I am fairly sure the deal for my MINI is going to fall through. (Long Story)
I am looking at a 2000 Mercedes C230 Kompressor. 90,000 miles, automatic (oh well) seems to be in very nice shape. Any opinions? Anyone autocross one? Lets here it guys. Its going to be a daily driver, autocross, everything kinda car.
Nice looking car but I really hate that motor. It sounds terrible and doesn't make all that much power. Fuel mileage is mediocre as well.
Everything I've heard about them is that its incredibly mediocre.
Not one of Mercedes' finest.
My dad has one and he likes it, but it's also the newest car he's ever owned. The motor makes pretty good power. Cruising on the highway is easy, passing is easy. Brakes are great. Ride is firm, and it holds the road well. It isn't a car you would want to autox or take to the track. Mileage is ~29-30 highway only, he gets about 27 with 75% highway driving.
Stuff to watch out for:rust, electrical gremlins. These cars rust surprisingly fast (drivers door, mid way up at the ridge, and in front of the rear wheels. For electrical gremlins, my dad's car has this problem that's causing the blower to turn off occasionally, but he hasn't figured out why yet.
All in all, its a nice, comfortable car. Cozy inside. If it's cheap, I wouldn't worry but I wouldn't spend alot of money for one.
my girlfriend has one and my experiences in it corroborate all of the above posts. torquey...ish, comfortable, dont spend your kids college fund to get it
Buddy of mine's chewed through 2 O2 sensors in 6 months, he started having electrical issues, tossed it aside and got an IS300, smart move...
I got to run an automatic 2000 model at one of the Mercedes Drive Events. They gave us a very tight autocross course to drive them in and it was horrible. You have to put the gas down before you enter the corner because the car decides when it will actually perform the action you request. It wasn't lag, it was drive by wire at it's finest.
Braking is immediate but everything else was delayed.
carguy123 wrote: I got to run an automatic 2000 model at one of the Mercedes Drive Events. They gave us a very tight autocross course to drive them in and it was horrible. You have to put the gas down before you enter the corner because the car decides when it will actually perform the action you request. It wasn't lag, it was drive by wire at it's finest. Braking is immediate but everything else was delayed.
I've felt that way everytime I've every tried autoxing somone else's car that was an automatic. Did you turn off the TCS?
Sweet spot on these is the 2005 with the 6-speed manual. I don't know much beyond that. I considered it because of it's fuel economy. No ownership experience.
In reply to sanyarcosean:
Had one new back in the day. Spent a TON of time at the dealer getting various electrical parts replaced. Was my first and last Benz.
Brotus7 wrote:carguy123 wrote: I got to run an automatic 2000 model at one of the Mercedes Drive Events. They gave us a very tight autocross course to drive them in and it was horrible. You have to put the gas down before you enter the corner because the car decides when it will actually perform the action you request. It wasn't lag, it was drive by wire at it's finest. Braking is immediate but everything else was delayed.I've felt that way everytime I've every tried autoxing somone else's car that was an automatic. Did you turn off the TCS?
They wouldn't let us touch any of the controls.
Around the time they came out, I was doing a lot of CCTV work for a Benz dealer in Clearwater FL. Got to be friends with the GM. I told him I really liked the car, asked for a price. He quoted mid 20's for it. He liked me a lot, I guess. When I asked about the manual, he almost laughed at me. Said it would have zero resale value, and would take months to get in. Well, he got fired, I lost interest, end of story. I wonder.....
We bought one of the coupes new in 04. My wife still loves it and plans on keeping it for 20 yrs. It's an auto of course, but being an 04 it got a new engine which is slightly smaller displacement, but same hp. With 72k miles we have had only small problems, both doors had to have the locking mech replaced because they had a problem with lack of lube causing the microswitch to go bonkers. Kind of expensive to replace, not a hard job but I didn't want to mess around with the air bags. Parts were only $125 but labor added up. Recently the thermostat started sticking so it triggered the check eng light. replaced that. On last service our good local Mercedes guy noted that the rear tranny mount had worn down enough to warrant replacing. Good support on the web, at MBorg and MBworld.
Car drives nice on the fwy, getting about 31mpg, driven cross country a couple of times. Lots of cargo room for trips to Lowes. Lastly I had my first track day at road atlanta in it, was great, had sticky Conti sports on it. My instructor drove a bmw and was impressed at how well it did. I have also autox it a couple of times and it does fine, just use the manual mode and it will stay in 2nd for the whole run. Kind of fun breaking the rear end loose in a mercedes.
My mech says that the man gear boxes for mercedes are not real strong, so probably would keep that in mind.
In the end I would say I like the car, it's handy and sporty enough for a daily driver, when I get serious about getting sporty I jump in my supercharged miata. One time we drove her merceds and my miata back from Robeling Road to Pensacola and got exactly the same gas mileage,
I saw one today.. being driven by a complete arse.. lots of swaping lanes in an attempt to go nowhere fast. Usually that "award" goes to the local BMW drivers
I've had one for a few years. I've had several Mercedes auto's. The one I have is a 4 door automatic. It's not the most comfortable one that I have had, but it is a lot of fun to drive, very peppy for a little car, safe and good on fuel. I used it for my daily driver and put 50+ miles on it a day. It has 156k miles on it. I haven't had too many problems with it. I have a CLK 320 2 door. It's a plusher interior and a beauty great on fuel also. I also have a E320 4 door and I never really liked the body style, but it is one of the most comfortable smoother rides of all. I also have a 560 SEC right hand drive 2 door. So much for a California girl living in Texas!
Not sure this is much different from most other newer cars, but I recall a couple incidents with those cars in the last couple years where the car (along with the driver) completely burned after crashing into something fairly hard.
Pretty low. My sister has one, earlier coupe (2000 or 2001) auto, nav, panaramic moonroof, feels like a dog, supercharger doesn't engage till you're almost pedal to the floor and even then there's a long delay and handling isn't what I'd describe as sporty. Engine sounds rough even at idle. Many issues with the moonroof, washer fluid resevoir, random electrical gremlins tripping lights. Flimsy glovebox while lockable easily opens, cupholder, while cool doesn't function correctly most the time. Nav no longer works.
Recently had an issue with a sensor tripping the coolant light. Coolant level was fine, did a flush anyway as it was about due and light was still triggering. Turns out the coolant level and the tranny level sensors are tied together, one goes bad the other gets tripped. Believe sensor is $200-300 or live with the light. No way to check tranny fluid, there's no dipstick. Have to buy the Mercedes factory tool special dipstick for upwards of $70 or a third party maker for $30ish. No thanks.
sanyarcosean wrote: I am fairly sure the deal for my MINI is going to fall through. (Long Story) I am looking at a 2000 Mercedes C230 Kompressor. 90,000 miles, automatic (oh well) seems to be in very nice shape. Any opinions? Anyone autocross one? Lets here it guys. Its going to be a daily driver, autocross, everything kinda car.
My uncultured opinion is that the C280 Sport gives the same driving experience (possibly even better - less vibration) for less maintenance drama.
Not that there are particularly any problems I can think of, but Mercedes had to do things the weird way and put a clutch on the supercharger instead of a bypass valve. Plus, the sixes are just plain easy to deal with.
Zombie thread!~
Anybody have experience with the 6 speed hatchback version of these?
Total zombie thread, didn't even realize I had already posted in it and read everything again. My sis refreshed hers recently, new bilsteins all around, whole bunch of bushings and all the one time use bolts that go with it. For giggles she went to see what trade in would be, they offered her about the same as the parts she just bought and had me install. She'll probably keep hers, but I hate working on that thing and have told her never again.
Paging Curmudgeon.
IIRC, a few years ago he posted some info about these that would make anyone scared to even think about buying one. 
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