Hi Wendy,

That (2013) is late in the ‘W204’ generation of Mercedes C-Class’s life, so while there were a few issues with the C 220 CDI (including an early injector fault on BlueEfficiency models, which was fixed under a recall that replaced Delphi injectors with Bosch items), they should all have been sorted on a car as late as the one you’re looking at.

Which means you revert to the traditional used-car buying tips: check it has full history; go over its physical condition with a fine-toothed comb, looking hard at hidden places inside and out to ensure all is as it seems, considering the car’s mileage and age; give it a test drive to ensure you like the way it drives; and, on an automatic turbodiesel, watch for any slurring of gearshifts or clunky gearchanges from the gearbox, or any evidence of white smoke from the exhausts during cold start-up and harder acceleration. If either of these things occur, walk away and look for another C-Class.

A few wisps of black smoke is not a huge issue, unless there are great clouds of the stuff billowing out of the car during acceleration. Other than that, the only thing to note is that the C 220 uses Mercedes’ venerable old 2.1-litre, four-cylinder diesel engine – it has proven reliable, being installed in millions of vehicles over its long life, but it’s quite noisy and rattly by modern turbodiesel standards. As long as you don’t mind the noise it makes on a test drive, it’s a very good car.