w202 - C230. As reliable as a w123 diesel?
 

I've heard mixed reviews on this car. I've owned a w124 with an M104 and felt it was fairly reliable, but the ASR system left me in limp home mode fairly often. Back when I drove w123s and non electronic w124 diesels, they were pretty much bullet proof reliable aside from fairly easy to solve fuel issues once in a while (filters, air in lines, etc).



Is the w202 C230 a decent car?

No. As mercedes cars have expanded from 4 to 15 or 20, everything got cheaper and now parts availability is a problem with cars 15 yrs old. Cup holders for 202s have been nla for years. What's next?

Reliability is ok to poor compared to a 123. More gadgets and electronics mean more things to break.

If you were to google w202 c230 lemon, you'd get more hits thanany 123.

They can be very reliable, but like any modern car, electronics leaves a lot more variability. I don't think they're considerably less reliable than a W123 diesel. A caveat there is some parts for the diesels are hard to find, whether it be original Mercedes or aftermarket. Quality injectors and turbos are two big ones. For the C230, the M111 engine is absolutely bulletproof and the 722.6 transmission is pretty solid.

W123 parts can be hard to find if you want new. W202 cupholders may be NLA from the dealer but they're inexpensive for aftermarket. The originals weren't particularly high quality to begin with, lots of manufacturers had crappy and/or over complicated cup holders in the 90s. W123s have issues with cracking dashes, broken air vents, failing window regulators, failing AC (W202 AC is far more reliable and colder!), oil cooler lines (also NLA from Mercedes but plenty of work arounds from people in owner's groups), rust, etc.

The fact is the newest W123 is 40 years old now. The newest W202 is 25 years old. Any old car will have issues. Avoid W202s with water damage, but that goes for most any modern car. Water can cause all sorts of havoc. If you want to buy an old car, you do best to buy the best example you can afford.

I just got my first "modern" Mercedes that I intended to actually try to make a reliable driving car, a 94 c280. If the car you are considering is a HFM motronic efi 94-97 car and it's got any codes for goofy things, first suggestion is replace the O2 sensors, plug wires and spark plugs. Not 100% sure but the m104 requires non resistor plugs not some fancy unobtainium modern plug. They're so easy to get to and cheap there's no reason to be worried about putting a 80,000 mi spark plug in it. That being said, No way id trusts it to drive across country as trouble free as a w123 or any mechanical diesel. I'd throw some tools a water pump and maybe a couple belts for good luck and drive aw123 anywhere.

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I’ve noticed two friends with W202 cars that have had very few problems. I was kind of surprised at first. One guy actually has two W202s. One is pre Daimler Chrysler and it is better than the post Daimler Chrysler.

I don’t think any of these cars can approach w123 reliability because they are designed in a fundamentally different way. A 123 can have multiple things fail on it but still get you home at night. They have this design philosophy where things fail in working mode like your vacuum goes out and you can’t shut off the car…so you get home. Or your heater pods fail and all you get is defrost heat. You see this in unmaintained 123s. You can neglect a 123 a long time before it leaves you stuck by design.

The W202 cars seem like any other modern car in that they have multiple single point of failure parts that will potentially leave you stuck. Like a bad crank or cam position sensor. If those single points go bad the engine stops running. For that reason among others I don’t think a 202 will ever approach 123 reliability…if reliability is defined as getting you home at night.

That being said I think the pre Daimler Chrysler W202 is a pretty solid car. It has some diseases but nothing that’s a show stopper.

I am replying to this because I’ve just made a deposit on a 1997 C280 to add to my garage. I look forward to tearing into it and seeing how good it is. I’ve been spoiled by my 123 and 126 diesels all these years so maybe I’m in for a big disappointment. Stay tuned.

ETA - I think the w123 being all mechanical contributes to the perceived reliability. Both electronic and mechanical systems fail. But when a mechanical 123 fails the problem can often be hears, seen or felt while operating the car. This leads to corrective action before the problem comes to a head. Then the operator feels the car is reliable even thought it indeed did fail. A more electronically governed vehicle like a 202 is not going to warn you. You’ll be stuck with a service engine light. The tells are not always screaming in your face like funny sounds or vibrations like we sense on an old mechanically governed system. Electrons have a way of silently stopping.

The M111 engine in the C230 is generally regarded as very durable, with a timing chain instead of a belt and relatively straightforward maintenance.