“The Rarest Mercedes You Never Cared About,” this W203-chassis is one of only around fifty or so in the United States despite being something you’d never glance at. There were a fair few offerings for a manual transmission in the W203 C-Class, but the typical trim with a 716.6 Mercedes 6-speed on the back would be a C230; Early C230 coupes sported an M111 2.3L four cylinder, the sedans that came next with a 1.8L M271 four-cylinder, and 2006/2007 cars with the 2.5L M272 V6. For the final year of the W203 in 2007, Mercedes fitted “Sport” model cars with a slightly more aggressive aero kit and some deep-offset wheels. A few hundred of those Sport model cars got a “big block” version of the engine in the same-year C230, a 3.5L variant of the M272 V6, and just a handful of THOSE cars were optioned by some crazy owners with a manual transmission instead of the 7-speed auto. None of these C350s sold well, as they cost in the ballpark of a C55 AMG…which you would probably just buy instead. It’s nerdy, it’s something most folks don’t care about, but it’s a car I hold dear; A manual M272 C230 was one of my first project cars, and I always wished I had instead waited long enough to find a C350. This one is incredibly rough due to some neglectful previous owners, but it’s my “white whale” Mercedes; 6-speed manual, DOHC 270 hp V6, rwd. A perfect little daily driver, to compliment my Honda Fit for more…involved weekends.
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