being a long-time diesel user (have two diesel mercedes and make my own fuel), my neighbor has woo'd my wife with their 2002 C320 wagon that they want to sell to us. It is in perfect shape and has about 50K miles on it....asking $10K.

I'm really not looking forward to the 16-18mpgs at $3.25/gal (especially as compared to my 25mpg at $1.00/gal) but the ride is nice, and it seems like it would be a reliable car that would make my wife VERY happy.

So my questions are:
- is this a decent and reliable model (couldn't find any chronic complaints about it in the forums)?
- does $10K sound in the right ball park?
- am I crazy?

Thanks in advance -Harv

Sounds like a decent price to me!

__________________
Current cars:
2000 ML55 AMG, 174k miles
2003 C240 T-Modell, 202k miles
1995 S320, 207k Miles

At this stage of my life it might be kind of fun to buy and drive a pre-owned C-Class wagon - especially if it had 4-matic (if MB even puts it in a C Class wagon). Depending on what your financial situations and goals are, would be my chief considerations were I you.

When I was in my mid-20s thirty + years ago I paid almost $11K cash for a new Chevy Corvette. It wasn't very smart to spend that much money on a fun car at the time - but you live, learn, and try to have some fun is how I see it.

This ain't the practice round.

good point about financial situation....my wife is a teacher and I work for a municipal gov't....we don't make a lot of money. We don't live from pay-check to pay-check but we're not too far from that.

So, what can I expect in annual maintenance/repair costs for these cars? Am I going to pay for the car several times over, over the life of a car? Or are they generally fairly stable. Simply posed: are these cars expensive to maintain?

thx -harv

I'm still trying to figure out annual cost to own/maintain for this car.

I figured out that I'll spend about $3,000 in fuel costs. Where does one go to see some averages as far as costs to maintain and repair on an annual basis. There must be some numbers out there for that.

thx -Harv

This past December I paid about $8500 for a 2003 C320 4-matic sedan with 98k miles on it. I'd say $10k for 50k miles is a decent deal.

I have put about 6500 miles on it in 3.5 months and I love the car. I commute 60 miles a day and we drove it from Chicago to Florida this winter. I am not sure how the wagon is but the sedan has a smaller fuel tank and a large fuel gauge which means that you can watch the needle move. I'm not sure how cold the winter is there but I was getting about 23 mpg over the last few months. We have had a slight warm up in the last week and I have been getting 25-26 mpg.

The V6 has plenty of torque and the 4-matic is very nice. I am trying to think of something negative to say about it but I really can't think of anything. I guess that maybe I wish I would have looked more at the E-class (more room) but even driving 1300 miles from Chicago-Florida it didn't feel cramped (granted I had a roof rack).

FWIW, I traded in my 2007 Saab 9-3 with about 35k miles for this car. The dealer thought I was crazy (he still took my money any way) and if I had to do it again I would not hesitate. It's a very good car.

I would rather have the C wagon than the Saab too. Excellent move!


To the OP:
I would do the deal - even if you feel you are stretching it a bit financially.

My rationale is this: It makes good sense to have a very dependable vehicle in-the-family for your immediate use. You just can't keep the wife - or yourself happy - when you always seem to have ongoing project/undependable cars to have to try and depend on.

An MB wagon has cache' to me these days. It has the utility aspect to it, and your wife already has fallen in love with it. Another huge positive is that it's history is known (your neighbor) and it has somewhat low miles on it at 50K.

I'd do the deal - you have to have something you can depend on to drive 365 a year.