In 2011 I finally broke down and decided to hunt my all-time sensible dream car and buy it. I found a 1999 C43 AMG in excellent shape and bought it. I was head over heels in love with it. Mint interior, and the original owner had even paid up for the extremely rare and expensive 2-piece 18" monoblocks from the r129…
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But a quick google search revealed that certain years of Pontiac Grand Ams were also powered by the first ever GM-designed dual overhead cam inline-four
That motor, transmission, and drive line are indestructible. The C43 didn’t suffer from any of the nutty electrics gremlins either. Like it or not, that car won’t ever leave him stranded.
Pffft. 300k on mine. And a replacement engine is around $1500. Don’t hate AMG if your mechanic takes you to the cleaners.
A fair comparison to talk about Jeremy Clarkson’s original 600 Grosser needing repairs that only a handful of people in the world can do to its entirely-custom, 3200psi hydraulic system? Do you understand why it’s an absurd comparison to refer to that anecdote as having any bearing on the cost of upkeep on a 2003 E55…
Would you base the cost of a 2005 Ford Mustang upkeep on that of a 1960s GT40?
if you watch his other videos, he actually shows the service records for it. nothing shocking or out of the ordinary, so quite boring to the weirdly-high number of people who believe anything with “Mercedes Benz” or “AMG” on the back of it costs billions of dollars per year to run—even when properly maintained.
yup. same here. if I didn’t already have a C43 with a 55 engine in it, I’d get it. but i have one already, 2 small kids, and a wife who’d kill me.
Too bad you don’t want a basketcase. The white one pictured earlier was just totalled by a friend. It’s fixable, but he’s over it and wants to let it go for $1k.
There’s nothing zen about this.
I’m down to help you sort through them if you find any around you. There’s a hell of a deal on a clean, black one in Oklahoma City on craigslist. Low miles, $3600
As long as there’s no rust, it can’t be expensive to fix. That’s really the only thing that would put one on the “no way” list.
I paid $4k for mine in 2011 and that was about 70k miles ago. I’ve done: water pump, idler pulley, various suspension bushings, motor mounts, brake pads, and a W210 E55 engine. The interior is…
Every C43 I’ve touched was a basketcase. What I love about them was how they’re abysmally underrated with just how durable they are yet cheap to fix. My black one I picked up for 2k because the guy bought it as a ‘collectible’ and immediately took it to a dealer to get a list of what it needed. $9,600 estimate later…
They are all over craigslist every day. They are quite rare from a production figure standpoint but there’s never a shortage of them for sale all over the place. Probably because they proved to be quite reliable, economical to operate, and fun yet practical daily drivers.
Current condition. Driven every day.
No. They’re mine. (White one was even featured here on NPOCP)
Cumulatively I have well over 500k miles logged in w202's. Highly underrated cars.
I’ve logged 255k miles in a w202 C280 and I just hit 308k miles in my 1999 C43 AMG. Abused both, mercilessly. Both ended up being way more reliable than thought and they are easy DIY being 90's cars. Parts are the same price on both cars.
Yes, the C280 is still a very fine and fun driver, but it got the same mpg as my…