Here's Why The Cheapest Mercedes-Benz is Often the Best Mercedes=Benz - C-Class Review and Guide

good morning this is bill from re europa naples on another muggy Florida Tuesday you know I'm not gonna rant on about the weather it still sucks there's supposed to be a cooler influx this weekend thank God it'll get down to bearable temperatures but this is yet another winter that we've been robbed of with you know muggy humid weather I know if you're shoveling snow and ten below zero stuff up in Wisconsin you're probably thinking I'm a real jerk for crying about warm weather but you know come on down here in July and see how you like that see if you enjoy that and you'll quickly understand why we need these little reprieves format during the winter months anyway despite my promises here I am rambling on about it Birds I've got one I've got a Scout up there he's checking me out he's back hopefully he won't calling us friends but we'll keep a close eye roosters have been quiet thank God now I hear my neighbor Dexter's thinking about putting in a hen house which is actually terrifying to be I mean for one thing we live in a fairly you know proper neighborhood this is not the kind of neighborhood we have hen houses so you know hopefully I can secretly call code enforcement honor and make sure it doesn't happen but if it does god help me I've imagined if I have to put up with that crap in my front yard alright anyway I'm here today to tell you why sometimes the cheapest Mercedes is the best Mercedes you know not yeah people are gonna kind of question that that phraseology that terminology go what you want you could say that the least complicated Mercedes is the best Mercedes but it all began back in the 1980s with the 190e if you remember that car if you're as old as I am you do it was called the baby Benz it was in some ways it was the butt of a joke it was driven exclusively by yuppies the young urban professionals you know people made fun of them in the 1980s obviously they still do today probably or should and you know they they you know we're on their way up but they hadn't made it yet but they still wanted to bend so mercedes-benz came out with the 190e the w201 chassis and it was actually a fantastic platform you know it wasn't just something they cobbled together to apply to have an inexpensive Benz it was actually a pretty damn good car it used a multi-link rear suspension that later went on to be used in the E and the S classes so it kind of set the trend there it had incredible crash protection it was rated exactly the same as the s-class at the time which was pretty fantastic it pioneered the use of lightweight high-strength metals that's now used in pretty much everything and was all-in-all a terrific car in fact in the early 80s Mercedes took a few of them the 190 16 valves to a place called Nardo Italy and ran them for 201 hours at 155 roughly miles an hour the to illustrate their incredible durability and they said man like 12 world records doing it so it was a pretty good run for Mercedes they sold a bunch of those things and it became a staple of the Mercedes lineup and that then in the next generation the w202 became known as the c-class and the c-class has run ever since and been a very strong part of the Mercedes sales setup it's the entry-level Mercedes if you will it's certainly the most priced back in you know this is the 203 this is the third generation c-class and I think in many ways the best you know certainly in terms of styling I love the styling of this car I think it's fantastic particularly the later run models but anyway you know the it was priced in that I don't know always the big 28 ish to 35 ish 244 ish you know all this this run of pricing way underneath what the s-class cause maybe a third of the s-class not quite half of the eQuest but certainly very attainable you could get into sort of a base C quest for what the price of a maxed out Honda Accord would be and because of the nameplate a lot of people opted for it and you know it'd be foolish to say it wasn't become a B cuz of the name pride I mean truly that did have a lot to do with it people want to drive a Mercedes and I don't blame them because they've got a certain panache but anyway so people bought these things up and they enjoyed them but here's the thing that's fascinated you take this - of - oh what is this - a three model came out in 2000 I don't know three - something like that and the s-class again was three times as much money but you progressed through the years and the c-class starts to retain more value than the s-class and the reason for that is predicted reliability these are simple cars put together by really terrific engineers and they hold up extremely well and down the road you know as each of them gets miles the sea and the S the S is just plummet in terms of value and depreciation while the c-class and lowers at a much lower rate and eventually they're worth about the same money so it's kind of interesting reliability does predict the value retention and many mercedes-benz now the 221 s the one that came out in O 7 here in the states that's fared a little bit better and I think they still do track higher than the C's of the same vintage but in this generation you'll find that a really nice C and a really nice s with similar miles are gonna sell for almost the same money and that tells you a little bit about what it takes to maintain these cars so anyway this one that the 203 model beautiful I really think it's absolutely beautiful look at that rounded greenhouse on top love me they've facelifted these cars in 2005 give them a bit of a cosmetic refresh they also sorted out some issues with the earlier models you know they'd actually get mercedes-benz has been accused of going a bit cheap in the late 1990s early 2000s and it's not an entirely unfair accusation in fact they used a water-based paint in the original and first couple of years of the c-class that's two of three model and it did not fare very well against through rough German or Massachusetts winters they rust at crazy and people were pretty pissed off about that they also had some electrical issues but you know nothing severe and they used to that the 230 the base of the c-class lineup used a four-cylinder supercharged engine which some people liked but it you know has all the sex appeal of a washing machine when you're reading it out it just doesn't have a very nice sound to it also their manual transmissions are I don't know you probably have a smoother setup in a farm tractor than you do in a c-class so the automatic is probably the way to go but anyway then an o-5 they did a facelift to cosmetic facelift and then a no.6 they did an engine facelift and this oh seven is a beneficiary of them they went to three different gas motors they went to a 2.5 v6 that was what's in this one this is a c2 30 has about 200 horsepower and essentially replaced that supercharged four with a much smoother six then they had a two eight and a 3.5 with 268 so they had some really nice engine set up so 607 and if you're shopping for one of these cars you're probably better off trying to get the latest one possible in o8 they changed the body style completely new car but bio seven they really had this thing sorted out and as phone's coming in hell with it keep going you can see the front end uses that ovoid headlight that was popular at the time with Mercedes Benz you've got a little bit unusual for a sport model you've got that genuine hood star popping out of the hood which I like instead of just a big star in the grille you got some fog lamps you got a little mesh thick under the front bumper making it kind of sporty it came standard that c230 as a sport package so it had the AMG bumpers the AMG side skirts AMG exhaust AMG spoilers and these very very attractive 17-inch six star alloy wheels that are just really beautiful I think it's one of the best-looking wheels they ever put on a Benz it really just makes the car pop the styling again lovely and like the angular taillights you see that little chrome AMG twice pipes and the bottom I can see why excuse me they sold a ton of these things and you know even if the BMW 3-series at the time it was probably a better car in terms of you know all over performance and you know drivability and joy of driving the Z certainly held its own in terms of styling comfort looks and and reliability so anyway let's get into this thing all right open the trunk there's a little clippie thing you can pinch there and you see it as a nice big proper sized trunk at a certain stage mercedes-benz dropped the fuel tanks from right behind the rear seats down under the car and that gave them much bigger trunks this car benefited from that so you're gonna fit a lot of stuff in there in fact in Germany these things were often used as taxis which isn't just a testament to their interior room but is also a testament to their reliability because a taxi guy he's got to have a car that really works and stays on the road they run those things 24 hours in different shifts under here you got a nice middle area to put stuff he could have mac-10 and there no problem you know whatever else you need to hide from state troopers you can fit in this thing may or may not pick that I probably will you're probably screwed if you're pulled over so but or not to take your cocaine with you underneath this if I spin that off you're gonna find a spare tire and everything nice and proper inside the trunk they also give you this lovely little puller thing here which I feel like if I do it wrong I'm gonna break all my fingers so I think you want to do this in one fluid motion like that pull your hand out quick so you don't have to go to the emergency room and we'll look under the hood okay so again a no six a complete redesign refresh of the engine lineup and this is a terrific replacement for that that little supercharged four-cylinder which you know it had its reasons it was fine it was kind of neat in its own way and let them put a big compressor badge on the side of the car which was great but it just was a buzzy little thing and these sixes are just always going to be a lot smoother so this one puts out again 201 horse turns in very respectable fuel mileage this was the first series of Mercedes engines with overhead cams and VVT variable valve timing technology really helped them beyond the Rev band on the power all the way across from low to high and they just run great that's mated to a 7-speed automatic in this car which is a terrific transmission for it works perfectly lovely lovely setup in this car and mechanically that's really easy to maintain you just don't run into that many problems with these cars you know if you look at the top of the shocks unlike the S you're not gonna see all kinds and lines and sensors go into them it's a very simple strut set up in the front trailing link in the back it doesn't have any of that aromatic stuff it doesn't have you know sensitive sensotronic brakes or all the stuff that the mercedes-benz engineers do to show off and justify the hundred thousand dollar cost of the S it's all great when it's new but it's all expensive stuff to maintain on the C you don't get any of that you get a very simple package of course you have an e my brakes which are terrific but otherwise the technology is all very static lacking any sort of electronic overlords and doesn't have the same sort of finicky temperamental nature that the that the high-end systems do so it's a nice simple front end on this car that works great everything that is a forty thousand miles on this thing so it's in great shape and lovely to look at under the hood and look in the back seats so obviously it's important that a car of this size to have useful back seats and this cart does you know you can see even with the front seats pretty far back you've got pretty good room for your you know tall Canadian passengers again three of them in there no problem it may be a little cramped but they're not gonna be miserable again it's not just going out to dinner you could drive you know four or five hours in this thing and they're not gonna cry too much they give you these great little nets to stow your personal needs your switch blades or stopwatches or maybelline bars or whatever what the hell is a maybelline bar I'm conflating two different things I think but anyway it's stuff that you can bring with you can stuff in those pockets you got great fit and finish of course that's what you get number sadie's and that's why people pone it up for these things you get a real wood trim that's nice you get nice and lit another inserts in the door pockets panels and lovely little armrests terrific quality tight nice fit and finish everything working really well also has a little Sun screen in the back power thing that pops up with the push of a button and let's see what we've got for a center console nice you got cup holders and a place to rest your arm no gun storage and that one I'm afraid but anyway everything working nice back there upfront mercedes-benz always with the best seats in the business truly even at the inexpensive levels of their lineup this thing is just super comfortable very supportive perfect balance between sport and comfort and you're able to take a long trip and even if you're a six-footer 6:162 you're not going to be able to move that seat all the way back you can have to move it forward a little bit and that is the brilliance of the engineering that goes into these cars they really make the most use out of their interior room again it's got side airbags second generation third generation eighth generation bags everywhere this one has the 82 way power seat up front nice option more little wood trim more middle pockets to put your weapons everything in my shape on this one they did redesign the entire interior for these facelift cars made them just I'm not nicer in terms of fit and finish and layout there's our detailer again another new vehicle so he couldn't make the Volvo run so now he's dug an s10 out of the back and the first thing he does is cuts the exhaust off it because he's a maroon an absolute maroon and he pretends like oh the exhaust needed to get cut off and it had rust spots or something and it's all just because he's a fruitcake when it comes to pumping out really irritating and loud exhaust notes on the people around him another little side you know on my way to work this morning I'm taking the interstate and I don't know what the hell is the matter with people I really genuinely don't you know I have this silly little track hobby where we go and drive around Sebring or Daytona and have a lot of fun with it and I feel so much safer on the racetrack than I do with the nitwits and idiots driving on the highways in the morning I really don't know what the hell is the matter with people but it's like driving in the third world I mean it's insane we really do need better training in the United States when it comes to drivers or harsher penalties I mean tickets are one thing but I think there should be three levels there should be a warning then there should be imprisonment in the gulag and finally just a summary execution you know use your indicators let faster cars in the math client get by you know just follow simple basic rules of courtesy and we'll have a much better civilization than we do now anyway alright see what we got so we got a smart key we're gonna pop it in the little hole there the key authorization lets us turn of course it beeps at me because I haven't put the stupid seatbelt on yeah I don't know what it is about German cars it's always you know some horrific irritating warning too much you know something that doesn't like is happening so give a guy a minute to get in the car and let him adjust get himself together before you start beeping at him anyway over here you've got your automatic headlights you've got your power mirrors you've got now a multi-function wheel they moved to a four gauge set up in this facelifted car you've got your water temp over to the left or fuel to the right your tack in your mouse per hour and a nifty little Driver Information Center in the middle or you could go through different features and you know see what you got and we leave it on the odo in this car because it's pretty impressive 71 degrees Fahrenheit I don't believe that I think it's hotter than that already certainly more humid and then you've got your middle PRN diem indicator you can see the S is circled there that gives us the sport setting ping and in these sport cars that wasn't really a joke they did have bigger brakes they did right and lower they handled better than the luxury models so sport actually meant something in these seas of this vintage nice little dashboard layout of course with the airbags everywhere that's your rear sunscreen thing your electronic stability program traction control that you can turn off but you can't really you know it's like the headlight switch on the Volvo they're just always on whether you have to switch on or off in this Mercedes you can pretend you can turn off your traction control but the minute the German nanny doesn't like what you're doing it's gonna kick it right back on they upgraded all the radio stuff and this year Metheny a little wood with the chrome linings and see what we got on the radio nothing like tracing your nose again commercials I feel so bad for people commuting in the morning there we go amen at work I'm sure they're a national treasure anyway so what can I say about this that the command units nice it works really good it's all very proper you've got your CD here you got in the trunk you've got another trunk in the glove box you got another CD changer you know modern enough for the year and enough to keep you going today down here you've got your climate control dual side works great lovely little shifter mechanism like the you know the brushed aluminum tip there the black mother you know all very pretty I mentioned earlier you've got the sports set in here if I press this button here that'll change it over to the comfort setting and you know it changes shift points it changes a couple of things on the car but most people are gonna be befuddled at any difference it makes it all and that you do in Grand Mercedes tradition have a ridiculously over engineered cup holder that's almost certain to break at some point in the near future nice deep bus and our console there good place to put a big revolver and I know no issues there you got a self dimming mirror with your home link you got a big power sunroof up there and you know all the stuff that one should have in a Mercedes you know you're gonna feel like you're driving a Mercedes even though you paid one third of what an s-class costs so that was part of the joy and why these things actually did pretty well turn that down what some AC going let's go for a spin lovely little fab three prong steering wheel here nice to grip part of that sport package you got little grip ADIZ and the tenon to give you something to grab on to I really do appreciate that it has that hood star meaning the way Mercedes and their sport models started doing away with that and you know put the stars in the grille I'm just a big big fan of that that hood star and the way it dances in the light when you're driving at night or you know looking out over the hood I see if one of these sure cuffs let's assume this guy's speeding up - not medicine of course it's like really mercenary people absolutely love that they love causing you angst really improves their right into work so very precise nice handling in this car it feels very poised on the road and traffic on the highway absolutely lovely now we got an organ-donor driving behind us or beside us I imagine that you know without the helmet that's gonna work out really well for when some nine-year-old pulls out in front of him at 70 miles an hour but anyway that's his problem I was that what harley-davidson today they should erect like you know that wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald they've got like a little chapel where they have all the names here a friend of mine brilliant guy actually said that harley-davidson should open at a memorial you know to all the people that have been killed in the city by virtue of the motorcycles that they've bought it would be a lovely little chapel you know with all the plaques on the wall sort of you know signifying the lost souls who drove Harley's and I don't know and I bet it certain idea they'd probably reject anyway the c-class said the poise is incredible it's got beautiful steering feel because it's you know it's got again not over complicated steering it's just meant to keep you in touch with the road terrific brake feel the car feels fantastic on the highway here you can see the juice out of that that little six cylinder is enough it's perfect zero to 60 in about seven seconds enough to feel peppy enough to merge on the highway with no problems it just does things very very well and that's part of what makes the C's such terrific used cars you know they're reliable they're fun to drive they've got enough room inside and you really do get to enjoy them anyway there it is I won't ramble on and on and on but let me tell you if you're in the market for a benz and you're scared of repair costs you're scared of you know having the thing always in the shop all the horror stories here think about opting for a/c and I mean a special you see one of this vintage they were terrific cars particularly the major generation of them the ones that were built towards the end of the model run their reliable you're not gonna fix a lot of crap on them they turn in pretty respectable fuel mileage they're safe as hell they're fun to drive and just a terrific commuter car whether you're battling the city or the highway and all the nitwits on my way you're gonna love them and their simplicity is what makes them so good so there it is if you have an interest in this one it's for sale at the dealership two three nine two nine eight eight thousand on the web at AE maples calm always happy to tell you what we got hanging around so thank you for having and look today we appreciate it and we'll see you with the next one take care

Channel: Curious Cars

Views: 118,640

Rating: 4.8027334 out of 5

Keywords: 2007, Mercedes-Benz, C-Class, W203, W201, W202, C 230, C230, C240, C280, C320, C350, Bill, Auto Europa, Naples, Florida, FL, Doug DeMuro, Hoovie, Jay Leno, Tavarish

Id: ihBIbi3BwMA

Length: 24min 13sec (1453 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 18 2020