Howdy and looking to buy

[haulme]

Hi all

I've joined as I've always used your board for advice fixing my Dad's 1997 C200.

Unfortunately its been riddled with faults, recently he had to shell out a £600 to get the Ignition ECU fixed :/

Now it's a case of enough is enough and he is now looking to buy.

I'll won't do the normal noob thing and will read all the FAQS but essentially I do know mercedes build quality has dropped(I'll get flamed for this I know). I see alot of mid 2000 cars with bodywork rust and hear about alot of general niggles.

I own a Mazda 6 MPS and won't be chucking that in for a Merc as it is awesome.

However open question to you all with a budget of up to £14k, saloon, diesel what would you suggest?

Thanks again and keep up the good work

 

[d w124]

Hi and welcome to the forum.For that money you`re either looking at late 211 or earli-ish 204.Or a CLS

 

[Deleted member 37751]

Facelift (06 plate onwards) W211 E320 V6 CDi Sport or Avantgarde would be a great purchase.

It's common knowledge that the 'standards' of Mercedes cars have dropped over the years, because there's not that much money in making barges for African dictators anymore...

Welcome to the forum, by the way.

 

[Meldrew2]

£15K gets you an 11 reg C180CGI. How about this one?

Mercedes-Benz C Class C180 CGI BlueEFFICIENCY SE 4dr Auto 1.8 2011

I have the same car and the 1.8 blue efficiency engine is smooth and powerful enough for motorway speeds and beyond, and good at B road overtaking too. Excellent seats and a good comfortable ride. 30+ mpg despite a heavy right foot. All round a great improvement from my previous 2004 W203 C200K.

From a financial point of view, it's the equivalent car 14 years newer... so less than £100 a month ownership cost if it lasts as long - and the W204 seems a better built car than the W203 - at least in my experience

 

[steve333]

Hi,welcome to the forum

 

[neilrr]

Who charged him £600 to fix the ignition module?

 

[NoorCL63]

How many miles do you do? If not that much, your money might be better spent on a petrol model.

 

[WOODYTHEWISE]

Hello and welcome to you. V12 only way to go.

 

[NoorCL63]

Hello and welcome to you. V12 only way to go.

 

[haulme]

£15K gets you an 11 reg C180CGI. How about this one?

Mercedes-Benz C Class C180 CGI BlueEFFICIENCY SE 4dr Auto 1.8 2011

I have the same car and the 1.8 blue efficiency engine is smooth and powerful enough for motorway speeds and beyond, and good at B road overtaking too. Excellent seats and a good comfortable ride. 30+ mpg despite a heavy right foot. All round a great improvement from my previous 2004 W203 C200K.

From a financial point of view, it's the equivalent car 14 years newer... so less than £100 a month ownership cost if it lasts as long - and the W204 seems a better built car than the W203 - at least in my experience

Thanks alot for this, looks very nice for the price actually, he does want something he will keep long term also.

Who charged him £600 to fix the ignition module?

We could buy a reconditioned one for £350 of ebay, the car was undrivable so he took it to the local independent stealer as he needed to get it running ASAP, so we got our pants pulled down a bit. Final straw that made him loose confidence.

How many miles do you do? If not that much, your money might be better spent on a petrol model.

This is a very good point, he does extremely low miles, he currently has a 1997 car and its only done 55k! Is there much in terms of price difference VS a DERV?

Thanks all for your feedback

 

[NoorCL63]

If he does extremely low miles, then its a no brainer IMHO.

Never looked at Diesel car prices so cant comment with any authority but i guess a diesel will be more expensive to buy and more expensive to maintain and diesel is more expensive at the pump.

I will stop talking about not going for the diesel option, as i dont what this thread to turn into a Petrol Vs Diesel thread.