I have an opportunity to buy a 1996 C280 with 105k miles. It is owned by a second owner, it has all books and records, maintained by dealership.

Any opinions on this car?

I am used to 124 series and I am not famailiar with this series at all, other than possibly the engine.

Haasman

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'03 E320 Wagon-Sold
'95 E320 Wagon-Went to Ex
'93 190E 2.6-Wrecked
'91 300E-Went to Ex
'65 911 Coupe (#302580)

I look at W202's as 7/8th W124's.

I like them a lot.

1996 C280's have a 2.8 liter version of the M104 engine. I suppose I'd look for head gasket leaks.

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Paul S.

2001 E430, Bourdeaux Red, Oyster interior.
79,200 miles.

1973 280SE 4.5, 170,000 miles. 568 Signal Red, Black MB Tex. "The Red Baron".

It is a very mechanically sound car. M104 engine is a great engine with the exception of the potential headgasket leaks. 722.4 tranny is a very long-lived tranny. If it is in good condition and has all the records, you should consider it.

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Ali Al-Chalabi

2001 CLK55
1999 Dodge Ram 2500 Cummins Diesel
2002 Harley-Davidson Fatboy
Merlin Extralight w/ Campy Record

Yeah, that's right. It has the same transmission as Haasman and my 124.032.

In 1997 they went to the 5 speed transmission, which was very problematic, and wasn't completely updated until the latter half of 1999.

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Paul S.

2001 E430, Bourdeaux Red, Oyster interior.
79,200 miles.

1973 280SE 4.5, 170,000 miles. 568 Signal Red, Black MB Tex. "The Red Baron".

Is 96 post the disintegrating engine wiring harness era?

Sixto
95 S420
87 300SDL

Thanks for the comments

Haasman

__________________
'03 E320 Wagon-Sold
'95 E320 Wagon-Went to Ex
'93 190E 2.6-Wrecked
'91 300E-Went to Ex
'65 911 Coupe (#302580)

My '97 C230, w/ the 4-cyl engine, is fun and peppy to drive (absent the A/C; that does slow it down some -- but you can downshift on the tranny to compensate). At the same time, it has the traditional Benz qualities of solidity and safety.

In the C-Class color catalog I bought recently, one of the car magazines is quoted as saying that the C-Class "absolutely begs to be taken by the scruff of the neck and driven hard."

Your 6-cyl model should exhibit even more of this quality than my 4.

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* *
-- Paul W. (The Benzadmiral)
('03 Buick Park Avenue, charcoal/cream)
Formerly:
'97 C230, smoke silver/parchment; '86 420SEL, anthracite/light grey; '84 280CE (W123), dark blue/palomino

Nope. Best reason to pick the 96 over the 95.

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John Shellenberg
1998 C230 "Black Betty" 240K

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