When I purchased the Merc back in late summer I did a 200 mile round trip as the spec I was looking for at the right price could not be found in my town.I stumbled upon an Avantgarde 2001 y plate model with full stamped history at 80,000 miles on the clock and with the blue paintwork it was exactly what I was looking for at £4,800. It was cheaper than most of the first newer shape C-classes by about a grand so well worth the travel out up to Liverpool from a guy with a debt problem......hope hes got things sorted !! Anyway, I had owned two A-CLASS Mercs and new what too expect from the larger C- class.The overall stance of the car always looked good with that Mercees badge popping up on the bonnet and I knew my nieghbours had a peek out of the curtains when I first parked it on the drive. This marque has always had an air of class about it although every other Taxi is fast becoming a Mercedes diesel.!! The car never surprised me on speed off the mark but from 70 onward it did seem too fly with ease.Once I had started the engine from cold and woke the street up with the "clack-clack" it did please me ,as when warmed up and at normal Motorway speeds it went along qiutely without having to have the radio / cd up too loud. The finish of these vehicles is very good with soft plastics and Leather being used and the wind noise is very negligable at any speed. I did find the seats a little unsupportive and I wish I had gone for heated seats on the more cold winter mornings as the heater took an age to get up too a warm blow. The economy with the Diesel engine and Automatic gears seemed ok on long journeys but I saw a difference of MPG when you go over 65mph in comparison to keeping under that speed . I averaged up to 48mpg on the longer Motorway runs but as little as 31mpg around town so take no notice of claims of 55 on average.and 40 on the urban......it aint gonna happen !! The handling is very good for a heavy four door family car and the C-class does give a feeling of being safe within its cabin. Boot space is very good but a let down that my rear seats did not have fold down option ?....this should be standard. After about 2 months a few things started to give up which included one of the washer jets, a very bad leak from one of the injector seals sending oil on my drive evey time I parked up , an Air Con fault and a leak into the boot area. With all this happening in the space of a couple of months it became apparent that the BUILD QAULITY was not as good as the earlier models. I can say however I would have another Mercedes but would go for the late 2004 facelift model as by then the overall interior look had got better and the qaulity in build had returned. If you are looking for a family vehicle with a Prestige badge the you will not go far wrong with a C-class BUT make sure you stay on top of the services and overall upkeep of the car . This can be expensive to do but well worth doing in the long run.
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Mercedes A-Class - Hatchback - Front (FWD) - 6 Speed - (Man) / Autotronic - (Auto) - 1992 cc - Max Speed: 116 mph - 109 bhp - Diesel - Available Trims: Elegance SE, Classic SE, Classic, Avantgarde SE, Long
Advantages: All the comfort of a Mercedes with the performance and control of top of the range exec Disadvantages: Every features costs you money..if you have to pay BIK tax then you will be hurt by the CO2 levels
Dominic1985 22.06.2009 ·
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Review of Mercedes C 220 CDI
Advantages: All the comfort of a Mercedes with the performance and control of top of the range exec Disadvantages: Every features costs you money..if you have to pay BIK tax then you will be hurt by the CO2 levels
Dominic1985 22.06.2009 ·
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Review of Mercedes C 220 CDI
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