1997 Mercedes C280 Review - The LAST Inline 6 Mercedes! 

W202,W203,W210 and even W220 had a reputation as awful rust-buckets in Germany(Problems with new water-based colours). The W201,older W124 and W126 were of much better quality.

they’re all hybrids

@@Zack-rm3xn Doesn't matter.

@@Zack-rm3xnnot a full hybrid , mild

I think the problem with this generation is rust. I’ve heard that they suffer pretty badly from that. Many people say that the w204 from around 2010 is pretty good since it’s supposed to be quite reliable…

@@walthefl w204 is definitely a much better daily driver for sure. a lot less issues

​@@waltheflis your response to prevent your car from rusting, cars don't randomly get rusty

Not that remarkable. Not all cars were affected. The problem was not limited to M-B. Water based paint gets contaminated in a way 'proper' paint never will. If it is, it will not properly bond to the metal and/or to the primer. It took M-B a long time to resolve this. If you were lucky and your car was painted with fresh paint, you had no problems. M-B also did a lot of warranty work on the paint. Often this is done well. I own a '98 W202 and clearly 2 doors have been repainted, no rust. However... by now they will rust at the jacking points, front and rear suspension mounting points and a few more spots. All Benzes do. Staying on top of the rust is an important part of my maintenance schedule.

I’ve seen good ones. Mine was Bright Silver which seemed to be one of the worst affected colours. When I bought it at five years old I was already aware of little spidery runs in several places in the middle of panels, but the front arches were the first to bubble badly. And getting the bubbled paint off to do repairs was like peeling plastic off - nothing like the old cellulose finishes on cars like my old Cortinas and Minis. I treated flaking underseal on a subframe mounting point up near the rear inner sill under the back seat, and also completely coated the rear IRS subframe with good old Waxoyl (sic) which after one winter had completely washed off! I did approach M-B at one point about a ‘goodwill gesture’ over the paint, but my car was just over 8 years old at the time and no longer supported. From about that point every autumn I did DIY touch ups which got bigger and bigger as the rust spread outwards, but my car was never ‘holed’ like some E Class cars I saw. I kept it tidy. But didn’t matter what chemicals I used - Por15 rust treatment, Hammerite rust converter, the rust on painted areas still came back. One of the reasons I parted with the car was the fear of rust coming back under the third replacement windscreen, since expanding rust had cracked the car’s second screen after two or three years. I’d had to take the car away minus windscreen from Autoglass and treat and paint the surround and return it to them for the screen fit, but was never confident I’d not get another crack from expanding rust. However I’ve got some regrets now I didn’t keep the car as a little used modern classic and get a budget paint job and keep it garaged when not driven.

Eh, in the hands of a strong engineering company like Mercedes, inlines and V6s are roughly equivalent. Mercedes back then used V8s in many more applications, so it made sense for them to have a six and an eight that shared an architecture. Today, though, Mercedes only uses V8s in their top models, and has even started purging it from smaller AMG models - which is why having a six that shares an architecture with their four makes more sense. This has never had anything to do with Merc "coming to their senses"; it has to do with business scaling realities. V6s made sense in the 90s and 00s, offering massive benefits in packaging, weight and weight distribution, and more.

Hear that you have never serviced a M112/113 with dual plugs on each cylinder..... I am not thinking of production benefits when it comes to cars. Am a consumer and will always think like a consumer. Look what all the "production benefits" has done to the three pointed star brand. When people look at buying a luxury car they look at T....la, Le....s and stuff that I don't want to mention by name. The Mercedes luxury brand has become a crappy commodity that ends up in a pile in a junk yard after 10 years. Not the kind of engineering I'm grown up with when my dad drove around with me in a W114. The whole idea of having the whole alphabet as a model range is a joke.

@@user-ok4ot3ph3m Well, the shape of the engine doesn't seem to be the root of your woes regardless - though if you really think a straight-six form factor is better on balance, I won't try and force you to think otherwise. I do get what you mean, though: brands shifting priorities can be a bitch. I own a Buick Roadmaster, a less "luxurious" or engineering-intensive vehicle than a Merc, but still a shining example of GM refinement, evolution and tradition at its best; to see what Buick has become today is an embarrassment to it. As a matter of fact, GM has no good sedans left at all, with the Cadillacs' non-Blackwing powertrains being consistently mediocre. It's a shame to see an automotive manufacturer fully descend into margin-driven consumerism.

That interior design has held up well.. simple but modern for the most part..

I was doubtful about their switch to V6’s until I managed an import repair shop and saw how great the 3.2 V6 was. I also had a 1998 E320 with the V6, and even at 230,000 miles it never needed a head gasket nor did it need a drop of oil added between changes. I generally prefer inline sixes to V6’s, but Mercedes did get their V6 right.

to built them alongside the V8s in the same factory. easier and reduced costs.

Now its the cla 😂

The M112 had no major issues, while the M104 did. Overheating issues, biodegradable wiring harnesses, and head gasket issues.

@@joaquinfranco9012 yeah my wiring harness was replaced with a good one decades ago. The overheating is usually from a malfunctioning auxiliary fan, I believe. Hope my head gasket holds up fine. Looks like an easier one to replace though, although I've never done that type of job.

No inline 6 in C class since this model... they were all V6

A V6 is not an inline 6

they’re all hybrids now

But this one was more reliable

It's not clickbait. It's just an error. Don't cry about it.

You looking at cars:👨‍🦯