Unusual (colour) C43

[NW_Merc]

Nice car. The C43 AMG is a beautiful car, with tonnes of power and filled with luxury.

Price will need to be lowered to attract people to it. At the end of the day, the C43 is an older V-8 car with high maintence costs and a big fuel bill. People tend to stay away of these cars, and those with different (non standard) colours will be even harder to sell.

I hope an enthusiast buys this one. From the photos, the paintwork looks immaculate and the interior even cleaner!

So I guess because it's high performance, more things tend to go wrong?

 

[Will]

Not really, more that AMG specific parts will be more expensive (eg brakes), and that because it's a V8 it costs more to service (16 spark plugs!)

Will

 

[500E]

So I guess because it's high performance, more things tend to go wrong?

NW Merc - Well, the C43 is a more complex motor than the six and four cylinder mercedes, so yes. On our C43, the AMG brakes and pads came to nearly £1000 for the car and when we got it, it needed the ball joints done and a few other smaller things along with a full service. Ontop of that insurance and fuel is expensive for this car. You have to think about these things when looking at the bigger Merc V8's...People would rather buy the E320 CDI or 535D BMW that can give similar performance that the C43 or E500 even offers but with lower running costs.

I however, will always love the older Mercedes, they definatly don't build them like they used to!

 

[big x]

Does anyone know the number of W202 C43's sold in the UK ?
In general cars that sold in large numbers are cheaper to run because
of the availability of used spares and better coverage from specialists.
An M3 for example is well covered and not necessarily massively expensive to maintain when older.



adam

 

[Will]

Not that many, a few hundred at most - I'm sure I've read/seen the figure a few times, it's under 1000.

Certainly rare in any case, good example of yours - M3, they're nearly as common as MINIs in London!!

Will

 

[big x]

I prefer this one...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI....m=280186137457&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=018

Take the badges off and you have a great Q car.

On the other hand a cheaper alternative would be a BMW E39 540i sport with six speed manual and fit Bilstein PPS 9 coilovers.These have adjustable spring preload, compression and rebound settings making it a cheap M5 alternative.
OE brakes,control arms etc. can all be sourced cheap from the likes of ECP.

adam

 

[Seamster15]

I prefer this one...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI....m=280186137457&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=018

Take the badges off and you have a great Q car.

On the other hand a cheaper alternative would be a BMW E39 540i sport with six speed manual and fit Bilstein PPS 9 coilovers.These have adjustable spring preload, compression and rebound settings making it a cheap M5 alternative.
OE brakes,control arms etc. can all be sourced cheap from the likes of ECP.

adam

This one is understated but still has that two tone interior

 

[glojo]

I go along with the great majority and feel it is a very nice car, but the interoir is catering to a very acquired taste which might restrict its market.

Regards
John

 

[slippy]

Thats me then - I love the interior, beautiful looking car all round me thinks!!

 

[Londonscottish]

Does anyone know the number of W202 C43's sold in the UK ?

By memory it was something like 400 all in - of which something like three quarters were saloons. It took me a long time to find an estate.....

 

[C43AMG]

By memory it was something like 400 all in - of which something like three quarters were saloons. It took me a long time to find an estate.....

406 sales in the UK and 3,085 total build.

 

[gurpz]

Not many then and im guessing unfortunatly not all of the 406 are still on the road

 

[rubystone]

What??..even with the nice miles showing on the clock?

.....so what would this car be worth with 100k on the clock?

If you're in the market for one, you could do a lot worse than check out Sukh's late tiptronic car. I know quite a lot about this car having spoken at length to the previous owner about it after he sold it to Sukh. It is a good example generally. Only reason I didn't buy it from him is that I found a 66k mile Obsidian Black car that I paid a smidge over £6k for which had more life left in the wheels and tyres and totally immaculate bodywork with zero rust. Sukh's car was on ebay recently and still can be found on Pistonheads - silver 2000 car with 76,000 miles for £7495 but I know he'll take a chip on that.

The car that someone posted a link to (ebay one) has a reserve of over £9k....based on the fact that the same car is on Pistonheads for £9750

Incidentally, based on the fact that the C43 has a 24 valve head, does that mean it has 3 plugs per cylinder too?

 

[Howard]

2 plugs per cylinder , 3 valves ( 2 inlet , 1 exhaust ) ...

 

[Will]

If you're in the market for one, you could do a lot worse than check out Sukh's late tiptronic car. I know quite a lot about this car having spoken at length to the previous owner about it after he sold it to Sukh. It is a good example generally. Only reason I didn't buy it from him is that I found a 66k mile Obsidian Black car that I paid a smidge over £6k for which had more life left in the wheels and tyres and totally immaculate bodywork with zero rust. Sukh's car was on ebay recently and still can be found on Pistonheads - silver 2000 car with 76,000 miles for £7495 but I know he'll take a chip on that.

The car that someone posted a link to (ebay one) has a reserve of over £9k....based on the fact that the same car is on Pistonheads for £9750

Incidentally, based on the fact that the C43 has a 24 valve head, does that mean it has 3 plugs per cylinder too?

Hi Mark,

As Howard has already said, it's two plugs per cylinder (16), and they're not particularly cheap. About 60K mile interval IIRC so might be worth checking to see if they've been done on yours?

I'll email you shortly, sorry for the delay in replying.

Will