Looking to buy a Merc - advice sought please

[recardo]

Hi Folks,

sorry for the long post - lots of procrastinating before taking the plunge!!
I'm looking at buying my first Mercedes. I'm looking at C class saloon or estate and maybe an E class but think they might be a bit large.
I have two buying options: -
1. buy now with a £6k budget, (sell my current car in spring) or
2. trade in/ sell my current car and have a £12K budget.
I do approx 15K+ miles a year.
I'm also in the same boat as the chap that started this thread http://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/general-discussion/101505-changes-cars-what-do-panel-think.html where I use my car for business use, do approx 7K business miles and would be on the stingy HMRC 15p rate for a Mercedes diesel (above 2ltr) and same for a Mercedes petrol (1800 kompressor models).


so the questions I have are;
* for the £6K budget, I'm looking at older examples of W203 and W210 with close to or above 100K miles.
Are there additional running costs (above regular servicing, tyres & brakes etc) associated with higher mileage merc diesels?
* what is a real world mpg for c220 cdi, c320cdi, e220 cdi and c200k?
here are some of the older ones that I would consider;
Auto Trader UK - MERCEDES-BENZ C220 CDI Classic

2005/55 MERCEDES C320 CDI 3LT V6 AVANTGARDE SE SAT NAV on eBay (end time 03-Jan-11 21:10:48 GMT)

2005 Mercedes-Benz C 220 Estate 2148cc Diesel on eBay (end time 05-Jan-11 14:50:00 GMT)

for option 2, I have a couple of newer examples that are of interest;
Auto Trader UK - Mercedes-Benz C-Class Saloon 4-Door 2987 cc 3.0TD C320 CDI Avantgarde SE
Auto Trader UK - Mercedes-Benz C-Class Estate 5-Door 2148 cc 2.1TD C220 CDI Classic SE
Auto Trader UK - MERCEDES BENZ C CLASS 2148 cc C220 CDI SPORT EDITION AUTO

* I would expect that for the newer sub 50K miles cars, that running costs will be minimal, regular servicing and consumables (tyres, possible brakes and not much else?) is this a fair assumption?

* How do the C180K, C200K and C230K petrols compare in mpg? My commute is mostly motorway, and I do a mix of town and duel carrigeway motoring too, currently get 44mpg on a 2.0 jap diesel and expecting to get slightly less with a Merc diesel, not sure how the petrols compare. I expect both the petrols and larger diesel engines suffer most in town / stop start town motoring.

* What would a C320 cdi be like to run? - its the one that appeals most!

* Has anyone had any dealings with Car Deal Warehouse's Mercedes speacialists in Edinburgh before?

* whats the general consensus -
buy Older more miles v's buy newer lower miles? (advantages either way? running costs? depreciation? resale/disposal after 2 years?)


thanks in advance, again - apologies for all the questions

 

[GP801]

My personal experience would say avoid an early W203. The electrics were dodgy. Ours needed approx £6000 in warranty repairs in the first 3 years and I have heard similar stories from others. The post facelift ones were vastly better so Id go for one of those.
Our CLK200K ( same engine as in c-class) does 34mpg general use up to 40-42 on motorway runs according to the computer. Diesels will do more but you need to do the maths to see if worth paying the extra for a diesel.

 

[Sonny Burnett]

My personal experience would say avoid an early W203. The electrics were dodgy. Ours needed approx £6000 in warranty repairs in the first 3 years and I have heard similar stories from others. The post facelift ones were vastly better so Id go for one of those.
Our CLK200K ( same engine as in c-class) does 34mpg general use up to 40-42 on motorway runs according to the computer. Diesels will do more but you need to do the maths to see if worth paying the extra for a diesel.

my pre facelift...203 is flawless but id go for a bigger engine V6 just because its more powerful and a lot smoother.. win win situation..

 

[jaymanek]

I would go for the 320 CDI, it will give you similar economy to the petrols, if not better and residuals will be stronger.

 

[markjay]

My personal experience would say avoid an early W203. The electrics were dodgy. Ours needed approx £6000 in warranty repairs in the first 3 years and I have heard similar stories from others. The post facelift ones were vastly better so Id go for one of those.
Our CLK200K ( same engine as in c-class) does 34mpg general use up to 40-42 on motorway runs according to the computer. Diesels will do more but you need to do the maths to see if worth paying the extra for a diesel.

My post-facelift W203 is now 4 years old and covered 35k miles, apart from service items the only fault so far is the Front Passenger Seat Occupancy Sensor, which I understand is a common fault... so based on my experience i would say go for the post facelift.

 

[Smatt]

I can vouch for (late pre-facelift) C230K
Av mpg with not hanging around commute driving =30-33mpg. Upto 45mpg long distance cruises.
No major problems after 7yrs

 

[recardo]

I can vouch for (late pre-facelift) C230K
Av mpg with not hanging around commute driving =30-33mpg. Upto 45mpg long distance cruises.
No major problems after 7yrs

thanks Smatt, good to hear the petrols arent as thirsty as I first thought!

 

[recardo]

I would go for the 320 CDI, it will give you similar economy to the petrols, if not better and residuals will be stronger.

thanks Jay! whats a realistic mpg figure for the 320 cdi?

 

[kwakdonut]

My I6 E320 averages around 40mpg so I would expect about the same from a V6 C320. You might even see high-40's at legal speeds on the motorway.

 

[Sonny Burnett]

My I6 E320 averages around 40mpg so I would expect about the same from a V6 C320. You might even see high-40's at legal speeds on the motorway.

yea very true because of the weight difference the E weighs a lot more than the C..

 

[kwakdonut]

yea very true because of the weight difference the E weighs a lot more than the C..

And from what I've heard, the V6 engine is slightly thirstier than the I6. So between the two different cars, the economy, I would expect, would be very similar

 

[Sonny Burnett]

And from what I've heard, the V6 engine is slightly thirstier than the I6. So between the two different cars, the economy, I would expect, would be very similar

yea i can see it i have a 203 240 v6 pre update and a 210 240 v6 update.. and my 210 does 32-32 mpg on motorway but the 203 does near the 35-37 mpg mark... but to be completly honest mpg is nothing i worry about.. i just buy mercedes i know i can insure, i wanted a e320 but i was 20 at the time and it was a no go..

 

[recardo]

just to update an old thread, I ended up with a S203 C200 CDi Sport Edition

 

[rf065]

just to update an old thread, I ended up with a S203 C200 CDi Sport Edition

No you didn't, you ended up with a w203!

Russ

 

[recardo]

No you didn't, you ended up with a w203!

Russ

Just going by what "Mercedes Enthusiast" magazines model designation - from the estate road test they did recently, they said W is for saloon and S for estate.

its all letters and numbers to me!

 

[st4]

If its an estate the S203 designation is correct.

 

[recardo]

If its an estate the S203 designation is correct.

yep, its an estate