C-Class W203 Advice needz

[Volksy]

I've been to look at a Vehicule this afternoon, 

Its a '2000 C240 Saloon - so 2.6 18v V6, in Blurple (which makes a change from the usual silver or black) Its Avant-garde spec with grey MB tex interior. 

It has full, and I mean full service history, 85k on the clock, and has been owned by a local doctors elderly wife, 

The battery is goosed so couldn't drive it as yet, New one is being supplied and fitted along with a new fan/coolant ECU(?).

The bodywork is as you would expect, battered, Not much rot, bizarre given it's a Mercedes from the naughties, However the late lady owner obviously drove like my old man - by feel. Husband obviously felt the need to 'tidy it up' with lots of flat overspray and wheel nuts painted in what looks like humbrol paint...

No leaks, and 12 months MOT, 4x new tyres and a slight smell of the elderly. 

 

Anything I should look out for on these? 

 

[Stanky]

Dull but highly competent. I have a miserly c180 estate manual which is not in any way exciting but is reliable, capacious and comfortable. 

Worth getting for V6 alone, all that mine lacks tbh. 

All the repairs and servicing mine has had have been easy and cheap.

[Volksy]

This one is an auto. So I'm assuming its the old 5 speeder rather than some sealed for life horror box.

[New POD]

Battery goosed? Always take jump leads to view a car? 

85k sounds high for an old person. 

Based on my Grandads 1976 Allagro Vandom.plas which had 36k on the clock when he passed away in 2000, or my father in laws 2000 Astra, which had 19k on it when he passed it to my son in 2015. 

 

[Stanky]

Auto is how they were intended to be. The 'hand' brake is fine in an auto, doing hill starts in a manual requires either a broom handle or a rather larger winkie than I was blessed with.

[rusty998]

I had a W203 320 estate,  was good and went well, rad ecu is a  common problem along with the front and rear S,A,M's service acquisition modules that can have faults in them, if your replacing the battery a 100ah is recommended as any lower can cause lots of things electrical not to work, stepper motors in the dash break and then click for around 2 minutes after start up and obviously your heating system won't work as it should, electric seat modules are prone to fail,  if it's all working drive it and you should enjoy,  rust can be an issue all over the car, otherwise there great 😬