Dinner with some of my ex-evening class (mature) students, conversation turned to my car fixing, which Taiwanese find bizarre since DIY maintenance is unheard of here.

Upshot was that, since I was "an expert" (you can achieve this status in Taiwan by, say, checking your oil, or being able to open the bonnet/hood.), they insisted I "have a look at" and test drive one of their cars, which had "some problem".

My protests that I knew nothing about new cars were brushed aside, since the car was "very old".

Turned out to be a 15 year old dealer-maintained Mercedes-Benz C 230 (I think) SportCoupé Kompressor, and a bit of a looker, as was its owner. The problem as described seemed to be it getting unsettled by truck wakes on the freeway, and the owner had a very big quote to fix from the dealer, though I doubt Mercedes dealers do any other kind of quote.

I was thinking maybe shocks and/or suspension bushings, but it seemed OK from a bounce test, for the very little that's worth. I don't like driving other peoples shiny cars, and once they'd seen me do it (havn't driven an automatic for a long time and tended to confuse the brakes with the non-existent clutch pedal. The brakes are VERY good.) they didn't either, so there was no high-speed freeway demonstration of the problem.

There MIGHT have been a bit more steering free-play than I'd expect, but what do I know?

I had a quick look under the bonnet once I'd found the release lever (owner didn't know). Rather crowded compared to what I'm used to but all very pretty, except for a little ATF spillage (I think) and an oddly mismatched orange plastic engine cover with Kompressor moulded into it which looked warped/distorted, either mechanically or by heat. I don't know if this cover actually gives access to the supercharger or its just naming the engine. There was a bit of a squeek when the owner revved the engine which I suppose could have been from the supercharger.

Anything known on these? I note the HJ review (dating from when the cars were a recent model) has

"Can suffer from suspension misalignment and aggravated tyre wear. It's a good idea to have all four wheels laser-aligned to be sure."

"Has also been one report of accelerated suspension bush wear problems due to the dire state of Britain's road and its unique traffic calming/harming measures."

"Mechanism of single arm wiper needs freqent greasing and is not included in normal Mercedes service schedules. "

"The transmission oil cooler of automatics is sited in the radiator matrix, so failure can lead to coolant entering the transmission and destroying it, leaving the owner with a bill of £4k +"

in fact all problems seem to leave "the owner with a bill of £4k +" The first two might be relevant to the reported problem with this car.

I'd be scared to put a spanner on this, and I'm unconvinced that it actually needs it.

My Dr Evil plan, such as it is, is to get the owner to drive my car, for comparison. That might make her a lot happier with her Mercedes.