2004 Mercedes-Benz C-Class C220 CDI Elegance from UK and Ireland - Comments

No faults at 46,000 miles from new. Very reliable so far.

Unfortunately this car does not anywhere near live up to what I expected from a £31,750 (with options) car.

It has been very reliable so far, which is great. It is also quite a comfortable car to sit in for long periods of time, however there are just too many things I don't like about the car to call it a good car.

First off is the gearbox. This is without doubt THE WORST manual gearbox I have ever experienced in my life. You have no idea how bad until you try one for yourself. You may think that the gearbox on your 15 year old Ford Fiesta is abit tricky, but the Mercedes C class manual gearbox is in a league of its own. It's hard to describe, but no matter what you do with it it always feels like you have done something wrong and that it is about to jump out of gear at the slightest nudge. I have read several reviews on the C class and pretty much all of them state that the mercedes manual gearbox is "not so sporty" That is a huge understatement. I don't see why the reviewers are scared to come out and say it's possibly the worst gearbox on any car and is really not what you expect from a quality manufacturer, but they always just refer to it as 'not so sporty'

Next there is the engine. It is economical and is quite quick if you look at the 0-60 times. Unfortunately it stops there. It is noisier then much cheaper diesel cars (peugeot 406, VW golf etc) and it shakes the car violently when you turn the engine off. The power band is totally in the wrong place. In a diesel you expect the engine to pull strong from low rpms and then tail off at high rpms. With the Mercedes 220CDi you push your foot to the floor and nothing happens, you count to 5 and then you get a huge surge of power. Yes its quick when its going, but there is far too much of a lag. In 4th gear acceleration from 30mph to 50mph takes absolutely ages, and in 5th gear acceleration is non-existent. It is by no means as bad as a renault DCi engine, but it really is anoying.

Next is the driving experience. The steering is overly heavy, partly because I think the wheels are 17" and I am used to cars with 15" wheels, but it makes the drive very tiering. The brake pedal is quite heavily sprung, so you need to apply a lot of force when braking. If you swap cars a lot like me, when you are in any other car other than a Mercedes you will find yourself stamping on the brakes too hard and putting yourself through the window.

The interior quality is actually quite good. The cabin has a light airy feel and as said before the seats are comfy. Unfortunately a lot of the buttons feel very cheap, they are quite irregular and each button seems to require a different ammount of force to press it. My final point is the arrangement of the standard driver controls (indicators, wipers, etc) Where every other car maker puts these controls on 2 or 3 stalks, Mercedes decided to cram every function onto one single stick which requires pushing and twisting in various ways, which is confusing and takes getting used to. If you drive other cars, this makes you scramble about for the controls every time you get in the car.

Overall the car is a disappointment. It really does not have the drivability that I would expect from what I consider to be an expensive car. If I could go back in time I would possibly buy something like a fully loaded VW Passat Highline for roughly half the price. I drove one of those recently and could not believe how much nicer they are to drive.

I just hope the car keeps up its Mercedes reliability otherwise the car will have absolutely nothing going for it.

You know you might want to TEST DRIVE the car before you buy. Since all of your problems seem associated with performance and handling, you should of known that if you actually sat in and drove the car. Its your fault that you're stuck with it now lol...

Stiff buttons and pedals, confusing controls, I think you should have bought a far less refined vehicle.Owning a C200 CDI i have not had anything but pleasure from it some people seem to just moan for the sake of it

I'm just curious to know why you didn't test drive it before buying.

The car that the dealer provided me for the test drive was a c270 automatic, although clearly the c220 is a lesser powered car, I did not expect these to be such a lag, which I feel is the main problem with the c220.

The autobox was great, my car allowance did not cover the cost of the auto option, so I just took the manual, as pretty much every other car I drive is manual, I assumed that the Mercedes manual box would be like any other. The manual box really really is poor! I would not have gone ahead if I had test driven a manual (which the dealer did not have available) Is there anyone who can say they think their Merc manual box is good? compared to anything else. Seriously I would love to know. I don't think mine is right, but the dealer assures me my box is functioning fine.

Then there is the steering, as I mentioned it could be feeling heavy due to the larger wheels. I can't remember what wheels the test drive car had on it, but there is a definate difference.

A lot of these points have come about from driving other much cheaper cars which I feel have a much higher quality feel to them.

If you want to argue my points then do what I have done, drive something like a good spec VW passat or a BWM 3 or 5 series and then tell me you can't see a huge difference in the build quality and feel ESPECIALLY the gearbox.

Kind Regards.

I totally agree about the gearbox I would have thought they would have made more of an effort. I do love my car though.

I own a 2002 auto c220cdi at 65k the fuel pumped leaked, now I get a whining noise turning corners from the auto transmission, and a loud rumble noise from underneath at approx 1400rpm at around 35mph!it all points to gearbox as the noise stops when engine diss-engaged. not good for a deisel at 65k and a top make. I will not buy another.

I bought a C220 cdi in 2002 and have now done just over 115 000km. At around 105 000 the diesel injectors blew and I had to be towed in. Then at 110 000 the starter motor blew because of the problems with the injectors - the engine leaked air and did not have enough pressure to start immediately, thus the starter motor had to crank the engine too much. This was also fixed after a tow in. The garage that replaced the starter motor also had problems to start the car and told me to replace the fuel pipes as the seals were cracked of old age and heat. This I did and on the way home the car started smoking - they forgot to fit a clamp on one of the pipes and diesel leaked onto the engine. Everything was now soaked in diesel and the garage had to replace just about every piece of rubber, seal, filter, brake pad, wiper etc. The interior still smells of diesel :-))

I'm having problems engaging gear on my c220 diesel manual. I have had it back to the dealer 4 times now and they keep telling me there is nothing wrong with it so I guess this is as good as it gets. Oh forgot to say I am on 55000 miles.

I have a c220 cdi 2002 auto classic. It's a lovely car and I have no complaints except that I have experienced starting problems recently. This was following running low on fuel, but not out, and has persisted ever since. Intermittantly.

The fuel filter has been replaced and the system bled. However I am still experiencing the problem. Sometimes the car cranks for 45 revs before starting and once running all is well. Any ideas?

Well I was thinking of buying a C220, but don't think I'll bother. Thanks for the advice though. I'm going to stick with the VW Passat.

I have recently been driving a manual C220 as a short term hire car. Initially I thought it was very good and classy looking, but as some of you have been arguing about above, I found the manual gearbox to be a real pain, getting it into second gear from first sometimes took 2 or 3 tries, I understand the comments of the main poster, it feels as though the gearbox is pushing back against you sometimes when trying to change gear.

I have driven a C200 as a taxi for some time, with an automatic gearbox. Performance is OK I think, and quality has been good through over 300k kilmeters.

But the aircondition is very bad, if you have heavy rain you'll soon see what I mean. It ends up virtually as a fog machine. When stopped at a traffic light for instance, windows will get wet, and strangely only if you have engine on.

Otherwise a quick and relatively comfortable car.

You should have done a google search before buying a manual Mercedes. They are well known to have the worst manual gearboxes.

Do a search for Mercedes nasty manual gearbox or awful manual gearbox and you will see hundreds/thousands of people saying the same.

We have experienced exactly the same problems with the gearbox.

We have had additional problems after a long journey, and as the speed slows down, the gearbox/clutch becomes more troublesome. It's definitely a big disappointment to the C-Class Merc.

I have a 2002 C220 Estate, 255,000 miles and drives like it only has 60,000 on it. What a joy to drive. Auto boxes are the only way to go with a Merc.

These cars become more powerful and quieter once they get over 100,000 miles.

Show me another brand that will last that long!