Looking to Buy a C230K W202 Model.. Help Please

[BaldGuy]

old skool Borbet A's....... nice...

 

[bored_welsh_lad]

Cheers man.. they will be going up for sale soon as i am saving up as quick as i can to buy a 230k now lol..

God damn the internet.. so many ideas now lol.. i want a pulley kit, to lower it, chip, the works lol.. the same happened when i bought the mk3 though lol

 

[wigs_1]

Mines a 2.4V6 and on a sensible motorway run (70mph) I'll do 420 miles to the light (34.7mpg) and on a fast run (80-90mph) I get 370 to the light (30mpg) and mines an auto too. Saying all this, I drive round town quite a bit so I've averaged 27.5mpg over the last 11,000 miles.

It terms of personal taste I prefer the V6 to the 4 cylinder as I think it sounds better and feels smoother. Get a 2.8 if you can because as far as I can see the fuel efficiency is no worse than the 2.4 but the engine has more get up and go and is a bit keener (I helped my pal buy his high spec 2.8 and I should have had it for myself coz its better than mine).
I'd doubt the V6 engines are very 'tunable' though....

As mentioned previously, get a facelift, high spec, AMG alloys, heated leather, xenons etc and watch for the rust.

Just my 2p worth. Hope its of use.
Chris

BlackC55's W202 looks pretty smart IMO

 

[Adam230K]

piece of advice, get a facelifted model (after 1998) with as much toys as u can. The facelift ones respond better to chip-tuning.

 

[bored_welsh_lad]

How much difference is there visually between the pre and post facelift model then??

 

[Iain]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=200317541153&ssPageName=ADME:B:TB6:UK:2

 

[sgtbob]

Hi mate. Ive had my w202 C230K for nearly a year now. Had an escort, and clio before it. Ive never driven a golf, but i can honestly say that even without chipping or modding the engine, the 230K will blow your socks off! Mine is an Auto box, and with kick down from stationary, it will plant you firmly in the back of the seat! Its got great pull all through the range, and even at motorway speeds, will pull away and keep going and going and going. I have had a bit of trouble with mine, replacing the MAF, Throttle Actuator, and Cat Converter for a sports one. Upgraded the wheels to 18" AMG's and have put a 7" screen DVD player in the front. Great car mate, and i dont see letting mine go for the foreseeable future...still makes me smile!! Just get one, you wont regret it!
See pics of mine below (links):
http://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=65351
http://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=63951

Cheers, Rob.

 

[bored_welsh_lad]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=200317541153&ssPageName=ADME:B:TB6:UK:2

I was getting a quote online for that very car as you posted the link up.. how bizarre... im going to keep an eye out on that one but it looks like i might make a purchase if the price is right

Hi mate. Ive had my w202 C230K for nearly a year now. Had an escort, and clio before it. Ive never driven a golf, but i can honestly say that even without chipping or modding the engine, the 230K will blow your socks off! Mine is an Auto box, and with kick down from stationary, it will plant you firmly in the back of the seat! Its got great pull all through the range, and even at motorway speeds, will pull away and keep going and going and going. I have had a bit of trouble with mine, replacing the MAF, Throttle Actuator, and Cat Converter for a sports one. Upgraded the wheels to 18" AMG's and have put a 7" screen DVD player in the front. Great car mate, and i dont see letting mine go for the foreseeable future...still makes me smile!! Just get one, you wont regret it!
See pics of mine below (links):
http://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=65351
http://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=63951

Cheers, Rob.

Cheers for all the feedback mate, this is what i like to hear.. i was a bit worried about having an auto box but i suppose when MB are producing so many autos' they must know what they are doing your car looks mint too mate.. id be happy for something like that myself

 

[230K]

Hi

Having had a C230K and an E300TD i can confirm that the running costs between the two fuel wise are negligible. Petrol is cheaper after all. C230k will go as low as a 25-26 mpg, E300td will go as low as 27mpg. C230k will go as high as 36mpg and E300td will go as high as 39mpg and maybe even 40mpg (quicker walking!!!!).

This is based on my driving and experience.

Yes the C250td will be better but not be a huge amount.

There is bound to be an economy post for my 230k somewhere from years ago.

Hope this helps


230K

 

[bored_welsh_lad]

That is the type of post i love.. someone practically telling me to buy the 230K lol..

I think i need to get offline asap or i can see me making an impulse buy and the missus going mad lol

 

[Iain]

That is the type of post i love.. someone practically telling me to buy the 230K lol..

I think i need to get offline asap or i can see me making an impulse buy and the missus going mad lol

I've had a C280 Elegance (straight 6 version) and I've now got a C230K Sport,
Both got identical 0-60 times (near as dammit) Top speed. Same. Economy. Same. Smile on the face. Same. The 280 is smoother, but I just love the way that Kompressor whines. If you've still got a bit of a boy racer in you get the Kompressor.
That one on ebay might be an Elegance model, but it certainly has the full list of options, maybe just missing the HID Xenons which I have. If you got that at the right price, perhaps Olly could fit you up with the Bilstein lowering kit. Is it called a B12 kit Olly?

Have a banana for when you get it! :bannana:

 

[sgtbob]

Im slightly worried about the mpg figures being quoted here! Ive never got 400 miles out of a tank ever in my c230K. Even when i drove to scotland, in 'W' mode, and did about 65 - 70 all the way there on the inside lane, only managed about 330 miles to a tank. Normally average about 290 - 300 (at a push) with a mix of town driving and short runs i.e. Liverpool/Manchester etc. When caning it in 'S' mode i can barely get 240 out of it? (btw its got a new MAF and new Cat and new throttle actuator so it cant be any of those affecting it?!)

Rob.

 

[BlackC55]

Is it a genuine CAT and MAF?

 

[Adam230K]

Just to calrify, the 230K is actually slightly quicker than the 280, both straight six and v6.

The reason i was suggesting you get a facelift is because mercedes effectively 'iron-out' any bugs the car has in a facelifted version. They are supposed to be slightly better built and respond better to tuning because they dont have the electromagnetic clutch and a re-writeable EPROM (Engine management chip in the ECU which tuners modify when 'chipping').

But on saying that, i have the pre-facelift and i dont have a single spot of rust (yes i definately mean it, see my gallery), and every single facelift i've ever seen is plagued with rust.

Its your choice mate, but i'll tell you now you wont regret buying it. Its a step up from your golf, and its exciting to drive because of its low down torque, and if you were to get a manual, you'd possibly be buying one of Mercedes' best 'drivers' cars IMO.

 

[flango]

Just to calrify, the 230K is actually slightly quicker than the 280, both straight six and v6.

The reason i was suggesting you get a facelift is because mercedes effectively 'iron-out' any bugs the car has in a facelifted version. They are supposed to be slightly better built and respond better to tuning because they dont have the electromagnetic clutch and a re-writeable EPROM (Engine management chip in the ECU which tuners modify when 'chipping').

But on saying that, i have the pre-facelift and i dont have a single spot of rust (yes i definately mean it, see my gallery), and every single facelift i've ever seen is plagued with rust.

Its your choice mate, but i'll tell you now you wont regret buying it. Its a step up from your golf, and its exciting to drive because of its low down torque, and if you were to get a manual, you'd possibly be buying one of Mercedes' best 'drivers' cars IMO.

Agreed Not sure when they facelifted the w202 but if its like the W208 then MB changed paint spec at the facelift which is rumoured to have caused all the rust issues on the shell. The pre facelift W208's I tested before buying mine on average had far better paint than the facelifts.

Don't get me wrong there were a couple of blemishes on the arches and boot of mine but it is 12 years old, but again nothing £240 didn't sort out in the bodyshop.

230K engine low down torque is great bit harsh on higher revs but as Adamm230k, W202 & W208 the best drivers car by far and probably the W202 has the edge, but we wanted a coupe hence the W208 but don't regret it :bannana:

 

[DITTRICH]

I have owned a w202 c230k for over 8 years and 102,000 miles. It's now on 118,000. As far as having fun goes, it is great. Basically, you put your foot into the carpet, the kickdown switch ensures it kicks down 2 gears at once, and off it goes...
In my experience based on my car and this forum...

Economy
1 Mileage - worst in town driving (winter/heating/startstop/LONDON) 21mpg
2 Mileage - best on motorway (summer/tires well inflated/no aircon/driving70mph) 37mpg
3 Mileage - coming down the Grand St Bernard Pass on engine braking to genoa 42mpg

Things that go wrong...
1 MAF - mass air flow sensor - a heated element that is cooled by the incoming air and reports back to the ECU. These tend to degrade over time - manifested as lagging response to right foot, harsh/weird auto gear changes. Some people also experienced oil getting onto the MAF and degrading its performance. There are threads on this subject as there are various causes. Some people try to clean their MAF to delay the replacement, others buy from ebay.
2 Single windscreen wiper mechanism - must be regularly silicone greased to avoid expensive replacement - symptoms appear slowly as wiper gets slower and occasionally hesitates. Sometimes its the motor which is cheaper but if the mechanism is shagged a new unit costs £600 IIRC. Some people who are handy in a machine shop have self repaired the mechanism.
3 Lambda sensor aka o2 sensor in the exhaust - degrades over time resulting in worsening fuel economy. Some people say they should be replaced on high mileage cars.
4 Catalytic converter - an expensive item on many cars and this is no exception. There were some scare stories a few years back about the catalytic ceramic matrix breaking up and being sucked back into the engine causing wear. personally I never did understand how precisely this could happen. Sometimes exhausts can be a little noisy but I believe there is a little heat shield sitting in front of the matrix which can get dislodged and rattle about. My "cat" is still okay at 118,000.
5 Rust - provided you inspect properly - not a problem - my car has only one little spot on a rear door.
6 Brake light switch - breaks - causes ASR/ABS (I forget which) light to come on. Most times its the switch - costs £20 from memory.
7 The gear box is supposed to be sealed for life but generally I think people advocate changing the ATF every so often (50,000?) Mine's been changed once and I may do it again.
8 Some people have had the throttle actuator changed £600 . Me not yet. Sometimes a good clean is enough. I'm not a technical expert.

Things that you have to live with...
1 Tires - if you have staggered 17" AMG wheels like me (17/225/45front 17/245/40rear then continentals sport contact 2's are expensive £600 a set. Sport contacts are hard wearing and I get around 30,000 out of mine - some people get less - driving style and all that. Fronts always wear at the outside shoulders first.
2 At very high speeds the 4 cylinder engine sounds unrefined. However, most of the noise is outside the car so for me not an issue.

Reliability
1 The engine and kompressor are bulletproof in my experience.

Servicing...
1 Some dealers offer a 6+ year old servicing/labour parts deal with the credit crunch and all that. Other people use their favourite independent specialist.
2 Batteries last a long time but when replacing always go to a COMMERCIAL dealer not a RETAIL dealer where they are alot cheaper.

This forum:-
1 The best source for help, advice and opinions.

My overall take is that older cars will require sooner or later some electrical bits to be replaced. There are quite a few sensors feeding information back to the ECU so isolating the cause of a problem can be a problem in itself. It's not a comment on the car itself, more on the disadvantages of packing lots of electronics into cars and expecting them to work flawlessly for 10 years.

I have toyed with the idea of "modding" the engine but the best advice is to buy a bigger engine in the first place.

w202 c230k's are rare beasts these days so look carefully.

Best Regards

Les

 

[DITTRICH]

Im slightly worried about the mpg figures being quoted here! Ive never got 400 miles out of a tank ever in my c230K. Even when i drove to scotland, in 'W' mode, and did about 65 - 70 all the way there on the inside lane, only managed about 330 miles to a tank. Normally average about 290 - 300 (at a push) with a mix of town driving and short runs i.e. Liverpool/Manchester etc. When caning it in 'S' mode i can barely get 240 out of it? (btw its got a new MAF and new Cat and new throttle actuator so it cant be any of those affecting it?!)

Rob.

If we assume 55 litres and 330 miles to the yellow light then 6 miles per litre is LOW x4.54609 = 27.3mpg. It should be around 35mpg. Fuel efficiency is a funny thing as it depends on so many variables - driving style, aircon/heating use, speed, amount of speeding up/acceleration, tire inflation, load carried, direction of the wind. I just yesterday had my MAF changed, today it's the o2 sensor in the exhaust. I have experienced a slight reduction of mpg over the last 30,000 miles or so. Basically I am gradually changing the sensors which feed info back to the ECU. Hopefully I will cure the problem. You need to start keeping accurate records. Always fill to the very brim of the tank, from the same pump/station, reset the mileometer and note the miles on the petrol receipt. Keep tires pumped up, keep notes on driving conditions/journeys/aircon use. It is a pain and rather geeky but if I was driving like a nun on the motorway and only getting 27.3mpg I'd be worried. Sorry to be negative but I think there is something that needs to be cured - hopefully its just your twitchy right foot?
Les

 

[sgtbob]

Yes they are both genuine (MAF and CAT). When i got the car, after about 4 months i had to replace the throttle actuator (MB Warrington). The car was fine, then the CAT started to rattle so had that replaced, and had the car put on a rolling road. Identified that the MAF needed replacing so had that done too. Car runs fine now. But as i said before i have never got 400 miles out of a tank; even driving with a feather light foot. So possibly it might be the o2 sensor? Is that what you are saying? How much are they to replace?

Sorry to O/P for hijacking this thread btw!!

 

[vijilants]

Also if you are unfamiliar with the W202, always check the aircon system to make sure that it works. When the red light is OFF it means that the aircon is on.

That old excuse of " it needs a top up" means the "condenser is leaking and and I didn't want to spend £200 plus on getting it sorted".

The condenser is the weak point on the system as it rots at the bottom due to debris build up.

Also balljoints tend to go at about 60,000 but cheap to replace.

Check to see if the auto box has had an old change - again approx £150 job.

On the facelift model, check to see if it is being sold with two keys. A replacement key is approx £200 so again another bargaining point.

 

[DITTRICH]

Yes they are both genuine (MAF and CAT). When i got the car, after about 4 months i had to replace the throttle actuator (MB Warrington). The car was fine, then the CAT started to rattle so had that replaced, and had the car put on a rolling road. Identified that the MAF needed replacing so had that done too. Car runs fine now. But as i said before i have never got 400 miles out of a tank; even driving with a feather light foot. So possibly it might be the o2 sensor? Is that what you are saying? How much are they to replace?

Sorry to O/P for hijacking this thread btw!!

Firstly, i have to confess I'm not an expert. Secondly, the experts to whom i have shown the car haven't solved my problems. The problems were that my fuel consumption seemed to be increasing over time (albeit at a very low rate). Secondly, the car used to idle at 700rpm on start from cold unless the outside temperature was very low - ie <5 degrees celsuis (say). Now it starts at 1,200rpm regardless of the outside temperature. Since cars use alot of fuel at startup to heat up the exhaust and catalytic converter in a mile or two, this 1,200rpm business started to bug me. Note that after the engine warms up the car would start at 750rpm straight off. Also, the engine temperature gauge seemed to climb to 85 slower than before. The car has been plugged onto the computer and symptoms observed but no-one could say what was going on as nothing had "failed" yet something had "changed". A new throttle actuator was fitted but at 24.5 degrees celsius ambient temperature, the car still started at 1,200rpm. I told them to take it off. I also saw some remarks from black c55 about o2 sensors and there are many comments about MAFs on the forum. So after 118,000 miles on the original MAF and original o2 sensor, I had them replaced yesterday. The MAF (if my understanding is correct) helps the ECU to decide how much air is getting into the engine. The o2 sensor helps the ECU to decide how much oxygen is left in the exhaust. Since the ECU is deciding the car needs to start at 1,200rpm, here are a number of possibilities...
1 Duff sensor data getting to the ECU (inputs)
2 Duff ECU (processing)
3 Duff equipment not properly carrying out the ECU instructions (outputs)
Well this is my view of the situation anyway.
So after the dealership I consulted failed to cure the problem I decided to embark on a little programme of staged replacement of parts, firstly those parts sending data to the ECU. So now I let things settle down for 2 weeks and see if I notice any differences. If the temperature still climbs lowly, I will have the radiator thermostat gubbins checked - it is supposed to allow circulation through the radiator only after the engine warms up - supposed to get the engine up to operating temperature quicker if it is not being cooled.
But it really is frustrating and I feel a bit like a blind man fumbling around.
So what I am trying to say - not very well - is that it is very difficult for even supposedly experienced people to understand what is going on. There are just too many bits involved to make identifying the duff bit easy.
If this doesn't cure the problem then the next candidate will be the coolant sensor/radiator thermostat. I will check the invoice and report back tomorrow.
Les