Description
This is my Mercedes C Class. It's a 2005 S203 Avantgarde in metallic beige with the OM642 3-litre diesel V6 and 7G-Tronic 7-speed auto 'box. These are 224bhp as standard in a not particularly large car so they don't hang about. There is a decent quality tuning box fitted under the bonnet which according to the blurb takes this up to 270bhp - this is currently not plugged in as the standard power is more than adequate, but I did try it when I first fitted it and it definitely made a difference to the performance. I've spent a fair bit of money on the car since I've owned it. It's had four replacement tyres (new Uniroyal Rainsports on the front, nearly new Falkens on the back); four new brake discs; new auxiliary belt, alternator overrun pulley, idler and tensioner pulleys (all genuine INA other than the tensioner pulley); a replacement turbo-to-downpipe exhaust section; new PCV valve; new bonnet struts; new expansion tank; new battery; and probably other bits too that I can't remember right now. It's also had an oil and filters (oil, air, cabin) change, the tracking done and the wheels balanced. It's generally in pretty good nick for its age and mileage (180-odd thousand), but it wouldn't be a noughties Merc if there wasn't some cosmetic rust - in this case a bit of bubbling round the rear arches. The front wings are fine - I think they might have been replaced as there is a slight paint difference. There is a bit of lacquer peel on the offside D-pillar and cracked paint on the top of the rear bumper, and the wheels are a bit scruffy in places. It has a stone chip in the windscreen but not an MOT failure. The interior is black leather and again is fairly tidy given the age and miles. Spec wise it has cruise and auto lights, but no auto wipers or parking sensors. Most of it works fine, but the driver's heated seat can take a while to come to life, and the temperature knobs on the climate control sometimes take a couple of goes to register a temperature change. It comes with a choice of in-car entertainment - it currently has a basic radio / CD player from a lower spec car fitted, which works fine. It also comes with a Mercedes Comand head unit (which is what would have been fitted originally), which switches on OK but reboots itself every couple of minutes; and an aftermarket Android head unit, which works OK but the radio reception can be poor when the unit gets hot. It drives nicely and, as previously mentioned, pulls like a train. Fuel consumption is generally mid-high 40s on a run and 30-odd around town. The gearbox is probably due a fluid and filter change as it can be a little jerky when cold. There is a slight whine from the rear diff at 45mph, which I think may be a resonance issue as it does it at 22. 5mph too, and may also do it at 90 but by then the wind noise is drowning it out. I've recently changed the diff oil which has improved matters. Also, despite having had the wheels balanced a couple of times, there's still an occasional vibration at above-the-legal-limit speeds - not sure what's causing this, it's not enough of an issue for me to spend too much time worrying about but if you were planning on hammering the car across Germany at 155 it's probably something that would need investigating. Also the glow plug light stays on for a minute or so after starting the engine - this appears to be an issue with the glow plug control module, but the car still starts fine even in cold weather so I've left it for now. It's MOT'd until June 2027. It's a bit of a rare beast - they made the C320 for less than two years before the W203 was replaced. It's a brilliantly versatile car - there can't be many 20-year-old estates that will do 50mpg if you're careful, and 150mph if you're not. Being over 20 years old it can also be insured on a classic policy with some insurers, which brings down the running costs quite a bit.
