W202 series was and is still the best merc ever build. MY C180.. 111 GOT 580.000 km on clock and still going strong. My baby will stay with me forever.
As a 1997 C36 enthusiast and owner, it's nice to see more C36 videos pop up on youtube. Just some corrections to your intro graphic. The 1995 and 1996 C36 had 268 HP. The 1997 had 276 HP. Xenon headlamps were not an option on the C36. The C43 introduced Xenon headlamps. A few things for those interested: To open all windows before entering the locked car, simply point the keyfob towards the door IR receiver and hold down the central keyfob button. In a couple of seconds all windows will roll down to vent any hit air in the cabin. Likewise, you can lock and close all windows and the sunroof the same way when exiting the car. Auto Central locking when in motion - To activate: With electronic key in steering lock position 2 hold upper portion of switch (1) for a minimum of 5 seconds. To deactivate: With electronic key in steering lock position 2 hold lower portion of switch (2) for a minimum of 5 seconds. With the automatic central locking system activated, the doors and trunk are locked at vehicle speeds of approx. 9 mph (15 km/h) or more. The fuel filler flap remains unlocked. The 1997 C36 has the 5speed with Winter/Summer (W/S) mode. Winter mode locks out 1st gear acceleration.
PRN good job guys :) yeah there aren’t a lot of them out there left (276 imported to the USA total for example) let alone in good condition. It’s unfortunate the automatic gearbox appears to have been the reason enthusiasts have ignored the C36 in favor of the manual E36 M3. But even if resale values show otherwise, I believe the C36 is a historically significant car for AMG, being it was the “last” AMG product created with their old-school approach. Starting from the w202 C43, it seemed the “easy way” to produce power was followed. Rather than genuine hot rod tricks like extreme boring and stroking of the engine, minor modifications were done in favor of parts bin solutions, as well as the later use of super chargers and turbos for the cars produced until the 63 N/A series came about. It’s nice to also NOT see another C36 for possibly months or years on the road here in California where M3’s can be seen by the dozen daily.
The transmission certainly plays into it, that's for sure. We weren't hung up on it but find some automatics can really be a let down. There's certainly some nice W202s being maintained up here, we see them posted on enthusiast groups frequently.
During our research we found the C36 is one of the more accepting cars to modifications, seems to be a long list of options for what can be done with them if you want it to run differently than stock.
Great review of the nice classic C36 AMG with its huge Inline 6 engine. Just lovely, 601ccm per cylinder (3606ccm). Fuck this downsizing nowadays, we need big engines for real fun! Thanks alot and keep on! Greetings from Germany ✌
PRN 'Old' but gold. Older cars give every car guy/enthusiast a very special feeling, which any of the new cars can't give him - emotions, or lets call it driving pleasure. Maybe modern cars are overall faster and perform better, but only classic cars produce the goosebumps and joy every car enthusiast is living for. A C63 AMG is faster on the Nürburgring, but with a C36/C43 AMG the whole experience is more raw. I love your channel, today I was watching lots of other reviews. Respect for your high quality videos, I love all old MB and AMG cars, and appreciate every video you upload. So keep on and never stop :)
I owned one C200 1996..the car is old. But its still the best and have a powerfull engine..1996 car still can speed up till 200km in the year of 2017..im so proud of Mercedes Benz👍🏻
bro, this is so cool. I have the same car and fell in total love with it when I was 8years old believe that! lol but seriously 22 years later I finally own one. original owner bought the car in Canada and ended up garaged in Miami for 14 Years until I came along. keep it up brother!
Man this is good content! I love your taste in vehicles, and that fact that your driving examples that are most commonly seen in used markets (high milage, broken trim interior bits, lowered etc). Keep up the good work!
Amazing videos. Keep it up! My love for Mercs and older luxury cars keep on growing. As a presenter, your style fits luxury/new classic cars extremely well. I hope you stay with your style.
We think we've found a good groove and format with the show finally. We were looking back on older videos last week and what we're currently doing feels a lot better than even some of the cars we featured at the beginning of the year.
Wood fits benzes' perfectly. Makes even the new ones interior "oldskoolish", you know? I think that metal trims and plastic feeling piano black trims have a cold feeling, though someone might like the modern touch which they bring. Ps. Did you know that buzzing for seatbelts is for USA on only. We had the seatbelt sound in Europe first in these w202 era benzes i think. Or even later. For example euro124 only has light for seat belt but no buzz sound. Also: that buzz sound in older benzes is the same sound that comes if you leave the headlights on after turning the engine off. That's why it is SO DAMN LOUD AND ANNOYING, you don't want to forget the headlights on. Pps. Good video
I was just looking through some old photos, a couple months ago a RHD C250 Diesel was sitting at the Tim Hortons drivethru, I stopped and asked him about it and if he'd be interested in having it on the show. Never heard back from the guy, but apparently he's not even into Mercs and just bought it as a winter beater.
Yewh I've been researching all about lately cause I'm a BMW guy at heart and I badly want a E38! But I'm getting this off w Friend it's in decent condition 140k on miles my engine runs good and smooth as well as slot of things but I'm hoping I'm having blown fuse issues cause the seats stopped working and AC they worked last time she was used before I bought it. I'm getting her from Houston this weekend. My friends dad had to do a repair for me cause my friend who got the car from was fixing an oil leak ahd the bolts broke off in the block where the expansion plug goes
Overall the issues should be pretty straightforward! The AC might be the biggest headache, if there's a leak in the system somewhere. But these are really awesome cars, engineered well and still have huge enthusiast communities behind them.
I've got a C43 that I upgraded with the 5.5l V8 from the CLK55 and i bought a C36 back in August and I love it. It is a 96 model converted to a manual transmission by Lorinser with fabric seats. I love how smooth the engine runs and how comfortable the car is to drive on the Autobahn. I fitted it with a H&R Cup Kit Comfort suspension and it rides amazing, event at over 120mph on the autobahn.
when you swap m113 for bigger m113 how much changes to car software is needed i am very interested in this subject and would love to know more i like the idea of putting a 3.7 m112 in w208 320 or a 55 into my clk430
I have a 1996 C280, it's in perfect condition the only thing not working is the cruise control and one dashboard bulb is blown. Still has original radio with all buttons working just fine. It looks brand new from 8+ feet away and still drives like a new car even with 255000km.
That's awesome! Cruise control might be a tough fix, but truthfully we haven't had to repair one on ours. We'd love to pick up a W202, they're great little cars that keep on going!
i laughed when you came from behind the tree, it was a great video and a good read as well, im starting to fall in love with the cars you have on here especially this one
Glad you liked it! I got frustrated trying to record that intro, probably restarted it about 12 times, each time not quite hitting the right words or forgetting something. Finally I gave up and went through the tree without worrying about the script and it ended up working. This was a great car, we really loved it!
"We're doing 70...and now we're doing 100" Judging by the way it was passing you, I guess that mini van on the highway was doing 120. They're bad ass little cars. Woulda been real nice to have seen a through the window view or speedo shot and heard the engine rev when you stepped on it a couple times. I was surprised you never mentioned it's dual overhead cam/four valve per cylinder head, the beefy brakes, 5-link rear suspension...and the fact that these things routinely go well over 200K miles and keep on truckin'. Still...nice to see a review of one of the most understated hot rods ever made. Thanks.
We try to fit as much as we can into the 10-ish minute video we make. I think we covered their reliability pretty well though! These cars certainly do last, we see them on the road today and there tend to be a lot of W202s in mint condition on forums and other enthusiast websites.
Im from the uk and this is the 3rd review ive watched first 750i 740 v8 second video was 2000 s class 750 il that was a great review i loved it now im about to watch this video. Ive subscribed and fast becoming a fan of your presentation keep em coming uk
Glad to hear that, thanks! We try to offer something a little different than what everyone else is doing, so we're happy to hear you like it! Thanks for subscribing!
Definitely felt well built to us! We've seen a few W202s on the road out here in Québec since moving, definitely says something about these older Mercedes'!
My buddy has one, survivor! He is restoring it slowly but surely. I just rebuilt a tranny harness for him) What were they thinking! Despite it already having cheaper materials than w124 and even w201 it inherited a very strong engine and tranny. Too bad you can not add pictures here (
Garanin Corp. My c63 PP has 80k miles now. Got.it 2 years ago with 30k..Lol it's my daily. Tune, headers, 150 shot wet kit all put in at 50k miles and now bunch of other supporting mods and recently e85 flex fuel kit. It's been nothing but perfect to me. Many ither.owners have had the same experience. The m156 is really well built. Unfortunately you run into 1st owner cars who did nothing but tear them up (which is ok) but they don't service them correctly and decide to skip of maintenance therefore ruining the car for future owners. Really fucked up.
Thanks! Congrats for your friend, the C36 is a really solid car. Hopefully our shorter video on the C43 helped you out too, those are really fun cars to drive around, most people don't know the exist which adds to the cool factor.
Ya I watched that one too, was great. They are awesome cars, and technically sleepers. For my C43 I'd get it black with the silver monoblocks from the E55. They look super clean with the timeless design that's boxy, but not dorky. The monoblocks definitely fit the more squared style of those 90s cars.
Silver on silver looks amazing too. It looks very sharp and distinctively Mercedes. I just want black because I like the contrast between the body and wheel colors. And Mercedes always look excellent in black.
I feel the same way, a buddy almost 8 years ago bought a dirt cheap C 43 AMG as a winter car, I think he might have had the C 36 also. It's a shame really, they are quite enjoyable cars but it seems like a log of them ended up getting riced up or neglected.
Glad you liked it! I probably filmed that intro half a dozen times and kept screwing up my lines, so finally I got frustrated and did something silly, which ended up getting my lines across in one shot!
Great question. First place I'd check out would be ebay, unless an OEM part exists for it out there then maybe you can order it from Mercedes directly. Alternative would be to look at one of the dedicated MB/AMG forums like MBWorld.org or BenzWorld to see what others have done.
Dark met grey with Mono blocks is my spec black wheels? What the fuck man. Brilliant car nice and low arse near the tar mac and swings with your hips like a BMW but without the breakdowns. Unbeatable so too is my 300 CE 1988 baby!
i own 1999 w202 C200 manual gear and i'm very happy with this car very comfortable and and it has the classic and sport look at the same time love my car benz is the best 👌
HI im in London uk i owned a e36 amg very rare dont know if was available in us but just a e class with same 3.6 engine was a great car...very rare over here
I don't believe we did. When I was doing research on the E55 AMG (W210) it seems like North America only received the E55 whereas the rest of the world had the E50 and E60s, so I'd guess the E36 was Euro only. Definitely a rare car! I wonder how it would compare with this one or the E55.
I always dig your reviews for your; outright honesty. I love the C36 most of all...since my fist Benz was a 190C. Four door black sedan. It was perfect when I got it as a ten year old used auto! If you can believe that. My next Benz was also a 190C. Both cars now haunt my dreams 30 years on... Aaaaaarrrrrggghhhhhh! But whsddya gonna do?? Thanks again. I'm stick in with ye.
We appreciate that, thanks! We love this era of Mercedes engineering, there's something about the design and build quality that just works. We're glad we had the chance to film a couple of these W202s, and we're on the hunt for a mint 190 E to feature. We've had a few people offer theirs once the weather improves, so we're hoping to make an episode happen this year!
@@PRNTestDrive love ur video's!!! I want a a C36!! Just bought a e320 s124 wagon. Earlier this year bought a 94 s500 coupe. 4 years ago bought a 300sl 1990. So I got 3 now! Wife's concerned.lol AMG nxt😳 Anyways I'm a hormone speacialist and train athletes and all kinds of folks. If u need help with getting in THE BEST shape if ur life DNT hesitate to reach out!! Justin💪😉
I love my diesel Benz from 1981 the 300SD TURBO-DIESEL. Pure black mint luxury rolling & evolving into perfection. We're at a low mileage 100K and after 37 years it's a museum artifact that ROAARRSSS!! GGGRRRRrrrrrrr..!
Back in 2003-2004 I had a 1997 E39 540i. I was bmw fanboy and my boss was a Mercedes fanman... he had a 98 or 99 C43 (pretty sure it was a 98) He placed an order for an E55 kompressor so he was ready to sell his C43 so I decided to give Mercedes ownership a try. I drove the car and I liked it,it was like an E36 M3 sedan for me but with an added bonus of a V8. I wanted an e46 M3 but even high mileage first year of the e46 was out of my budget. I also looked for an e36 sedan automatic because I was 19-20 years old at that time and I drove a manual only a Nissan Maxima for 2 days only. I got the hang of it quick,within 30-40 minutes my friend was already relaxed in the passenger seat and so was I behind the manual but i knew I had a lot to learn and needed way more experience if I was going to buy a manual e36 M3.I would be able to drive it but I wouldn’t enjoy it for a while untill I mastered it and another thing I had to consider was my one hour ride to work and then back home 6 days a week in traffic 90 percent of the time. So long story short I was stuck on selling my 97 540i for the C43 or a e36 M3 sedan with an automatic. I found one and test drove it and i was horrified with how it drove. The automatic wasn’t no where near as smooth as the one i had in my 540i and the car felt weird and actually quiet slow. I thought maybe some Dinan auto trans software should fix it and engine software along with an intake and exhaust from Dinan should get the M3 to feel as quick or even quicker then my 540i but upon checking pricing for all that Dinan stuff I was horrified. My bosses C43 was settled on for me now I just have to sell my car ASAP because his E55 should be here any week... so I quickly sold my 97 540i for $12k and I had a few grand to come up to the $16k he was asking for the C43 with right about 40k miles which was very low for at that point a 6 year old car. I was without a car for weeks because he was waiting on the E55 then one day he calls me in his office and tells me that he cancelled the e55 and will keep the C43 for a little longer. I wanted to rip my bosses throat out because I kept renting cars to go to work. A dodge neon was costing me like $25-30 per day back then so my weekly bills would come then I got my monthly bill and I was losing almost a thousand dollars a month to drive a neon that kept breaking down on me to add to the problem. I was desperate and tired of looking for something between $10-15k in 2003-2004. I wanted something fast with 4 doors and luxurious so there wasn’t a lot of options besides the bmw 540I,Lexus GS400/430 or I also kept looking for a Benz E430 sport... infiniti had an M45 back then too but they were still pricey so I also considered slower japanese V8 cruisers like infiniti Q45,lexus ls400 but in the end I ended up with another 540i except this one was a 99 with sport package and vanos which my 97 didn’t have and really low miles which meant nothing cause I still had typical issues with it. A year later my boss finally got a CPO e46 M3 (assface!) and called me into his office like “ready to do the deal?” Till this day I think he’s slow or a moron. I explained I got a 540I outside just got some cooling work done and I dumped money on cosmetic add on plus few minor mods so there was no way I was going to go through with selling it... I knew I wouldn’t get close to what I paid for it because of my mods and even if I did get an okay price offer and sold it then who knows if my boss would of pulled some other shit
Awesome! We saw a C250 CDI in Ontario a few months ago, imported with right hand drive. The owner was using it as a winter beater, not sure how or why he acquired it.
I just purchased a 1997 c36 and it has the 5 speed transmission with winter and sport mode. Was that an option for 97 or did they all come that way. My car also has the cell phone wired into the center console which i think is neat lol
I believe they all did for the 1997 models, but still good to have! That car phone is definitely something you should hold on to, I doubt many W202s had them!
Thanx for this feature. I have the W202 C180 1997 model and am experiencing wiring problems. Can you advise where I can purchase a new harness? Thank you (I am in South Africa)
where are you guys from?!? i watched your video on the 99 C43 and im not sure but I think I heard you say that you were driving the C43 in sauga?? aka Mississauga??
That's correct, we used to film in Ontario. The C43 was filmed in the Meadowvale Mississauga area, however the rest of the videos we did were almost always in Niagara or Hamilton. We just finished moving east of Montreal though.
I believe the regular W202s would have those modes, but the AMGs weren’t really meant for winter driving, at least I wouldn’t want to drive one of these in winter. Not that it wouldn’t handle it, I just don’t want to risk damaging the body/frame with winter’s elements.
The IR remote controller system has sensors at the drivers door and the internal rear view mirror. You may unlock the w202 from any angle you want. Also, there is no alarm in the car. The lights on the mirror and driver's door are only telling you the imobilizer is OFF or ON. If you unlock the car with your key (not using the IR), the imobilizer won't let you start the engine and the grean and red light will keep flashing. Just read the owner's manual (free in pdf on the internet) before you do these reviews.
Good to know! Truly we try to get all the information we can, but we have a hard time finding the owner's manuals for cars older then 2002ish as MB doesn't provide them online after that year. We try to get it right as best we can and research the rest online before working on the script. Often we find conflicting information on forums and it's hard to get reliable data.
That's great! We think this car is going to increase in popularity over the next little while, especially when well preserved ones from Japan keep showing up on the market.
We hosted our final Cars & Coffee a couple weeks ago in Hamilton, ON as we're moving in 9 days to Québec. Once we're settled there and get involved with the local enthusiast clubs we hope to host some more meet ups.
You are definatley wrong at 8:50 it's definatley for that, and having the car in a lower gear waiting to pass or on bends. In 2 the car starts in 1st and only upshifts near redline, good for downhill as it will never upshift from 1st unless much throttle is applied In 3 Will upshift at higher rpm, downshift at more rpm and lock out 4th gear since you can do 180 in 3rd. Upshifts very fast with powershift function at full throttle or kickdown pressed, meaning power is not interrupted at wheels, or even decreased while shifting ocurrs
Keeping the transmission in a lower gear for driving down a hill is the only reason we'd use this transmission layout in that way. Even a straight shift pattern on most other cars we'd avoid this type of driving. In our automatic 7 Series we only shift manually through the Steptronic shift mode, if it didn't have that we'd wouldn't actively drive between manual gears. Everyone is allowed to do whatever they want though!
Uphill also, you don't want it to hunt hundreds of times between gears. IT "wants" to shift early for economy, that's why you have 2 and 3 positions, some have the lateral B for 1st
Welcome, Keep up the great Reviews and don't worry about your haters, let them hate. You've earned a new subscriber. Great Job once again. Love the vids and keep em coming.
We did look into that, while Mercedes and AMG were working on several 36 models, such as the E36 and G36, the C36 was the first to hit the market. During our research we found the G36 had insanely limited production numbers. I want to say double digit.
@3:32 "Cruise control is impossible to understand at night" oh BIOYA, its just up+hold for a moment or two to set, back to resume, forward for off and pull up/down to raise/lower CC speed by 1mph increments
There's a little story behind that sequence, I filmed it about 7 times and kept messing up, so I finally gave up and decided to come through the trees to lighten things up.
Did you watch the video, or did you comment based on you glancing at the title and making assumptions? In the video I explain in detail how Mercedes/Daimler bought AMG, making this W202 C 36 the first MERCEDES-AMG vehicle built, not the first AMG, not the first AMG Mercedes, but the first completely built by AMG as a subsidiary of Mercedes. Big difference.
Good to know! I thought it was just when the C43 came out, but that's hopefully an improvement. We hoped to be able to review the 5 Speed auto at the same time, but hopefully soon!
PRN you definetly need to drive a 97 someday! mine had the Supersprint catback sounded lovely. There are some old video's on my channel. if you ever happen to be in Holland/Germany hit me up to try my C209 CM60 Carlsson. I think you are doing really good with these video's :)
Really? What ended up going wrong with it? From our research the W202s seem to be reliable, regular maintenance is key though but things aren't poorly engineered with these cars.
I go into extensive detail about this at the start of the video, so your comment just shows me that you found the video, read the title, and came to an assumption without actually watching the video. I explain in this video that prior to this car, AMG was an independent tuning company that made upgrades for all sorts of cars, Daimler-Benz bought them out to become an exclusive performance sub-brand. As a result of that this W202 C-Class AMG was the first true AMG vehicle designed from the ground up as a division of Mercedes-Benz.
I apologize if you thought this, but we gathered recent AMG models, and specifically mentioned the partnership began in the 90s with the C36, and showed where the products are today with 2013-2015 models.
