C230

A friend is looking at a used C230 with about 105,000 miles on it. It's a bank repo, so no history is available on it. What are the weak points and what should we being looking for. Is there high cost maintainace required that may have been defered (like a timing belt, etc.)?

All MBZ are expensive to maintain. That is why you see so many MBZ's for sale after their warrenties are up. Unless he can do his on service I would reconsider buying an older MBZ with high miles. Parts are pretty cheap it's the labor that is costly.

It's a good car. If your friend buys it, have him find a good shop that handles MB's. For instance, Jiffy Lube will not do an oil change on this car. I imagine its because there is an aerodynamic pan underneath the engine. Most people use a Topsider to change the oil. I take off the pan.

The weakest links in the car are the rubber parts - from the grommet that holds the washer pump in place, to a fuel hose in the rear. I am slowly but surely replacing the rubber parts on this car. Additionally, the joints for the driveshaft (or flex discs as they are called) are made of rubber. I have not run into one of those expenses that kills the pocket book like a changing the timing belt on a Japanese car. The shocks are shocks, not struts. It does not have rack-on-pinion steering, it uses a recirculating ball mechanism. Tires are relatively inexpensive if you keep the stock wheels. If you work on this car, you will probably need to make sure you have a 12-pt metric socket set, since many of the bolts are have 12-pt heads, not a hexagonal head that most are accustomed to working on.

'98 C230 - 130K on the clock.