May I ask what your budget is? The reason I say this is because if you are worried about a stiff ride then a W202 is not a car to consider. They ride firm, MPG is not that great and very small. Did you test drive any yet? I speak from experience and I use to commute with a W202 and it was 4 years of hell. I ended up trading in for a W203 and as a daily driver it fits the mold.

 

Budget is $5k. From what I've seen there's no lack of cars available in that price range. I read that early W203 car have some electrical problems and I'm not crazy about the styling. I've driven a W202 C280 and I liked how it rode, perhaps our definition of still is a bit different. My 330i has a full suspension (Koni/Eibach) poly control arm bushing, swaybars and 40 series tires. While it's a firm ride it by no means beats the crap out of you or rattles your fillings loose.

As far as MPGs are concerned, I was under the impression that they got 30+ on the highway ?

 

My 2000 c230k is averaging 21.96 in mixed driving. It is in excellent tune. Requires premium fuel- or gas mileage will suffer.

Supercharger is rated for 100,000 miles between rebuilds. Not an economy car by any means.

The normally-aspirated car gets much better mileage- on premium, but is slow.

 

Supercharger is rated for 100,000 miles between rebuilds. Not an economy car by any means.

So pretty much any Kompressor with over 100k on it is a ticking time bomb?

 

I have a 98 c230. For me its a good commuter car, though I dont put that many miles on it a week. Seats are firm, ride is firm but not harsh. I get around 26mpg in my normal driving which is probably about 40/60 with highway being the larger percent. Maintenance is ok too, the engine is fairly bulletproof and no supercharger to worry about. For sure its no performance car, but its ok for me right now. Eventually I'll upgrade to some sort of E class or better.

 

I'm happy to get anywhere near 20 mpg out of my Kompressor. My wife did not like it for commuting.

Are they a blast to drive? Absolutely. Economical commuter car? Not how I would describe it.

 

When we bought our 2000 C280 new, the choice was the C280 or the C230k. On paper they had the same power and performance, but in real life the C280 drove so much better than the C230k. It was no contest.

DelJ

 

If it helps, i have owned a 230 (without the K) and it was quite peppy on the go pedal without needing a supercharger.... so while I haven't driven a Kompressor, I'd suggest you don't necessarily need it.

 

Not a time bomb. But past that point you need to worry about failing bearings, and a failing clutch. There are a few companies that will rebuild it, including Canadian Supercharger.

You could start looking around for a used supercharger and then send it off for rebuild when the time comes.

They go out slowly, starting with a noisy rattling clutch.

Starting about 2000, there was a period where MBUSA didn't care about fuel economy, but instead paying CAFE fines of $28.9 million in 2007 and a record $30.3 million in 2006, Mercedes-Benz was fined only $6.8 million in 2008.
In 2009, MB paid only $2.9 million, but in 2010 had to pay $11.8 million as sales of the larger cars improved.

My point is that 30 mpg will not happen with a W202 unless you can import a diesel C250. Otherwise expect 22mpg from a supercharged car and 23mpg from a normally aspirated C230 or C220.

For further information, consult Fuel Economy.

 

I easily got 30 mpg in my 98 230. Drive the speed limit, use the cruise, make sure it's maintained.

 

Hi,
I've owned both and I can tell you if you choose W202 serie II (-97 to 00 year) the 230K has better mpg. And the supercharger is no issue.

Here's some tech info:
C230 - 1998 Mercedes-Benz C 230 specs review photo (since middle 1997 for North America U.S.)

C230K auto - 1997 Mercedes-Benz C 230 Kompressor automatic specs review photo (since June 1997 for Europe )

C230K manual - 1997 Mercedes-Benz C 230 Kompressor specs review photo (since June 1997 for Europe )

 

I have also had both the 98 c230 and now have a 99 c230k sport. I drive my kompressor daily about 60 miles and it has been very good to me. I also used to drive the 98 c230 almost 120 miles every day for 2 years. The c230 just kept going and going. I drove almost 30k miles in the first 10 months of owning it. I would recommend the c230 as a daily driver, but dont expect to get one with nothing wrong with it.

Common issues in both my C230 and C230k
1.A/C system has a mind of its own. Vaccuum system actuators etc
2. speed conductor plate needed to be replaced on both cars at about 90k like clock work. started hard shifting/late shifting.
3. The IR keys are a bitch if one dies, but you'll be damn sure no one will ever be stealing your car.

I have no complaints about either of my c230s. they start everytime and drive thousands of miles, always getting me where I need to go.

The only thing I can say is dont let someone tell you they are worth good or excellect kelly blue book value. Most have small problems or will need work.

EDIT: they are a blast to drive like melk stated above. I have been pretty hard on both of mine. I drive them because I am terribly hard on cars and I cant seem to kill them.

 

Our number one problem has also been the automatic climate control, especially with regard to AC operations. On warm days I just keep the temperature set to "Lo" and use the economy button to toggle the AC on and off. In other words, it is now a manual climate control. Automatic AC only works well after the care has been driven for 15 minutes or so, so it is worthless for short trips. I have spent a lot of money trying to fix this, but no more.

I'll look into replacing our speed conductor plate as there has been an occasional long shift. Thanks for the heads up.

DelJ

...

Common issues in both my C230 and C230k
1.A/C system has a mind of its own. Vaccuum system actuators etc
2. speed conductor plate needed to be replaced on both cars at about 90k like clock work. started hard shifting/late shifting.
3. The IR keys are a bitch if one dies, but you'll be damn sure no one will ever be stealing your car.

I have no complaints about either of my c230s. they start everytime and drive thousands of miles, always getting me where I need to go.

The only thing I can say is dont let someone tell you they are worth good or excellect kelly blue book value. Most have small problems or will need work.

EDIT: they are a blast to drive like melk stated above. I have been pretty hard on both of mine. I drive them because I am terribly hard on cars and I cant seem to kill them.

 

Thank you all for the replys! After reading them and elsewhere online, I've decided that while the C230k is a pretty damn cool car, a C230 would be the better choice for me. The last thing I need is another 'performance' car.

How prevalent is the Speed Conductor Plate issue? Is it something that will eventually fail and I should plan on replacing or is it more of a crapshoot, some of them fail and some don't ?

 

My speed conductor plate is still original in my 2000 C280 at ~150,000 miles. I thought that I had funny shifting recently, but it turned out that the S/W switch by the shifter was moved to W. So, my plate is still good as new.

Could have been a problem with earlier model years.

DelJ

...How prevalent is the Speed Conductor Plate issue? Is it something that will eventually fail and I should plan on replacing or is it more of a crapshoot, some of them fail and some don't ?

 

I have a 04 c230 kompressor coupe. I am averaging 33 mpg driving to work, which is 45 miles one way. Most of it is Highway.

 

Wrong forum. This forum is for the previous C-class model.

DelJ

 

I have heard that the conductor plate is a common problem. I think the transmission fluid from the transmission valve begins to leak and whicks up the speed conductor connectors and causes shorts in the speed conductor module.

I think its advised to check out the transmission seal and the conductor plate anyway and maybe ask about the transmission valve which can leak.

I am in no way an expert, but I have see these topics be pretty common. Overall I love my w202s