Hello all! New kid on the block here. Great forum, lots of good information. I've been looking for a good used MB for my wife and will be going to check one out this evening. Most likely I'll be driving it home as it sounds and looks like a nice ride. This is a 1998 C280 with only 22K miles on it. The car was owned by a little old lady, who due to health issues has to part with it. I've only had phone conversations and seen pics of it, but it is in immaculate condition with the only negative being the little old lady was a heavy smoker. The miles and everything check out on Carfax, basically 3K miles per year between inspections. Anything in particular I should look for on this vehicle? I believe these have SRF (not sure about the acronym), but basically a light comes on when service is due, is this true? I'm not sure if I'll be able to get my hands on any service records (which would only be 2), but would think that if a light came on, the lady would take it in to get serviced.

The guy I talked to does not think it has a CD player. The interior pics show some sort of display above the radio that looks like a CD changer control thing. Would this come with a car that does not have a player/changer?

I'm looking forward to checking this car out. Probably be seeing more of me in these forums after I become an owner

 

first of all when looking to buying a car check out and try all electronical things like back head rest vaccum pump, sunroof open and closes, the electronic seats, also the window lowering and rising bottons etc. that is the best tip i can give any other questions we will be he for you hope the car is great and that it works out for you and your wife.

Justin

 

So what happened?

Benzpimp is right. The most expensive repairs you'll probably ever encounter are electrical ones. BTW, I beleve you mean FSS ( not SRF). It stands for Flexible Service System. I also think '98 was the first year for this feature. In my experience owners have mixed feelings about FSS. However, if she tells you she serviced it whenever the service light came on, (and it's not on now) I'd probably believer her. MB owners who are not going to work on their own cars, usually protect their purchase by following service recomendations.

 

Thanks for the input. The possible aquisition was put on hold while some title issues are being ironed out. As of this morning, those appear to be resolved, so I may booking my flight to go check it out and get it for tomorrow.

 

Well, the title dilema should be straightened out on Monday. I'll probably fly up, check it out and hopefully drive it home the next day.

Question. This car does not have a CD changer (no CD player at all). At Crutchfiled, they have this:

USA SPEC SCD-A88iM

Has anyone ver installed on of these? Happy with the performance?

Another alternative would be to change the headunit with a single CD player. I'de like to keep the original look though.

 

I haven't but like you, I'm interested in it. My '99 came w/o CD changer but w/ a tape deck. It's part of the BOSE system and actually works and sounds OK. Eventually, I'm going going with XM satallite. I already have XM, but not in my car and can't quite get around to having it installed.