Thinking of buying a C200 or C280 auto

[Tant]

Hello all

Well, I've never owned a merc , but I've seen a couple of AMGd examples recently and really fancy one as something a bit different. The C200 is a 1995 model with AMG wheels/spoilers etc, in black with leather, advertised at £1495, and the 280 is a 1996 advertised at £895 with about 100K on it.

I don't know much about em, but they both look good. I'd imagine the 200 to not be the last thing in performance, but I'm just after something a bit retro ish and stylish to ride around in.

What sort of things should I look for and what sort of prices do they fetch. Any experiences with them would be good to hear about.

Any help appreciated
Cheers
Ant

[Pentoman]

Watch for rust (although you may be lucky - these examples may be early enough to avoid the rust problem which blighted later cars). I assume they are automatic and with any automatic car they are very expensive if they go wrong and also more likely to go wrong than a manual. So do drive it, make sure it goes into every gear with no bangs or dropping out of gear into neutral.
Apart from that, not too much comes to mind. Pretty tough old things. Had a 1994 C180 automatic for a day once, and it was really nice. Solid, imperious, comfortable, not especially slow, and easy to drive. It did smell of dogs but that's not really the car's fault.

I tend to think the stuff with AMG bits on it get driven and treated less sympathetically than your average 'grandad' C-class - so do check that it drives properly. It attracts the 'gangsta' crowd (of which perhaps you are one?). These cars are 15+ years old now, and anything can happen to a car in that time!

Post back with your experiences, whatever you do.

Russ

[Tant]

Thanks Russ

No, definately not gangsta (I'm mid 40s and a bit past any of that), but they do have a certain sort of dark appeal. I'd imagined the 200 would be a bit sluggish, but I'm only after a bit of an old school wafter anyway.

Thanks for your advice...both examples seem non rusty but the 280, on paper, looks a bit thirsty?

Cheers

Ant

[Pentoman]

No probs.
I don't think the 200 will be too bad performance-wise. Mercedes automatics aren't as power-sapping as many cars and you've always got the kickdown function on the accelerator pedal to put you into the lowest possible gear at which point you'll get decent forward motion at the squeeze of a right foot. The C280 is a pretty quick car from what I've seen - never been in one - and will sound better for wafting as well. If you're on the open road a a lot, it will work out well. But yes the economy will be in the 20s for mpg.