The Rarest Mercedes You Never Cared About - A W203 C350 6-Speed Post-Purchase Inspection
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 มิ.ย. 2024
- ► The W203 Mercedes C-class is a great entry point into European car ownership and is a potentially overlooked performance platform. Our resident Mercedes Expert, Danny Kruger, recently picked up one of the rarest W203s ever offered in the US on the very cheap, thanks to some less-than-caring previous owners. Its combination of the M272 V6 and 716.6 manual transmission makes it about 1 of 50 left in the US, but its condition is far from what you'd expect.
In this video, Danny takes an in-depth look at his latest Mercedes purchase, digging into the W203's common trouble spots and a few unique to this car. If you're considering a Mercedes with an M272 V6, a manual transmission, or a W203 C-Class, learn from the tips and tricks Danny presents in this video to complete a pre-purchase inspection and ensure you bring home the best example possible.
00:00 - Intro
00:25 - First Drive & First Impressions
05:11 - Checking out the W203 C350 Back at FCP Euro
06:45 - Mercedes W203 C350 Engine Overview
16:19 - Mercedes W203 C350 Fault Codes
18:20 - Mercedes W203 C350 Suspension/Undercarriage Overview
26:07 - Mercedes W203 C350 Exterior Overview
29:15 - Wrap-up
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If you find yourself with "Manual Mercedes Fever," you can find my write-up on every modern Mercedes sold with a manual transmission in the United States below. And of course, all of the many kits I'm going to need to get this thing properly sorted are available on our site!
blog.fcpeuro.com/every-mercedes-model-with-a-manual-transmission
Happy wrenching!
-Danny
Danny, thanks for the MB Manual content. We desperately need more of this! On a side note, did your C350 have modified exhaust in the video intro, or was that fun the exhaust leak you were mentioning?
- I've been including this car in my searches for years, but they never pop up. Now I know why. Possibly less than 50. Glad you got your hands on it before it ended up at the junkyard.
Its about time this cars deserve some love. W203 is a very commun chassi an as the prices on BMW, Corvettes and Nissans goes up. The W203 platform is the last cheap RWD chassi left.
I had an 05 C230 kompressor compressor sport model with a 6-speed. And I was lucky enough to have the c55 front brakes from the factory. The braking was insane. I bought the car with with 145kmiles, trade it in with 264k miles. All I ever did to it was front control arms, and regular maintenance. One of the most loved and reliable cars I've ever owned. That M271 1.8 liter is a gem that had enough poke to be fun and returned 35-36 mpg on the highway at 75-80 mph. I miss that car alot.
I picked up a brand new hood for my W203 directly from Mercedes for less than the eBay/junkyard options, you might want to consider that route.
I purchased a mildly abused 2006 Mercedes C230 Sport. The headlights and one fog lamp were problematic, also. No accident damage, fortunately. The M272 engine lasted about 18 months before failing due to the cam shaft gear letting go. I replaced the engine with the 350 version. I've given it a minimal restoration, of sorts, to stock, including replica C230 17 inch wheels. Looking for a W209 CLK. Would be nice to find a manual version of that. Looking forward to your build.🤩
I drifted a 08 6spd c300 and it had countless hours at redline and still runs perfect years later, 2000s mercedes were built tough
Great tutorial and explanation on repairs. I will watch them all.
I saw one of these for sale for 8k with 80k miles last year, I was dying to buy it but I’m stuck with my C32, not that I can complain 😂
I'm stuck with my C55.
I've had my 2006 c350 sport 6spd for 12 years now. Bought it with 75 k, now has 200k. Nothing but reliable and fun. Maintenance is what you would expect for a well loved car. great pointers on what I should do for maintenance. Would love to see another video but doesn't look like that will happen.
Its so cool having one
Very good presenter! Well done. Watched whole video without skipping a second. This guy seems very knowledgeable
Glad you enjoyed it!
Very interesting and yup looking forward to this series
Loved this video, looking forward to more from this series.
Thank you, Jose!
I bought a 2006 C350 6Sp manual a year ago. Not sure how many are left. The best part is that it's a California car with very little body damage. thank you for the information as the suspension has been upgraded to bilstein shocks and Ebach springs, and the control arms all replaced. Great little car!!!
Interesting car for sure! My first car was 2004 S203 C200 CDI with the 6 speed manual. Now on my second manual Mercedes
These are my favorite types of cars: not the fastest, not the most expensive, but perhaps the coolest to the nerds in-the-know. I had a '06 C230 with a stick and it was glorious. Currently rowing a '08 C300 with a stick and it's fantastic too. BMWs get all the praise but they definitely don't have all the fun!
Very cool video.I’d Love to see more w205 content
I own a 2006 metallic blue C350 Coupe with 6-Speed manual gearbox and the very rare Evolution AMG ((Sport+) + the optional 18" rims) package. Overall its said that around 30 C350 Coupes are registered in Germany and I guess there are AT BEST 6-8 with the EVO AMG package and even fewer manual models.
Base price was 34.162€ (C180K 26.448€; C200K 27.898€; C230(V6) 30.740€ for facelift in 2005).
You had too pay 1,015€ for the normal Evolution package and 3.091€ for the Evolution AMG package which was the only package inluding new AMG style exterieur and - most importantly - a small spoiler lip in the back, the 5 spoke AMG wheels in 17". Then you also had to pay an extra 600€ to upgrade the AMG wheels to 18" which my car fortunatly got.
All in all, even though the coupes arent as good looking as other models, Im very proud of such a rare car :)
A couple of other options were:
-APS 20 (765€); APS 50 CD Nav (2.152€); APS COMAND DVD Nav (3.190)
-Thermotronic upgraded A/C (614€)
-Real leather (1.815€); Designo leather (3.387€)
-5 gear Autom. (2.076€); 7G-Tronic gearbox (2.192€)
-Metallic colour (841€); Designo Metallic (1.844€); Designo varicolor/mystic (2.685€); designo chromaflair (5.446€)
-Panoramic roof (1.624€)
-Harman/Kardon Surround Sound with 12 speakers (766€)
-many more
So my coupe had cost around 50k€. Thats insane imo for 2006.
That's pretty cool! Can't wait to see more of this unicorn. Have a w204 c350 m272 so will definitely be using future repair videos as basis.
There will certainly be more to cover on this beast!
I was just thinking about these last night! I often put my c207 chassis up against my sister's w203 c230 sport & that later w203 chassis with sport suspension is such an underrated chassis. Perfect size, stout, & has none of the old man slop & roll inherent to my c207. There's so many great engine options for w203's (M112k, M113, M113k, M272 3.5l, 6 speed options), & they're all so rare!
Owned a pristine 2006 C350 Sport 6spd. Cool car in concept, but between the cam sprocket issues on the early 272, the plastic intake runner flaps, plastic flap actuator, and a gearbox that's comfy but doesn't like to be rushed, it half checked a lot of boxes, but didn't fully check any for me. The brakes are impressive AMG calipers, and it got great MPG. A very unique and rare car
I had a 2007 C350 M6 bought new in Ohio ($45k MSRP paid low $30k new) but lived in Florida. Put about 10,000 miles on it and sold it to a guy in Virginia maybe? Capri Blue with ash interior. Factory HID lights. I had power folding mirrors added, illuminated door sills, and SIRIUS radio. I probably added some other things but forgot
With this car, also definitely check/replace the subframe bushings. They often create a wobble in the back, making replacing just the rear arms unsatisfactory
I would love to own one of those
I owned a c350/manual 2006. I purpose bought it in 2010 off a used car lot with 23k miles for 14k. 268 horse. Rwd/stick Benz. It was a fantastic car. Quick enough car. Great braking. Would have been a good car to keep forever.
Just replace the gasket on the oil fill cap . No need for a whole new cap.
Great video.
This is always an effective option! Mercedes part number 1110180080 fits the vast majority of Mercedes oil caps and will clean up the mess. Thanks for the suggestion, I may go that route rather than putting a shiny new cap on my oil-soaked valve cover.
-Danny
@@fcpeuro Yes it worked for me , and so easy and cheap to do.
Dont know who he is but he knows his stuff. Would love to see a diy series
Danny is our Mercedes Benz make-level marketer; more to come from him!
DUDE! My '94 318is coupe has a WiGGLE in the rear too. I'm scared of my shock-towers. Got any suggestions for what ELSE it could be?
I've been waiting for the next video on this...when when?
Fantastic vdo, i couldnt help but wondering , what watch is Danny wearing? 😅
Danny here! It's a lightly-customized Seiko (SRPE79) on a Barton band 🙂
A couple of months ago I got an 05 C230 K Sport with a manual from a friend of mine. Its only got @85 K miles on it but I will definitely be following along for the chassis stuff
Nice score!
C230 Kompressor - nice! Im looking for one too, to drive it in the Winter. My C350 got a lot of new suspension parts (nearly anything new apart from the front axle itself) and I dont want to drive it in the winter seasons anymore..
GREAT FiND! I'm jealous
How harsh of a ride will synchro bushings be compared to stock? Awesome video
The Syncro arms eliminate the tapered press-fit bushing Mercedes used on the thrust arms from the factory, and replace them with a tighter-tolerance spherical bushing that's locked in place. This is a key part of what makes this thrust arm kit one of our favorites; as it's using a spherical bushing rather than something like a polyurethane insert or replacement bushing, you won't feel any increased harshness or have any unpleasant noises. General ride quality will be more or less the same, but where a stock bushing will flex at high-load, the Syncro bushing stays rock solid (which is also a big part of why the Syncro Design Works arms last so long).
If you want to learn a bit more about how these work, we have a couple of videos on this channel. Gareth walks through some great comparisons between the performance and wear of a stock thrust arm versus these as we observed during a season of running them on our C300 endurance racer.
You won't regret them! One of my favorite Mercedes suspension modifications across any chassis.
-Danny
@@fcpeuro Thank you1
Nice
I love it. Owning a rare benz again (my 1994 E420 was murdered by an intoxicated guy, driving his sister's Toyota Sienna while under the influence. He killed my baby😢) is a dream/ fantasy/ desperate desire of mine. This is quite a cool project car. It has big potential as a grin growing grocery getting goodness gadget. I know what I'm going to be watching.
So you're telling me, the C350 is so rare that I SHOULDNT be abusing the one I have?
While the later 203s are less prone to rust, they still do rust, you see that a lot here in Europe. So it may not need side impact to start rusting on the doors
You could get a c350 sportcoupe in 6 speed manual with does same wheels and equipment.....and it is a 2 door coupe.
We got it as the C320 coupe and I almost bought one 😂😂😂😩😩
Currently own 2006 c350 4matic.. 5 speed auto... 3.5l 17inch wheels from the coupe fast back not sedan 👍👍
Don't forget the vacuum pump seals. As for the intake manifold the internal nylon flap bushings wear out then the flaps get misaligned and start rubbing/(sanding) on the metal manifold until they're stuck. 🙆♂️
Fortunately, no vacuum pump on this specific M272! Stay tuned, we've just recently wrapped up the manifold swap on this car and you'll see it here soon.
Spoiler alert; while the tutorial includes the cause of failure for the manifold in this car as well as a walkthrough on replacement, the car receives an upgraded manifold!
-Danny
I own a 2006 C230 Kompressor 6sdp white one white
Balance Shaft?
We do talk about the balance shaft issue (and how to make sure you don't accidentally end up with a car that has a bad balance shaft ) in our "Every Mercedes Model Sold with a Manual Transmission" post on the FCP Euro DIY blog. Definitely one to keep an eye on any time you're considering the purchase of an M272/273 car.
Fortunately, this car being a 2007, it did come to me with the updated balance shaft already installed from the factory...one less thing for me to add to my grocery list of to-dos!
-Danny
6 speed conversion dreaming
😊
I would never own a 350 after the 320 they just got unreliable