I'm looking at a 97 C320 with 51,000 miles on it. It is in pretty perfect condition, with all the maintenance records, etc. The asking price is $21,500. I think I want the car, but I hesitate because I had a '97 Saab and had to sell it losing pretty big money because I couldn't stand the maintenance costs. The dealer claims that Mercedes go 200,000 miles before dying.

Any opinions? Thank you so much for your time.

Claudia

Sorry all. I am so new that I wrote 320 instead of 230. It is a '97 C230.

Claudia

According to Kelly Blue Book, low book is $18,690 to high book, $23,100.

Go there yourself and fill in the blanks to see what it's worth. I did not enter any of the 'extras' that car my have. Link: http://www.kbb.com

No matter what, take it to a qualified technician for look over and visit Carfax.com for a title check. Link: http://www.carfax.com/ Good luck!

[Edited by JimF on 05-17-2001 at 11:56 AM]

__________________
Regards . . . . JimF
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'94 S500 Cpe

Visit my Mercedes Web Page

Don't allow your experience with Saab hold you back. My father has been a Saab fanatic since 1982. He has owned about a half dozen Saab 900s in the last 20 years. His most recent was a 1994 900SE. It was in the shop for weeks at a time and not all the prepares were covered by the warranty. The 94 was the first year of the new 900 and it was nothing but trouble. Saab succeeded in destroying a 20 year reputation in a matter of a year or two. My father sold me the car in 96 for a song, just to get rid of it. That was the car I drove before I bought my 98 C230. It gave me some trouble but not as much as it had my father. I gave it back to him when I bought my C230. The 900 had no re-sale value at all. I think the best offer I got was $7000 on a trade-in. That for a car with a sticker near $30,000 just 4 years earlier. The Jags from the early 90s had similar problems. They were terribly troublesome. I see 93 and 94 Jag XJs selling for $10,000 to $15,000. And those were $60,000 and $70,000 cars. Mercedes has no such problems. I have had no major problems with my 98 C230, even though I've only put about 25,000 miles on it. I've had a bad battery but not much else. That 97 C230 seems like a fair price. Don't let your experience with your Saab be a factor. Saabs of the mid to late 80s were great cars, now I don't think they compare to the reliability of a Mercedes. Although, a Saab 900s Turbo would tear my 98 C230 up. It might break down before it hits 100, but it would blow me away to 60

Btw, my father gave up on Saabs. He's on his second Lexus.

Haha, i agree with the Saab stories. I had a new '99 9-3 SE convertable. That car was honestly getting one thing or another repaired at least once a month. Never really mechanical problems, but more build-quality problems. I had the car for about 1.5 years, and it saw the dealership about 12 times. And the dealership was a pain to deal with. When i finally decided to get rid of the car to buy an XJR, the Jaguar dealership stated that the original dealer didn't even want to buy their own car back. So, I ended up dumping the thing elsewhere for a pretty sufficient loss (nobody buys them used, apparently).

I could go on about the saab's turbo+front wheel drive, too. PAH.

Saabs do not hold value. Just to drive the thing off the lot is literally a $10K depreciation.

I think you'd be much happier with a plung into a C230. It can't suck as bad as owning a saab.