My first MB

[Blorezum]

Hello everybody and merry Christmas (if you believe in all that).

I currently own a BMW 320 e46 and I’m going to make the leap to a c55 saloon next year. I’ve already let a few nice examples slip through my fingers on autotrader this year and as far as I can tell Japanese imports are a no-no. Is there anything else I need to look out for?
Thanks in advance!
Ed

 

[Sweetooth]

Hi and welcome good luck with your search

 

[Deleted member 113659]

Welcome to MBClub. Looking forward to seeing what you opt for.

 

[SmartAmg]

Welcome.

 

[Germgh0st]

Welcome

 

[Grockel]

Good to see you here, why are Japanese imports a no-no?

 

[Blorezum]

Good to see you here, why are Japanese imports a no-no?

Hello Grockel.
From what I’ve read it costs a lot to change the navigation system (is it called command), the under seal will need doing and fog lights. I’ve seen a few nice examples around the £8/9000 mark which is about my budget but then all that work would add a lot of costs wouldn’t it?

 

[Eddy77]

A couple of things the jap imports. They should be rust free which is a HUGE benefit on a Mercedes from this era. Because this era of Mercedes rust like hell. Cars were galvanised from 2004 ish but the C55 straddles this period and a lot are rotten. Check carefully on any UK car!

Forget about Comand. It’s ancient technology that you would never use anyway. The fact it’s programmed to Japanese system is irrelevant. As the owner of a 2008 Mercedes with Comand I can assure you it is terrible and you will revert to using Waze on your phone. So it’s not an issue.

Finally, under sealing is not a big job to do and is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay cheaper than dealing with potential rust issues on a UK car. If a decent jap import came up, that would be my preference on this instance. The other benefit of jap cars is that generally they are very very well looked after whereas many UK cars will have fallen into disrepair and neglect.

The problem with jap cars is lack of meaningful service history, but overall I think they are worth a look.

 

[samoht]

Hello everybody and merry Christmas (if you believe in all that).

I currently own a BMW 320 e46 and I’m going to make the leap to a c55 saloon next year. I’ve already let a few nice examples slip through my fingers on autotrader this year and as far as I can tell Japanese imports are a no-no. Is there anything else I need to look out for?
Thanks in advance!
Ed

Welcome and Merry Christmas!

I'm ten days into C55 estate ownership, I love it! Long-time car enthusiast, first-time AMG owner here | New member introductions It's such a good car all around - high quality, comfortable, wieldy and the V8 is fabulous.

In terms of things to look out for, if you've not seen them yet I recommend
- 2007 C55 Estate, laundry list | Parts, Maintenance & Servicing
- https://forums.mbclub.co.uk/threads/pre-purchase-inspection-of-a-c55-near-southampton.267205/
both of which should give an idea of the range of things that can go wrong with a C55

I do recommend a pre-purchase inspection on these! MBS were great warning me off the first one I saw, £80 to save dropping £8k on a moneypit.

I was looking at getting a car imported from Japan, was looking at around £14-£15k on the road here - although I've certainly seen cars already in the country going for less. I was very tempted to go that route for the reasons mentioned above, especially rust. In the end I opted against it as a 2004/05 import wouldn't qualify for ULEZ, and although I don't drive into London much it seems that the Euro 4 level is likely to be the threshold for other similar schemes that are planned around the place, including here in Cambridge. A 2006/07 import would be ok, but they seem a lot rarer. However depending on where you're likely to drive, this may not matter to you much at all.

Having got a UK car with COMAND I'm now looking to replace the infotainment with something that supports Carplay - looking like £500 should cover it, including the fibre-optic audio adapter, maybe less.

There aren't too many of these cars around in good condition, but well worth the hunt - good luck, and keep us posted on what you're looking at / progress!

 

[Blorezum]

A couple of things the jap imports. They should be rust free which is a HUGE benefit on a Mercedes from this era. Because this era of Mercedes rust like hell. Cars were galvanised from 2004 ish but the C55 straddles this period and a lot are rotten. Check carefully on any UK car!

Forget about Comand. It’s ancient technology that you would never use anyway. The fact it’s programmed to Japanese system is irrelevant. As the owner of a 2008 Mercedes with Comand I can assure you it is terrible and you will revert to using Waze on your phone. So it’s not an issue.

Finally, under sealing is not a big job to do and is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay cheaper than dealing with potential rust issues on a UK car. If a decent jap import came up, that would be my preference on this instance. The other benefit of jap cars is that generally they are very very well looked after whereas many UK cars will have fallen into disrepair and neglect.

The problem with jap cars is lack of meaningful service history, but overall I think they are worth a look.

Wow! Thanks for all this info mate. I’d be looking at renting a garage from the council for it, as I’ve heard about the rust and also want to keep it as pristine as possible, it will be my only car.
Any idea about the fog light(s)?
Japanese imports do seem to be cheaper which is very appealing. Also, I read somewhere the radio may not work?

 

[Eddy77]

Can’t comment on the fog lights but surely wouldn’t be too expensive to switch over....?

My primary concern would be to find a solid rust free car. Everything else should be secondary to that. As members on here will tell you, trying to deal with rust on an early noughties Mercedes is a fools errand! It can be a never ending battle. Find a rust free one. Keep it garaged and you’ll be ok!

I suspect the radio won’t work but as noted above there are aftermarket solutions around that will help. Alternatively buy a second hand basic CD radio for a standard c class from eBay and it won’t cost much. Then use your phone for navigation. That’s how to keep the cost down and get basic radio.
Anyway, it’s a C55 so surely the engine is the soundtrack!!!!!! Enjoy your search!

 

[samoht]

You can stick an aftermarket rear foglight on any car cheaply, so that shouldn't be an obstacle. There's probably a neater way of doing it using the standard light clusters for bonus points.

True the radio will only pick up frequencies up to around 89Mhz, because that's the top of the frequency range that's used for radio in Japan. So you can either content yourself with Radio 2, fit a cheap frequency adapter to shift the band (wires in to the aerial feed), or play whatever online radio you like on your phone and feed it into the Aux input in the glovebox. Or replace the whole lot with an aftermarket solution as I'm looking to do anyway.