C43 buying advice

[dickyf]

hi. i am seriously looking into buying a C43 and need a bit of assistance. i understand the model altered towards the end of the run to include a tiptronic style selection from the steering wheel.
is the one to go for and what other changes if any were made??
i appreciate they were all well specified from the factory but are there any wish list options worth seeking out.
finally, where do i find a good one? have tried the usual classifieds on here and auto trader and can't locate a late model.

thanks in advance for any assistance.

[Chris944_S2]

The biggest thing to look out for is to find one that has been well cared for. They're not cheap to run, I've got over £6500 worth of receipts for the last 4 years on mine. They all rust, there's not much you can do about that, so try to find one that has had it sorted out properly. I don't believe you will ever find a rust free example now that has never had any paintwork done.

The tiptronic is pretty rare, most come with a 5 speed auto. You can lock the car in the lower gears and keep it there with the auto box, although if you select 3rd and slow down it will kick down to 2nd if you floor it. I don't really see huge advatages for the tiptronic, as it's still an automatic underneath with torque converters etc...

Some good options to look out for are xenon headlights, sunroof and parking assistance. Mine has none of those, but then I bought it on condition rather than looking for the spec I wanted.
There's a few that came in Designo colours, they are usually very well specced cars as it was an expensive option.

Also one last thing to look out for is that the gearbox oil has been changed. These cars tend to eat gearboxes, and although Mercedes claim it's sealed for life, it's recomended to change it every 60,000 miles or so.

[rubystone]

All sound advice from Chris and I'd just add a couple of points:-

Look for rust as Chris says - around headlights, where bumpers meet bodywork, sunroof, bottom of sills behind rear doors, around bootlock,bottom of front wings, even the middle of panels can show "snail trails" where the rust is in the panels.

Make sure there's meat left on the disks and in the tyres.

Budget for a wheel refurb - I bet every car you look at has corrosion on the wheels.

Buy on condition, not options, but be aware that an unusual colour (eg green) may not be easy to sell on later.

Final point, with fuel prices as they are, it's a buyer's market. You don't need to pay the sticker price and I personally would only look at cars with less that 90,000 miles on the clock to maximise bang for my buck, unless your budget is very low.

Final, final point, these are superb cars - once you're used to the power you can drive it like a go-kart and dropping the 'box down into 3rd is all you need to drive cross-country. I wasn't sure whether I'd like the auto, but the car has so much torque and power that it isn't an issue at all.

[dickyf]

thanks for the advice.
i have found a 99 V estate with 66k. black with black/anthracite interior. i have traced the MB history which is complete to may this year. the car is a cat D and has a wing,headlamp and bumper replaced .the insurers paid out £10k on the car in may suggesting it was in good order beforehand. the cat D does not concern me as i will prob keep the car.

reason for the car is i have a 997s cab but am piling miles on it which is why i fancied the C43. quick and reliable. the seller wants £8k for the car which i think is a little optimistic.
my thoughs are maybe i would be better placed to hang on until a straight one turns up?

are there any specialist who could check the car out. i dont object to spending a couple of hundred quid to get piece of mind.

if anyone is aware of a tidy late model for sale please let me know
thanks again

[rubystone]

dickyf said:

thanks for the advice.
i have found a 99 V estate with 66k. black with black/anthracite interior. i have traced the MB history which is complete to may this year. the car is a cat D and has a wing,headlamp and bumper replaced .the insurers paid out £10k on the car in may suggesting it was in good order beforehand. the cat D does not concern me as i will prob keep the car.

reason for the car is i have a 997s cab but am piling miles on it which is why i fancied the C43. quick and reliable. the seller wants £8k for the car which i think is a little optimistic.
my thoughs are maybe i would be better placed to hang on until a straight one turns up?

are there any specialist who could check the car out. i dont object to spending a couple of hundred quid to get piece of mind.

if anyone is aware of a tidy late model for sale please let me know
thanks again

To pay out £10k, that must have been several years ago. Even retail isn't that strong on them. To sell that car, it'd have to be priced at £6k for a straight car and no more than £4500 for a Cat D. He's having a laugh.

I bought my car back in November (98 obsidian saloon with 66k on it) and paid a whole chunk less for it than he's asking. I still see cars for sale that were for sale when I was looking. People are stupidly optimistic about the prices, completely clueless!!!!!

[dickyf]

thanks guys

this is the car i was considering. any comments would be appreciated.
if the link fails to work the company selling is car solutions,

http://search.autotrader.co.uk/es-uk/www/cars/MERC...

[rubystone]

dickyf said:

thanks guys

this is the car i was considering. any comments would be appreciated.
if the link fails to work the company selling is car solutions,

http://search.autotrader.co.uk/es-uk/www/cars/MERC...

Stolen/recovered....and nigh on £5k of damage (didn't you say insurance paid out £10k....so to write it off they must have totted up a repair bill of conservatively £5k?). Unless the car wasn't recovered until some time after it was stolen. In that case, the insurance company would have paid out. But I do recall you saying it had needed some work?

My old C43 was stolen...and recovered....from a ditch...I bet it'll reappear sometime and will also be marked as "stolen/recovered". Well I can tell you that the guy who stole it took off over a granite kerb and parked it in a ditch. Suspension was bent, for all I know engine had moved and regardless of any of that, the car was written off on parts cost alone....

[Hughinafrica]

A bit late to the discussion! The tiptronics aren't activated on the steering wheel, it's all on the gearshift - knock it to the left to drop a cog or to the right to go up. Apart from the newer gearbox on the V & W regs, they were identical to the earlier models. Hope you got yourself sorted out with something nice!

[Chris944_S2]

What's the gearbox difference on the V and W reg compared to the earlier ones?
I never knew they even changed the gearboxes on these cars.

[a11lvj]

As mentioned before the tip shift is only the shift mech(+ and -)in drive postion ,there is no steering wheel buttons or flaps etc ,the gearbox itself is the same ,the only other thing is that there will be a gear display in the cluster ,these tip shift models are normaly only on the 2000 model.

[rubystone]

Hughinafrica said:

Apart from the newer gearbox on the V & W regs, they were identical to the earlier models. Hope you got yourself sorted out with something nice!

I thought that the 'box was totally unchanged from 1998 to end of production; it was always a tiptronic but the ability to use it as such wasn't released until the 2000 model year cars....