2000 Mercedes-Benz CLK 230 Kompressor from UK and Ireland - Comments

One of the most reliable cars we've ever owned - up until 2 weeks ago.

On delivery, driver's door very slightly out of alignment.

Also, driver's door window wouldn't automatically reseal itself when you closed the door. A fixed was arranged at 1st inspection.

Engine management warning light came on around 20,000 miles. No fault detected by the dealer. A sensor was replaced under warranty. Same again at 65,000 miles. A sensor was replaced again this time the cost was around £50 including fitting.

Engine management light came on again at 85,000 miles while we were in France. Bring in it when you get back, the dealer advised. Diagnosed as a loose vacuum hose, fault light cleared while I waited. No charge. Following day and every day after ESP warning light illuminated. The fault takes up to 20 minutes to clear and car cannot be driven any distance while fault is showing. Still not corrected after 4 visits to dealer including overnight and 4 day stays. Currently diagnosed as a faulty control unit (£450 plus fitting, etc. quoted). Dealer says they've never seen this before. We await the result.

Excellent car - up until 85,000 miles. My wife's car from new.

The car looks good (better proportioned than the current model) and the design has lasted well and has plenty of presence without shouting at you.

Handling wise, it's no sports car in the Elegance trim, but it's very quick with stacks of torque at low revs to shove you out of bends.

The car is very comfortable both front and back. It's our favourite touring car for long journeys and the children who are just entering their teens never complain about comfort in the back. Tyre noise on certain poor surfaces is our only gripe.

It very economical, for example 4 up with the boot loaded with luggage and wine the car average 35+ mpg on an 800 mile dash across France. The car will routinely return 32 mpg in normal use.

My wife gets around 16,000 miles between services (inspections) and apart from the faults above and tyres we've spent on nothing unexpected apart from routine services. One of the cheapest cars of the 40 we've owned!

Dealer service is a bit indifferent compared to her previous BMW. It got better after we changed dealers, but still not up to standard you would expect.

L could never get 35 MPG! Mine is doing 25 MPG,over last 4 years.

Also, its not comfortable. it has hard chairs, which looks good, but give anyone back pain.

Dr.Kais.

I agree with the previous comment, my CLK320 is beautiful

but after about 100 miles the hard seats make your lower

back ache.

The ride is quiet and smooth, but is easily upset by a bad

road surface which causes the rear end to twitch.

Having pointed out some minor faults I still don't think there's much on the road to match it.

3 more comments:

1-it's not reliable, serious things went wrong, but it was repaired free of charge. (now got 50000 miles) on the clock

2-its not comfortable, you can't be PAIN free after one or more hours drive. mainly your back and legs...

3-Road noise, mainly from back tyres, clearly showing over speed of 50 miles/hour.

BUT...l still love it!

After 45000 miles the radio on my CLK 200 instead of showing

the name of the radio station e.g. radio one, two etc just shows the word SERVICE. This is repeated on the dashboard computer. Mercedes dealer said they had never seen it before and couldn't sort it.

Any suggestions?

I have had electrical problems with 230 CLK Cabrio since I picked it up new from the dealers in London in March 2001. The first problem occurred on my return journey to France (where I live) when the interior light stopped working, swiftly followed by problems with the wing mirrors, roof, windows, horn, radio, break light indicators and boot locking mechanism.

The dealer was unable to find the cause of the problem and indicated that once the warranty expired, should the fault be found in the future it would not be covered under warranty.

These intermittent electrical faults have rectified themselves until today (Oct 2006) when the car virtually came to a halt displaying an ESP fault, the radio stopped, the hazard lights stopped working and the car would travel at no more than 5 mph. Fortunately, I was 300 meters from the Mercedes dealership and the car is with them, will not start and is indicating 7 faults, although the hazard lights did start to work whilst I was waiting to see a receptionist.

This car has only travelled 36,000 Km (appx 22,500 miles) in over 5 years and in addition to the electrical faults there has been an intermittent noise from the rear when starting to move off which developed when the car was 2 years old and had covered around 10,000 miles. Once again the dealers were, and continue to be, unable to find or rectify this problem, and of course once out of warranty I was presented with a bill for attempting to fix it. I have written to Mercedes, but their responses, although sympathetic, do not offer any solutions.

The Mercedes CLK Cabrio is without doubt a very stylish car; I love driving it, but don't expect trouble free motoring.

My previous two cars were Audi's and I have just bought another for my wife. Take my advice and leave the Mercedes in the garage and opt for an Audi.

My CLK 200 Came in Azure Blue- the proportions are perfect with ample rear space for two, which is rare in a coupe, and a really big boot. Interior design is one of the best I have ever seen. The steering wheel was a pleasure to hold.

Reliability was so so - needed several horn sets within the first year and had to be towed away on two occasions. First due to defect in the cooling system and the second time due to a faulty ignition controller unit.

Over drive stalk kept falling off and so did the front door speaker panels.

The car badly let down by its Auto box, which was extremely slow to change. Overtaking on the highway was a hit and miss affair. In fact iitially I thought that there was something wrong with the box. Dealer said it was normal. The other problem was with the exterior paint work- Rash of bubbles started appearing at various places. All -in- all lovely car to own badly let down by quality of plastic trim and and a lazy Auto - gear box.

I can't understand how you would accept such basic defects on a supposedly premium car. I mean, interior trim falling off and rust bubbles showing on a new car? You could buy 2 Japanese coupes for this price and not experience any of these problems.

And don't tell me driving a Japanese car is not as good - you can't say you have a good driving experience when the gears won't change and the car falls to pieces. I am simply amazed at why people stick to the dream and fantasy of owning Mercedes when in fact they are less reliable than a Hyundai for 3 times the price. Shameful!

My friend when you get in the cockpit of a Mercedes-benz you would understand why. SEE YOU.

I have owed my auto clk 230 komp since 2000. It has loads of power, and is a solid car. I haven't had any major problems. The sensitive steering always pulls to the left, but this could be due to road camber. Tracking has to be done often or it will rip the tyre tread off quickly. If one brakes hard on a wet road, it can put the "fear of God" into you. After a year or so, the alloy wheels started to oxidise badly. It's a lovely looking car, but I don't think I would ever pay the big bucks for looks again. My wife has a Lexus which is streets ahead. When I drive the Lexus, I can "feel" the quality. Re the dealerships: ones I dealt with were a joke. Even when it was under warranty, trying to get them to fix anything for free was like trying to get your arm back from a crocodile!

Since I bought clk 230 kompressor convertible all I had problems one after another I think they have far too many coustomers selling mercedes cars so they do not care much you pay for name nowdays no for car.

I have a 230k conv and a celica gt4 carlo sianz and you don't have a clue what your going on about. and I have had both makes of cars and alfa, s for 25 years and the merc is the one you drive when you want to get there in comfort and you can still play. grant the gt4 is my toy but I wouldn't go any distance in it, the merc is the tourer. and im a mechanic so it don't worry me. my merc as had the air flow meter replaced in 5 years. not bad.