Mercedes W202. Are they really the start of the decline??

I went from this grand old dame

To this hooligan

Although it's mighty fun I'm looking at W124 estates again....

I`d stick with the 124 wherever possible. IMO, better built and more reliable.

However, a good W202 AMG has always tempted me!

That's only partly true... It all went down somwhere in '91-'92. Late W124s are just the same curse word rot-boxes like the W210 E- and W202 C-Class... They are notably cheaper build. Unsufficient rust protection (resp. even worse than before ), eco junk wiring, any many little details that ooze "I was cheaper".

As much as I like W124's; let's face it - in '92 even those went downwards rapidly. I spend many hours under a lot of W124s - I know what I'm talking about. IMO W124s are over-hyped right now. Any Volvo of the same era beats a W124 in regards of quality/durability It's just that feel of driving a very refined vehicle that maybe separates the W124 from the Volvo. And the W124 era 2 valve cross-flow diesel engines are just - *drooool*.

A W124 any day. But a W202 - never ever. I've seen things I can't unsee... o0 The difference is, that W210 & W202 have been build from the very begining with reducing production cost before anything else.

Never!

A lot of earlier w202 and w210 are fine,they started making budget cuts around1998. Also many flat colours will have less issues with rust as I don't think they used the water based paint,which they hadn't quite got right.

I had a 97 C200, it was horrible, hateful thing, I can't imagine how bad a C180 would be, the wife still thinks I crashed it on purpose... Nothing actually went wrong with it though..

my dad had a w202 c200 elegance estate (p reg), he never had a good word to say about it until he saw it put into the crusher! the faults where pretty much endless from rear brakes randomly and regularly desintegrating constant abs problems, constant electrical problems windows failing lights failing sensors failing. auto gearbox failure (twice) head gasket failure. absolutly terrible fuel consumption (20 mpg steady on the motorway) and then there was the rust! it had a decent service history upto 100k by mb and independents so it was pretty well looked after and serviced. it was dead by 120k, beyond any kind of repair

it couldve just been a bad one but when you look around alot of people have had the same problems.

saying used to be avoid ANY manual merc right up until they brought out the 5 speed electonic auto boxes and there reputation is dreadfull



as to them being the start of the decline id say no, things started to go downhill with the late w124 phase 3 cars and the w140. mercedes hit the bottom as such with the w210's then made things even worse by the end of the 90's early 2000's by using water based paints (some one will probably be able to correct me) but the rust issues and build quality started to improve after 2006/07?

^It's biggest problem was the owner^

There is *no* cure for the Pollitt/Auto syndrome.

Hmmmm, I'm sensing a little hostility towards them

So, it seems you either get a reasonable one, or an absolute dog, and no real way of telling until it hit's the fan?!

I must admit, my head is now telling me to avoid it and get a Triumph 2000 instead, but I do like the way this wagon looks

i've been running a W202 '98 C180 estate for quite a few years. It's been very reliable, up to 210k miles on the clock now and motor still going sweet.
Problems i've had - some rot at the bottom of the B post, water pumps don't last very long (got through 2), and rear calipers seize up.

Handles well for a big estate, tends to understeer in high speed cornering if pushed to the limit.

Advise against petrol 1.8 as it guzzles fuel when driven hard