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Mercedes-Benz C 180 Elegance
by DarkestGrey
This was my last car and it was really well built.
I did have a slight problem with the petrol gauge that one day decided I had no petrol. I prayed that there was a fault on the car rather than my petrol being stolen and then all of a sudden I had three-quarters of a tank. I tried praying for a full tank, but obviously god ... thought I was pushing my luck and the guage went back down to none.
Taken to the dealer this was sorted out fairly quickly but the garage claim the car has two sensors for the petrol tank and the cost was to be around £800. After they had splashed water on my face and the paramedics had left, I queried their price and they said they would contact Mercedes as the car was only 3 years old at the time. Mercedes offered the repair, not at a discount, but completely free. I was getting the car serviced at the same time and maybe this had a bearing. Also I am a 'younger' driver of a Mercedes and most younger drivers are buying Audi and BMW, this leaves Mercedes with a dying customers base and they look after their younger customers. I think that is anyone under about 150 years old.
The car had an amazing steering lock, good air conditioning system and the automatic gearbox was very, very smooth.
I was managing around 30mpg which I thought was a little low. My replacement (a newer C180 Kompressor) manages a higher mpg and is a quicker car. That's progress and a supercharger for you which this model I am reviewing doesn't have the supercharger.
The exterior of the car is still fairly classy without being pretentious. The interior is designed for a 300 year old sailing fan. There is fake wood everywhere. It is high quality but still, it seems to be everywhere. The steering wheel seems to had been an exact replica of the Titanics steering wheel. It is that large.
It doesn't handle like a sports car at all and steering from side to side may bring on a bought of sea sickness, but then this is a cruising car. Cruise control on the automatics became standard and is a really nice addition with the speed limiter, where you set the maximum speed you want to travel at and the car won't go over that speed unless you hammer your foot on the accelerator to the floor.
The tracktion control would sometimes switch itself off and on one wet day, I put my foot down around a corner. The traction control decided to stop working, the gearbox decided to drop down about 2 gears and being rear wheel drive, the back end came around so fast I was lucky not to be facing the other direction.
I had no failures with the car. It did fail to start once and I found out something new about the car. The ignition is on a timer. You turn the key and it keeps turning the starter motor for about 30 seconds or until the engine starts - very clever. On the day it wouldn't start I tried about 4 or five times and almost gave up - the last time it just started as normal and I wonder if the engine management system would reset to factory defaults if the car failed to start after so many attempts? I don't know, but the problem never returned.
The car never needed the breakdown recovery service. Check on the year of your car and the service history because Mercedes begun a free breakdown service across most of Europe for 30 years (thirty, not three) as long as the car has a full service history from Mercedes dealers.
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Mercedes-Benz C 180 Elegance
by NIck_Endeavour
Well I needed an upgrade from my previous car that apart from the fact that it was a bit girl-y it was also falling to bits.
So I decided to ante up and went for the full testosterone upgrade and got a c180. It is P reg one so is almost 10 years old but it is a Mercedes and you can see it.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
It ... is like a tank, everything inside feels humongous. The doors feel heave but close easily but slam with a healthy clank. The engine sounds sweet or should I say works quieter than a mouse stealing some cheese.
DRIVING
On the motorway this car feels at home. Like leviathan at prehistoric valleys. It does 100mph without you even realizing and cruise control coupled with the automatic gearbox make you redundant. Just steer while you relaxing to some Wagner classics and sipping tea. You feel cocooned in the security of a U Boat.
In town it feels sturdy and has a bit of kick even though it is "only" a 1.8 L engine. Being a nearly 2 ton car though it is impressive. I like everything about the car. From the boxy looks to the interiors which might not be the stylish Italian Alfa-Romeo ones or the posh Jaguar ones but the blunt style and the unbreakable feel to every knob, handle and stick makes you feel comfortable and that's what being in a Mercedes is all about.
MECHANICS
There are few things to be careful about though. On the w202 chassis which is the one from 93-01 there are few tings to be careful about when buying.
The viscous fan tends to go very lose which was the case with mine and I could also tell from the bonnet having a small bulge from the inside indicating the fan blade had snapped and hit the bonnet.
The are not very expensive but will give you leverage to bargain for the price with the viscous rotor costing about £50 and the blade about £25.
ELECTRONICS
The problems though are imminent if you key fob fails and/or immobiliser locks. I had this problem and if it is any of these two there is trip to a Mercedes dealer and they charge £135 for a key. 135!!!!!!!!!! What the hell? What is it made of gold?
And if the immobiliser is the one that is buggered they charge £95 plus VAT to unlock the engine that has locked because Mercedes has put something to lock it and for them to reset it they need to charge you and arm and a leg. Anyway it wasn't the key or the immobiliser it just needed a booster on the signal which my local garage did for me for next to nothing.
Also check the battery because if it is kinda dodgy will give you all sorts of problems with the electronics and a lot of money down the garage.
Another thing to be careful is the Air Mass Meter. See because this damn thing has more electronics that a Japanese DVD player manufacturing facility it needs a sensor to measure the amount of hear that goes in the engine. And if that things fails and boy it does your growling Mercedes becomes a wimp, coughs up and loses power for no reason. It will also make it hard to start if it feels like it and will cause it to make a hard shift in gear from 1st to 2nd.
Now the best part is that that stupid thing which is essentially a plastic T-Shaped tube with a small PCB with two wires and guess how much Mercedes wants to charge for it: £290.84 plus VAT and some of them don't want even give you the part number. A bit cheeky don't you think…..
Anyway even though you would expect Mercedes to charge an arm and a leg so do others with prices of £200 plus. Luckily eBay comes to rescue but just remember to drive and if you notice a hard downshift or some lack of power at any time don't get fooled to think is a one off or that the petrol has an air bubble and if you think is covered under the warranty than think twice. Standard dealers warranties only cover engine and gearbox and for some unknown reason the air mass meter is considered part of the fluid system.
OTHER
The card has 4 disk brakes which is about right as it takes a lot to stop this monster. Also the car has rear drive which means the car how it was invented with engine, gearbox and differential in order and the front wheels are free to have a huge turning arc which means that the car is easier to park than my old 306 even though is twice as long.
The gear box is nice and smooth but now and again lets the car rev a bit too high.
Also watch out for the rear aerial which is motorised but tends not to fully retract after a while. WD40 should do the job though.
ECONOMY
Just about 30 mpg in town but I kind of expected that so keep away if you don't want it. It increased to a lot less than that in motorway roads which this autobahn devourer was built for.
OVERALL
It is a quality motor. I has prestige, it has style and maybe is not cheap when it goes wrong but it rarely does. I love it. I loved the price you pay for such quality. I love to feel safe, love the space for the passengers, the space in the boot and most of all the comfort and safety it implied. I almost sets the rules for every other car I will own...even though it has the handling of a boat. Well a U Boat that is
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