Can anyone give me any information on the above please?
I am interested in buying one of these, a 1999 V Reg which has done 50K miles and is on sale for £11.5K.
Despite an exhaustive search on the web I cannot find many details on this model. Some people seem to be of the view that the old style C Class is not a very good car but I would be grateful for any views, in particular on the performance etc of this engine (the 125 bhp).
Thanks to the great community out there in anticipation.
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I know people with new shape versions of the C-Class 220 CDi and the engines are great.
I had an M reg C220 and then a W reg C-Class, both old shape, and the build quality and reliability were superb on both.
The performance is not to bad as when I had my C240 I could only just about keep up with a C220 CDi.
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My opinion is that the old C is not a great car dynamically or aesthetically, but it has the other Mercedes qualities of solidity, imperiousness and good resale value. If you wanted a good looking, good handling car, you'd be buying a early E46 BMW for that money surely?
The price isn't too bad, either. The Great Trade Centre has a W plater with a little bit more mileage for £12k. Obviously, check that this car hasn't been clocked because although it's not necessarily suspicious, 54k in 3.5 years is actually quite low (!) for a car like this.
As for performance - anything but the old C220D (non-CDi) should be okay. I've been driven around in enough of the CDis as Paris taxis to know that they do pick up reasonably well, and of course they have lots of torque. Make sure you test it on the open road thoug first.
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Grateful thanks for the information. After a test drive today I will almost certainly be going ahead. I have checked the car's history with the Merc service agent against the service book and it appears fine.
Someone told me that the engine is basically the same as the one used in many Merc vans so it should certainly have good longevity. It certainly felt (and sounded) more like a petrol engine than my current Passat TDI which pulls superbly low in the rev range in the lower gears but quickly runs out of steam.
Any further comments welcome before I take the plunge. For example has anyone got any mpg figures for the 220 CDI (i.e. real ones not the official ones).
Thanks again to all respondents.
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When I did some work for a Mercedes dealer as a delivery driver, one day I was told to follow a colleague to a customer's house to drop their car back, then to fetch my colleague back to the dealership. We walked out to the yard, he threw me a key and pointed to a blue T-reg (brand new then) C-class that was reversed up to a wall, and said I was to follow him in that.
It was only when we reached the customer's house and I was waiting for my colleague to hand the keys over that I noticed the rev-counter red line in the C-class I was driving was at 5,000rpm! When my colleague got in the car, he remarked "These new diesels are pretty good, aren't they?" and I hadn't even realised I'd been driving one...
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Get a warranty. My P Reg C200 with 50,000 miles had complete auto gear box failure when we were setting off on holiday driving to Venice. We got about 10 miles and the car went into safety mode i.e. second gear.
My other main complaint was the prices charged and attitude of the franchised dealer. Cr*p service and £80 an hour - a joke.
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