I have owned the Mercedes C250 TurboDiesel 2500 Executive from virtually new in 1998 (Ex Demonstrator) and it has now just completed 23,000 miles, mainly driven by my wife. I have fitted, in total, 13 heater plugs to this car and cannot for the life of me understand why, as neither can anyone else ! The standard of paintwork is very poor, very susceptible to fine scratching, regardless of the care you take in washing. The roadholding, as someone else has said, particularly in the wet is worse than poor, it is downright dangerous with a pronounced tendancy to oversteer to a frightening degree, making the rear end VERY lively ! I am a motor dealer and I have owned a number of Merc's over many years. The quality of the marque has, in my considered opinion, deteriorated to a degree that I would not now ever consider buying another one. In fact, a "190" I bought new in 1993, had (we discovered at about 18months old) had been extensively repainted BEFORE I GOT IT, the gearbox (manual) baulked between gearchanges and overall was a very poor car and one which I could not wait to see the back of.
The amount of "person space" behind the wheel, is also really quite limited and whilst this is not a problem in my case, it would preclude a larger person fitting in. Also, the boot space is really very small for a touring car, Mercedes seem to have completely disregarded the standardisation of suitcase size in their blinkered teutonic way.
The shame is that the C250 TD has the makings of a very nice car but seems to have suffered the fate of many of it's competitors, it is being built to a price, not to a standard.
In fairness, I DO LIKE the speed limiter. It has saved many a 'point' and should, I feel, be fitted to EVERY car.
Having been a Mercedes owner/driver for many, many years I recently bought a Volvo S60 Diesel Saloon and jeeeeze..... WHAT a difference !. Considering that Volvo is now owned by Ford, ( ! ), this car is a cracker. Build quality is fine, performance and economy top shelf and, so far, not a single complaint
( 22,500 miles).
If I were to be critical, BOTH cars suffer dealers absolutely ridiculous service charges at around £78.00 + VAT per hour, making a relatively basic service cost in excess of £300.00, whilst local specialists do the same job at about half that price !
Sorry Mercedes..........