Hi everyone,
I’m looking to buy a first car.
I have 2 choices:
My parents’ 2010 mercedes B200 Manual 147.000kms, properly maintained, all maintenance history, however it’s been in 2 accidents (both repaired through insurance)
or
Buying a private party’s honda civic coupe 2010 manual 220.000kms, replaced clutch, brakes and suspension, no accidents (apparently but we can never be too sure)
(i’m obviously getting either of them inspected before buying it)
Honda’s insurance is 137 CAD per month and mercedes is 167 CAD per month.
Both at the same price for the purchase (4000 CAD before taxes & licensing fees)
Which way should I go ?
220.000kms = 137,000miles
147.000kms = 91,000 miles
4000 CAD = 3000 USD
neither keep looking
damn, well the market is screwed up, I thought manual civics could last a long time
Actually it's not terrible. I just realised you said kilometres, and Canadian dollars.
Still that's too much money. Try to get the price down.
Yea, it’s about 140,000 miles for 3000 usd. I’ll try to talk it down a few hundred bucks
The Civic is high mileage and Mercedes as Scotty calls them is endless money pit.
True, but this is a 2010 B class they don’t have a lot of fancy technology, pretty barebones, the only luxury feature is the heated seats, no turbo, has a timing chain
It still has enough stuff to make it a money pit if and when it starts breaking down. I learned driving with a 1981 280E and those years are the only times I would ever consider a Mercedes because they were simple enough to work on yourself (but still parts are kind of expensive compared to newer Toyota and Honda vehicles I have). If one of these two options only then I would personally prefer the Civic if you can lower the price a bit.
I’ll go ahead with the civic thanks!
I checked out the civic today, it was awful. A bunch of rust, the pictures were taken a long time ago and it shows (headlights were faded, shift knob leather was broken), brought it to a mechanic, as soon as he started checking out under the car he said one of the brakes was warped, the suspensions were shot, a screw under the car is going to break soon, plastic covers where the wheels go were not there, he said it would be $1000 in repairs at least. I ended the inspection early and didn’t buy it, I was really disappointed and went quite far to check it out (1hr subway ride). I think I’m just going to buy my parents B200
I know many people think that Mercedes is the worst and scariest car to work on but, Unlike so many of their other models - the B class manual is a good car to learn how to work on (something you just have to do when you own a Mercedes of that era). In many parts of the world, the B/C ware popular taxies. (specifically the B180d, although the B200's powertrain is also solid) But I wouldn't pay anywhere near that kind of money.
With considerate driving, given that previously it was serviced with a service internal of no more than 7k miles, you can get over 200k miles on it without having to spend too much money (if you reduce the interval to about 5k). But note that this does require you, as the owner, to use COMMON SENSE and be INVOLVED in repairs. (yes it does have the engine under a very weird angle, but that only matters when changing sparks. Mercedes mechanics are the worst and will over charge you / require replacement of things you don't need constantly - so you have to be knowable)
There's a video with a complete teardown of the engine and all of its weak spots explained (use English subtitles) - very solid.
You probably can get another 30k miles before you'll need to start listening to the chain, replacing the fuel pump, replacing the coils, rebuilding the alternator - It's not a money pit, it just has a "mid-life crisis" at 125k miles because that's what some of the components (alternator, coils, timing chain) in it are built to last.
So yeah, not really recommended - but if you want to drive a Mercedes, that's one of the cheapest and most reliable ways to do that.
As far as the Civic, I don't recommend coupes - they're usually used to "drive fast" are much more worn than others.
Try finding a lower millage Civic for cheaper (preferably a sedan, usually no one's racing those), and I'd go for the 2011 model year.
Thanks for all this information it’s really useful! I will avoid the mercedes considering all these factors
I’d go with the Civic. That’s probably my favorite generation Civic, because it started life not as a Honda, but an Acura. The Acura CSX I believe.
Even better if that Civic comes with the K-series engine, one of Hondas best engines ever created.
Yea, i like the civic too, the 2010-2011 is good since before that they had issues with cracked engine blocks
the brakes was warped, the suspensions were shot, a screw under the car is going to break soon, plastic covers where the wheels go were not there, he said it would be $1000 in repairs at least.
just for future reference:
- brake rotors are $20 a piece
- struts are $125
- bolts are a few bucks
- and you don't need those plastic covers. I drove for years without them
All of these things are easy to fix yourself.
there were other stuff wrong with the car such as : very rough idling when cold, very loud in low RPMs, dead A/C, it was disgusting inside, lots of rust, just overall not a good deal
fair enough
And also, I don’t know how to work on a car and I live in Montréal, there’s a lot of snow and salt so if rust is not taken care of it will only get worse
it's never too late to learn. With a bit of basic skills you can save a lot of money.
What’s the best way of learning on how to work on a car ? I don’t know any mechanic friends
What’s the best way of learning on how to work on a car
step 1- Pick up a repair manual for your car
2- Find some tools. Ratchets , wrenches, etc.
You can often find them cheap at garage sales, thrift shops, pawn shops, craigslist etc.
3 - Next time something breaks, or it's time to do maintenance, look in your manual and follow the step-by-step instructions. They make it really easy for you with pictures and everything. And of course there is tons of information on the internet now, including videos. Search Scotty's youtube channel for keywords and start from there.