The 1998 W202 benefits from being the last major version of the chassis line, so many of the niggles of the W202 chassis had been worked out. These later models seem to suffer from mostly from cosmetic issues due to the amount of plastic in the body panels and trim; saggy headliners and rattles.

On the mechanical side, yes the "sealed for life" transmission seems to suffer over time, being noisy and can be somewhat "clunky" in shifting; the multi-link suspension in the rear and the front tie rod assembly probably needs refreshing if it hasn't been already.