The benefits of being seen as successful because you drive a Benz do not outweigh the negative consequences of owning this car. Impressive to some, sure, but to others it can be quit off-putting. For instance, the professionals with whom I work were impressed; however, the general public (the ones who pay the bills) saw me as hoity-toity and unapproachable. Combining this with the financial burden of maintaining this car, I concluded it was time to move on to a different vehicle.

Two years ago I purchased a 2002 Mercedes Benz C230 Kompressor. Cute car. I had never experienced the pleasure of heated seats. I felt like a Princess, all warm and toasty, even before the car warmed up. That is all the good that I have to say about this car. The rest, if you continue to read, is the bad.

The car horribly uncomfortable to sit in, the seats are hard, and do not have any of the bell and whistles you would expect for personalizing lumbar support, height and tilt. The back seat is non-functional as it is so incredibly tiny. The car is absolutely impossible for more than two people, and completely impossible for long trips. With family out of town, and the need to transport three people, we spent too much money in the past two years on rental cars because this vehicle was ill-equipped for long travel.

The sunroof was a great feature. It comes with a filter shade so that you can close it off and block out the hot sun in the summer. But, if you open the sunroof, the wind rebounds around the car and creates a sort of knocking about noise that makes driving with the sunroof open unbearable. The only way to stop the noise, short of closing the sunroof, is to open the windows. Very bad design flaw in this car. At 50,000, the motor on the sunroof went out. I had only opened the sunroof maybe half a dozen times when this happened. Unacceptable for a supposedly upper end car.

The plastic used around the front bumper of the car is cheap and damages very easily. This is an area of a car that takes a lot of wear from articles that bounce off the road, rocks and such. The plastic on my car was broken in three different places. Again, unacceptable.

The same type of plastic can be found on the inside of the car on the speakers located in the doors. Both of these speaker covers were broken on my vehicle. This is naturally a place where you might use your knee to prop open a door when parked on a slope. Once again, bad design.

Visibility out of this car to the rear is essentially non-existent. Initially, I thought it was because I am only 5' tall, but my much taller boyfriend also had problems accidentally cutting people off on the interstate. The design of the body of the car immediately behind the driver and passenger seats creates huge blind spots that are not helped with the use of exterior mirrors. Driving on the interstate put me into a panic every time.

The on-board computer is amazing. It informs you when you need to "visit a refueling station," when you wiper fluid is low, the time, the outside temperature - basically everything you could ever need or want to know. Unfortunately, it constantly malfunctions and consequently most information is incorrect. For instance, according to my computer, I needed wiper fluid for the entire two years I owned the car. Not true. But it never bothered to inform me that I had brake liner wear and, despite diligent routine maintenance, this issue did not become apparent until the rear brakes were worn down to the rotors. Not a cheap car to maintain, either. Rear brakes cost almost $500. Nor did the computer inform me that my front brake liners were worn; discovered this only when my mechanic was looking at the rear brakes.

All-in-all, obviously, this car is not one that I would recommend to anyone unless the only thing you want from a car is heated seats. If that is what you want, I suggest you save your money and buy a seat cover/warmer that plugs into the cigarette outlet. The Mercedes Benz C230 Kompressor is a let down for the driver and its occupants.