...

Otherwise they are generally ok for cars that are now 10 years old.

 

[Chrishazle]

I've had my July 2001 C270 for 3 years now and love it. OK, there's some rust appearing round the rear wheel arches and paint bubbling slightly along the bottom of the offside doors, but it's comfortable, economical (45mpg!) and very quick when required! Also servicing interval is 2 years/15k miles - so all it's needed so far is 1 A service (£180), a MAF under warranty, a thermostat, front discs and pads and new tyres. Cheap comfortable motoring.