A friend of mine living in Italy is looking to buy a Mercedes around the 2000 model year. She has asked me for my advice. The car will be used for short drives around town, basically a second car. She has a 7 seater now so space is not crucial regarding the new car. It has to be gas, manual transmission and no big engines.

I was thinking CLK, either coupe or cabrio. I really don't know how well these cars have been holding up or any of the trouble spots, so any advice is really appreciated. If there is a different model that anyone would like to recommend I'd love to hear about too.

I did a search and found some CLK 230 Kompressor Cabrios with a 6 Speed transmission. Would this be a good model? What years would be best? If this engine choice is not good than which one(s) would be best? Is the 200 Kompressor too weak and is the 320 not necessary?

Thank you in advance.


I found some pics of a UK spec car:

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1989 300CE Astralsilber/Schwarz
1992 300CE Schwarz/Schwarz