W203 C-Class Top Gear Magazine

[Martin]

Surprised to see the current C-Class in this months Top Gear magazine ranked only 127th out of 137 in their 2003 survey, 50 places below where the previous C-Class W202 was rated in previous years! What went wrong?
Top Gear Listings

 

[SEM]

Strange how i've not seen them review the new one yet, perhaps its based on the older problems and they could'nt be bothered. Got no probs with mine.

Autoexpress top 100 had it in the top 50..

 

[C240Sport97]

not a single Merc in the top 50 littered with BMWs!!!

Surprised to see the current C-Class in this months Top Gear magazine ranked only 127th out of 137 in their 2003 survey, 50 places below where the previous C-Class W202 was rated in previous years! What went wrong?
Top Gear Listings

 

[weebobster]

Hold on - im tired of all this negative bull!!

Check out Pammy's report!

Then rejoice that it had a STAR!

Then polish xxx

 

[Wadswick]

Top Gear Rating.

Unfortunately, I am not that surprised at the rating. My C270 CDI which is nearly 3 years old, has been a bit of a pain. Quite a bit of trouble with electronics, faulty error messages, faulty diesel fuel line, trim falling off, paintwork easily chips, dimming of rear view mirror faulty, cracked battery. Drives beautifully, albeit noisy for a MB on acceleration, but dreading the end of the warranty period!! Now new smell has started in car, not diesel based, but could be something to do with air conditioning, not sure yet, will need yet another visit to dealer. This was my first MB and my perception of the brand for technical competence and reliability together with rather rapid depreciation, has been somewhat shattered! If there is anyone who has experienced similar problems, will like to share info. This is my first visit to Forum, so hope this is the form!

 

[Robbo]

Now new smell has started in car, not diesel based, but could be something to do with air conditioning, not sure yet, will need yet another visit to dealer

Wadswick,

Sorry to hear about the problems you have been having. I believe this one may be easy to fix, The dealer will some anti bacterial disinfectant stuff into the aircon system air intake to kill off the bacterial growth which is causing the smell.

I thought the C270 depreciates relatively slowly. Compare that to a petrol engined version like mine (I bought mine s/h so the inital depreciation has helped me somewhat)

Cheers

 

[Chrisk]

Hi Robbo,
MB's used to hold their value, but they all seem to depreciate the same now, my wife had a C220CDI estate 2000Wreg, that was bought as a demo from Tallis in Bath, now MB of Bath, that lost 12K in 3 years and 36K miles, I had a '95 SL320 that lost 17K in 4years and 15K miles, now I have a ML which cost me over £32K + £2K of extras 6months ago (and I cant stand the ride anymore) and MB have made me an offer to buy it back for £28K (that makes depreciation of £1K/month so far. So at this rate, in 3 years time will that mean that I will owe them money for the priveledge of driving one of their products ?