Need Advice Choosing Mercedes to Buy - CLK
 

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:

http://img41.imageshack.us/img41/1478/126f12.jpg

http://img41.imageshack.us/img41/5759/150a12.jpg

http://img41.imageshack.us/img41/776...hc0ejlllzv.jpg

Reading this post only makes me wish that you could buy a clk 230K in the US....w/6speed! That's a fun city car.

A clk 200k likely gets better fuel economy than a 230K. Expect 20ish mpg city from the 230K. That's what my 1.8L C230K gets in the city. I'd say look at the c class as well, maybe a later year, less miles, same price? CLK is nicer ride though.

The cabrio top operation may have issues over time, and some issues are a bit too complex to troubleshoot as a DIY...and expensive at times. This is just from experience.

The only other issue with these models is LED display failure on the gauge cluster...specifically the gear selector/clock/outside temp displays. The ribbon cable deteriorates over time and LED segments start to disappear. Again, not an at-home fix.

Other than that, a mostly reliable car.

Thank you guys for your imput. It's greatly appreciated.