W203 C320 opinions
 

There's a sport wagon version I'm peeking at. Should I be afraid?

I rode in a W203 a couple of years ago. Even with the nav off, the multifunction display in the gauge cluster listed cross streets as they approached. That feature alone would be worth the price of admission.

I know a couple of W203 owners who've had no problems. I've heard horror stories from W211 owners.

Sixto
87 300D

Having had both an early and late version of the W203 (along with a w202 and having driven a w204 on many occasions) I can say they're fantastic cars, but the early versions lose a lot of ground when compared to the last of the breed. The '01 C320 I had was quite nice (one owner, sub 100k mi) but it already appeared as if it was going to begin breeding costly little issues (power windows, rear defrost, climate control issues.) I'm much happier with my '06 C280 4matic in every regard.

If the C320 you're looking at has a good history it shouldn't let you down, but beware electrical issues.

A W203 sedan is still near the top of the list for my daughter, still haven't gotten around to any serious shopping.

The issue he has is with the power seats. Apparently they drain the battery if the car sits for more than 3-4 days. The stealership quoted him a ridiculous amount to replace the control modules, so he just leaves them disconnected unless he needs to adjust the seat. I probably would have done the same thing if I were him. Other than that a like clockwork service history along with some other good repairs.

Sounds like a pretty safe bet. And, it's the appealing sport wagon variant; it's clearly subjective, but I think the sedan styling looks kinda cheap and/or chick car-ish. You should go for it.

People said the same thing about the Miata. Will I be shopping for man purses next?

It just seems that outside the AMGs the C320 would be the best motor to have in that car.

The M112 is fairly bulletproof. The CPS likes to go out and leave you stranded. Theres also a little breather cover that likes to leak as well.



Theres a DIY on one of the other forums on how to jumper some wires going to the seat module to make them only operate when the key is on, and prevent the battery from going flat.

What year is this C Class? The place where we purchased ours from trys to sell 05 and newer and they only recommend 2005-2007. From 01-04 there have been too many issues. Not too many of the wagon ones out there because I think more people are going for E Class ones. More information please.

The guy was shilling the auction and I sort of called him on it via voicemail and he didn't return my call. Go figure.

I would up buying another wagon anyway, and I love it. I don't dare post it here though. A little hint though: the first syllable of the make sounds like someone is vomiting, and the second would be someone's reaction to vomit. :D

What does it mean to shill an auction? I'm totally in the dark about how these auctions work or how people game the system.

He was getting people to fake bid right up to his reserve.

I'm sure that happens on ebay a lot.

It does, but ebay has some pretty sophisticated systems and can generally figure it out by tracing IP addresses of bidders. If there happens to be several bids from people right in the same city/area as the auction seller, they check into it further.

I'm not above swamp yankee/redneck engineering so it sounds like a good candidate for a simple on/off switch between the seats and the power source. Although if you're going to sell it that's probably not the ideal solution, as a driver that's another matter.