Buying a Mercedes C220?

puzzle factory

Thinking of buying one of theses shortly. Its going to be the 2001 diesel model.
I need yer advice and experience on them as I don't know anybody that had one before, thanks in advance.

Andrew33

A truly dreadful car, shockingly badly built, serious reliability issues. Put your money somewhere else.

CharlieCroker

Buddy had one. He kept it roughly 18 months. It very nearly bankrupted him cos he couldn't be without it. Got rid of it for a new model Citroën c5.

Of the top of my head, what went was:
Electrics including ecu
Turbo
Injectors
Front suspension
Sure there was plenty more but including depreciation I think it cost him over €15k in a year and a half

darragh o meara

Mercs of that era were built badly as Mercedes weregoing through a cost saving programme, eventually they figured out the quality was going downhill fast so they went back to the old ways again around 2004 ish.

Electrics
Corrosion
Engine problems injectors and injector pumps on diesel engines
Abs pumps can give problems
Gearboxes especially the auto box can give a lot of problems and do very unexpected things.
Etc
Etc
Etc

partyatmygaff

I've heard nothing but horror stories about the reliability of Mercs from that era.

A good alternative would be a B6 A4 with the 1.9TDI PD. Reliable, economical and more than enough power for a relatively small saloon.