‘If you get offered a £50 Merc you don’t say no’
Danny experiences the C in Class (and cheap!)
A 1995 C180 Elegance with a slush box is at the quiet and sensible end of the Mercedes classic car park, but don’t let that, or the talk of rampant rust and build quality issues put you off. If you find a good one, it’s a heck of a car. It is slow though, which is the first thing I discovered after picking it up from previous owner James Shepherd. Relaxing and frugal is a more positive way to look at it, with 30+ mpg and the ability to easily dispatch motorway miles at appropriate speeds. It is never less than a comfortable and relaxed place from which to command the road. Until the A-class arrived in 1997, the W202 C-class (having replaced the W201 190 Series… come on, keep up) was Merc’s entry level motor and it was hugely popular, with 1,847,382 being made over model years 1994–2000. Oliver Boulay’s design was understated, but elegant – in fact, it has grown on me the more I have lived with it (still not a fan of those rear lights though) and the 1.8 version of the multi-valve M111 engine, with its 120 horses, is just about potent enough to make progress. Don’t be in a hurry though; the 722.4 version of the 4G-tronic ’auto box, in its last year of W202 use in 1995, was launched in 1981 and feels as if it keeps plenty of those horses for itself and leaves me wondering what the C43 AMG would be like, with its 4.3-litre V8… hmmm. My car came with a few issues, although at £50, I almost welcomed them. An electrical drain was the main cause for concern. Check my Saga to see how I sorted it but, needless to say it was sorted – the problem being traced to the module in the boot that looks after the electric windows. With that ticked I fitted a new bonnet mascot, worked to clear the worst of the lacquer peel that had infested the tops of the wings and A pillars, and then set about enjoying the car’s charms. And it is charming in a completely competent and unremarkable way. I would happily drive anywhere in
it. At 95,000 miles it has young legs under it and the history file that came with it is immense. Where this car has given me a smile is in the classy way it delivers practical assistance. I’ve moved house with it, been to the dump in it, given lifts with it. Every time it delivers transport without fuss and with a touch of class. The Tristar on the nose tells you something and the interior furnishings, despite their spartan nature (the seats are NOT soft) are made of the highest quality materials. And believe me, that matters when you are sitting back and turning the key. Everything is as it should be in a proletarian Merc. I’ve owned a base model W201 190 and the W202 is definitely a step up, but... and there is a big but – if only they hadn’t been made of cheese. The propensity for this generation of Merc to rot is legendary and the way the looms crumble sends many a W202 to the crusher. Mine is beginning to exhibit some of that electrical fragility with the boot mounted control unit leaking amps to earth. Oh, it also has a homemade shag pile driver’s floor mat, so all is forgiven. It might be a bit flaky, but when you interact with a decent example of the W202, you forget the naysayers.
THE VERDICT
Any £50 car is a good car. But add into it the fact that this purchase is 27 years old, it feels like it comes from another era.