2001 C240 MB???

Some of you may or may not remember I have sold my GTO and I am in the market for a nice cheap car while I am back in school. I have been presented with a 2001 C240 in decent condition. Needs new brakes and has a few scratches, nothing major that I am aware of. The price on this car is the thing that is making it hard for me to pass up and it would be really helping out the person who owns it, also a family member.

So what should I be aware of on these cars? Does anyone know here on GRM? The car only has 70k miles and has been maintained. I heard the MAF goes bad quite frequently and is $300 for a new MAF. I know it is a MB so everything will be a little bit more expensive to replace.

Really looking for advice and soon. I have to make up my mind rather quickly.

Thanks,

So from what I see on the MB websites the 240 is under powered and has some long term reliability issues. BUT apparantely no worse than any other seven year old European car...

Still at a loss as to what to do. This car is at GR price but I would hate to dump a bunch of money into it over the next three years. I know I wouldn't own it longer than three years.

Wasn't MB suppose to be know for their 1million mile cars? Or is that Volvo? I am rambling and my coffee is not doing its job.

Thanks in advance for the help.

Rangeball wrote: I have sold my GTO and I am in the market for a nice cheap car while I am back in school. I

In my opinion there are much better choices that a Benz C240 when it comes to a "school car." How much do you have to spend and where are you located?

I sold my GTO for a fair amount of money and I owed nothing on it. I don't want to spend all of my cash on a car now so a lot will go to the Bank. The thing that makes this whole situation so tricky is that it is family. I am trying to make a conscience dission but the price of $5-6k is a little tempting.

The car would see around 12-15k miles a year so it would clock over 100k miles before I finished my Masters. After three years we would sell it and get something newer.

I guess I am just trying to figure out if the repair costs will be more than I bargain for. I do a lot of my own repair stuff but on something like this I would want done at the MB dealership which if I remember my Euro dealership hourly rate of $105 correctly, that gets expensive quickly!

Edit: Whoaa, run on sentence. Maybe my coffee is kicking in. Edit, Edit: We are in Jacksonville, FL

www.edmunds.com states that a 2001 C240 w/ 75k miles is about $7-9k so if you can buy it for $5k there is some real savings there but not astronomical savings.

In attempt to see what the car might be worth in 3 years with 110,000 miles, lets see what a 1998 (3 years older) Benz C230 is worth today. The answer of edmunds is $3-4K. If you can buy the car for $5k and in 3 years it is worth $3k then it cost $2k over 3 years to own the car, or 666.67 per year or $55 per month. Even if repair prices were high I bet you would put less than $1k per year into maintainace or $83 per month. If my repair estimate is high then half of that at $42 per month.

Lets just say $55 to own it and $55 to keep it running or near $110 per month.
If you pay $6k for the car it will be $83 per month plus $55 = $138/month. That looks like a deal to me.

www.fueleconomy.gov states that the 6cyl Benz C240 will get about the same mpg as your GTO (no savings here.) It requires Premium as well.

Also look into what insurance will cost. I bet it is higher than a similar year Toyota Corolla.

I am sorry beforehand because this will sound sexist, but with a "handle" like Rangeball, I assume you are NOT female. That said, 90% or more of the 4 cylinder M-B driver/owners I see are women. REALLY look around, you will most likely notice the same thing in your neck of the woods. 4 cylinder M-Bs are okay cars, just like late model 4 cylinder BMWs are okay cars (tho the M-Bs don't have as loyal a following), but at least get a 6 or get a Volvo. BTW, I looked at a sweet 2001 V70 this afternoon and with 77k on the odo the price had been slashed to $7995.