Is MB C220 a Lemon car?

[evolution9]

I'm planning to buy a C220 benz as my first european car. Please share your good and especially bad experience owning this car. Should i or shouldnt i buy this?

My second option is 96-98 BMW 320i.

Salamat

[redorange]

It really depends on the history of the car you are buying. How many Km does it have? Was it maintained properly? Lemon cars rarely run the whole model line and are normally just a few cars that were not made to standards.

[afrasay]

C220 and the models from 1995 to 2004 including the E class, sama mo na rin yun S class, are plague with electrical gremlins. Though easily fix with a new harness or replaced by an experienced electrician. C 220 has a M111 engine, 2.2 liter 16v double overhead cam which produces 148 HP and 210 N·m (155 ft·lbf) of torque. Kung napalitan na yun harness well and good, if not prepare to shell out 40 thou for an oem and less than 20 for replacement wirings. Symptoms to look for are hunting rpm and sudden engine shutdown. If you can get one a rock bottom price (around the 400thou range for the 96 model) go ahead. Otherwise know how the previous owner maintains it.

[afrasay]

Register at www.mbclub.ph. May mga may C class dun and you can ask them. Mababait mga tao dun.

[IJD180]

I agree with afrasay, german quality aint what it used to be. The luxury, exclusivity and image are still there but.........

As a rule, Dont expect european cars to be as reliable as japanese cars.

Expect them to breakdown more often than japanese ones even if they are mercedes and bmw. european cars also tend to have prematurely broken parts that normally wouldnt happen in japanese cars. like trim pieces, interior switches, dashboard lights, power window switch assemblys, power seats, sunroof electronics, rubber suspension parts, brake hydrovac,
Europarts are really expensive, so some owners make do with remedyo repairs before selling it.

If your really bent on buying one,
As a rule look for stock cars with all original parts and a casa (cats, europhil) service record history.
Plan to use it daily as euro cars tend to have more problems when they arent used.
Check also if its a gray market import or a locally released ones. Repair costs are higher for gray market when the check engine light comes on and you need a computerized diagnostic check up from those casa benz computers.

A lot of Out of casa independent benz mechanics have an attitude problem. know it all na mayabang and not that knowlegeable, so be careful.

check out lemonmb.com for more problems regarding the model ur interested in before buying.

good luck

[jaredpogi]

As a rule, Dont expect european cars to be as reliable as japanese cars.

Ooops, my experience is different. The major services done with my Benz are removal of non-stock performance parts installed by previous owner and some silly things in it, fuel-tank cleaning, brake overhaul. And all of these was due to the negligence of the previous owner. Until then, my Benz is no longer a shop buddy and it only visited the shop for periodic maintenance and replacement of worn-out parts. So this is an exception to the rule.

Again it may be true if you're referring to the younger generation of European cars. In the case of MB, those models that were no longer designed by Sacco and Breitschwerdt. No offense to the C-class owners in fact I would love to have a W203 as my second Benz and buy my favorite headache.

Too sad we are currently in the "dark" age of the euro car industry. Too many computers, too limited DIYs.