Mercedes C43 AMG: Catch It While You Can
'No more Italian cars for a bit' we told Keith; here's his answer
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Big V8, small Merc - we're still enjoying the concept
The C43 AMG was launched in 1997, and it followed on from the straight-six C36 AMG. That first AMG W202 C-Class was good enough with its 280hp straight-six - but its replacement was undeniably altogether more special. Not least because the W202 marked a step change in the relationship between AMG and Mercedes-Benz, too, being the first car assembled from scratch (as opposed to upgraded) at the former's factory in Affalterbach. It was also the first Mercedes-Benz C-Class powered by the M113 V8 engine. Time to pause and reflect what followed.
Just as with what seems like all AMGs, the C43 explodes into life with an infectious V8 woofle when you spark it up - and that sets high expectations. Setting off, it feels slightly aloof and inert at low speeds, but once you crank things up, it sprints like a kicked cat - all fury and drama. But the noise that accompanies this surging acceleration is epic - a thread that seems common to all V8 AMGs. It might not be quite as involving as an M3 - certainly in terms of steering - but the C43 AMG is more rewarding in so many other ways.
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Dismiss it as a simplistic hot rod at your peril
As with what seems like far too many Benzes built in the late-90s, the C43 AMG isn't as solid as it might be, coming from Stuttgart's infamous cost-cutting era. It has far from unimpeachable reliability, and bodywork is prone to corrosion if not obsessively garaged.
But if you're thinking of doing your bit to save this endangered species, there are other problems to watch out for, too. The automatic gearboxes were known to pack-up when younger for a start. It's reckoned by marque experts that the majority of C43 AMGs with more than 50,000 miles on the clock are likely to have a rebuilt or replacement gearbox - so check it shifts as it should. Other considerations are flaky and expensive wiper motors, poor sun roof motors, and boots that don't open properly.
But don't let that little list put you off - the C43 AMG is a great car, wrongly overshadowed by the older 190E 2.3 and 2.5 Cosworths. Disappointingly, it remained in production for a little more than two years - a scant reward for the work that went into it.
Want to know the best news about these thundering Q-cars? Numbers are thinning (there are 230 left on the road in the UK out of a total run of 4,200 cars, but values have yet to adjust to its impending endangered species status, and you can pick one up for the ridiculously modest sum of around £2,000.
Seriously. Take a look at the example we surfed to in the PH classifieds. With a not-unreasonable 134,000 miles on the clock, the private seller has owned it for more than five years, maintained it himself or via specialists, and aside from a couple of rust spots on the replacement bonnet, it looks set for years of hard use ahead. And all this V8 lusciousness could be yours for the price of a 10-year old misery-spec Volkswagen Golf, at its advertised £2,450. Quite.
And just think of all the cars you'll scalp - for a fraction of their price. Buy now before the few that are left start to seriously appreciate...
Sadly, life has other needs at the moment, so it keeps not happening, but at these prices all that needs to happen is for one to turn up within biking distance of my house and I just know I'll end up turning up on the seller's door with a box full of cash.
I am about to sell my uninspiring Audi A2 1.4 for similar money and want something with at least 6 cylinders, and rear wheel drive to smoke around in for 6-12 months.
I'd set my heart on an E39 530 but this is now front runner...
Maserati Ghibli Cup article, right? Maserati Ghibli Cup article, right? 'Performance, by today's standards, is only brisk with 0-62mph taking 5.6 seconds, topping out at 168mph,'
Edited to complete the post ;-)
It's a shed purchase for sure - buy it, tease it along until it dies - lots of car for the money but how long (MOT is <6months so I think I'd want a new one with the car)
If you buy that intended to run it indefinately and thus care-for-it, you will need DEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP pockets and I don't think it quite has the character to make it worthwhile (thus explaining their rush to the scrapyard)!?
I have never been a fan of automatics but AMG C-classes are more like minibarges and the car would feel strange with a manual. The staggered gateshift makes selecting and holding lower gears very easy and they get quite responsive and really get a shift on when you let them rev. Numb steering though, unfortunately.
What's also interesting is that W202s have a foot in each Mercedes era - on one hand they can have the rust issues of the late 90s Mercs but on other hand they were developed in the early 90s and so there are still some aspects of the famous overengineering. The way the doors open and close, the single wiper blade, an (expensive) damper that controls the steering reach adjustment, the feel of indicator/wiper switches, the nicely damped sound of the doors locking and unlocking.... Little things but which together make a Mercedes feel quite different to other cars, even today.
No MB has been available - or worth having at least - as a manual, at any point in the 30+ years I've been interested in cars!?
Oh they offered a nasty, sloppy manual back in the 80s but it was always the wrong choice - I'd assumed they stopped in the 90s and never looked back?
MB and manual are like VW and character - they grew apart ;0
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