I have an opportunity to buy a '97 C230 (built in late 1996) with only about 42k miles on it from my mother's elderly friend who's done all scheduled service. She lives in Arizona and has garaged the car in those hot summers. Consumer Reports and Edmunds both recommend this used car, but some posts on this site talk of disaster and expensive repairs, especially the transmission. All opinions welcome.

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Jon S.
1979 450 SL

I bought one for my wife and she loves the car. I love driving it also.We havent had any major problems.I have had light bulb failures which is really starting to anoy me.I change one then another then the same one again.every couple of months it seems like .I finally replaced the third brake lamp with an american bulb that i made fit. That cured that problem but now the lamp failure light on dash doesnt tell me when i have a lamp out.Thats my only bad thing i can say about it .

It's a great little car, but I would be concerned about the potential for transmission failure. The ideal thing would be the current owner has a transferable Starmark warranty that you could use to have a new transmission put in. If that's not the case, assuming you purchase it for about $10,000, the question is how much risk can you accept vs. the value and enjoyment of the car?

A new factory transmission would be over half the value of the car. I've heard of inexpensive, effective fixes, but the trick there would be to find a qualified and experienced independent mechanic to diagnose and fix it.

My transmission is original and works perfectly. With 110,000 miles at this point, if the transmission were to croak (if it were something other than a fairly minor expense with a reasonable assurance of fixing the problem) I'm not sure that I would pay to replace it.

Besides that, I think the W202 C230 is the safest, most luxurious economy car you could get for $10,000. It absolutely feels like a Mercedes Benz. It's solid but certainly not sporty. It's competent in all areas, though. The breaks and gas mileage are phenomenal.

Changing the oil, oil filter, air filter, climate control filter, windshield wiper, wiper fluid, and various light bulbs are easy. You could definitely do those things yourself.

My one beef about the C230 comes in really cold weather. Compared to a car with a larger engine, the 111 takes longer (about five minutes of easy driving) to warm up enough to make strong heat inside the car. In contrast, the AC cooling rocks.

Hope that helps. Good luck. Best regards,

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Michael

1988 300 SL (5 Speed)
1994 E320 Wagon
1997 C230