2003 C-Class Pricing

Anyone heard any news about pricing levels for the '03 MY? I have a new C 230 Sport Coupe on order, however I'm curious how big a check I'll need to write.

I've heard two stories... 1. We're going to get hammered with a large increase because of the weak dolar/strong euro or... 2. Not much movement from last year because MB wants to keep the 230 Kompressor a reasonalbly priced entry point to attract customers to the MB family who then might trade up to a more expensive model in a few years.

Car is being built as we speak and should show up in Chicago mid August, but I'd love some advanced info if anyone has heard anything solid.

You sure hit a hot button with me on this. Please let me know what comes of your pricing issue.

Here goes. In June 2000, the new C Class was introduced in Germany. I happen to be in Germany then and drove one with a six speed. I came home and my Star magazine had just come in and they were saying the price would be less than $30,000 and the six speed would be available in the US. Between that time and September, when the car was introduced in the US, the DMark (pre Euro) went soft and the dollar was stronger in Germany than it had been in years.

In those two months of SIGNIFICANTLY strengthening dollar I was waiting for the C Class price. Once the price was established, it was $29,995. I was livid. The dollar had strengthened significantly, but they did not decrease the price.

The reason I got from them was, well what if the dollar loses strength? They were indicating to me that if the dollar lost strength, the price would stay the same. So, now it's time to see if that's what they will do.

BTW. I am really surprised that you had to place an order not knowing the price of the car. I ordered a new Benz in '96 and was in the process in 2000. Both times the price was on the contract when I ordered the car. Be careful and don't look the other way while they're counting money.

Good luck,

Thanks for your concern. I have to admit that it was a bit weird writing a $1000 deposit on a car where I only knew a discount off list, not the final price!

Looks as if I'll be ok this time. Last night I was surfing around on mbworld.org's fourm and found a few threads from customers who had actually seen '03's on the lot with window stickers. Also a dealer salesmen scanned in the new price sheet for the '03 c-class.

For the sport coupe the base price stays the same at $24,950. Only major changes were to option prices, but they really weren't
major, like $15 more for the automatic and a few bucks extra for metalic paint (neither of which I ordered). The largest change was the engine switch from 2.3l to 1.8. Still a Kompressor with 'similar' performance, but I'll still have to drive it before I'm convinced. I like the smaller displacement's net result of 10% increase in fuel econ, but there is something to be said about displacement for raw torque. Time (and a test drive) will tell.