My 2000 reg. W203 C220CDI used to regularly miss the service intervals as it was a company hack. Never went into limp home mode, in fact had no problems with it at all during the 3 years ownership. Interior felt cheaper and less thought out than my previous W202 C250TD though, and the steering and sometimes rather choppy ride led me to think they'd not just cheapened it but basically tried to copy the 3 Series which to me made it less appealing than its predecessor.
The things I liked about Mercedes of old were the hewn from solid feeling, the ride quality and the relaxing driving experience at the expense of ultimate cornering ability. You get that in my old W124, but not in the post 2000 C- and E-Classes I'd tried. Last week, however, the rental car company gave me the keys to a brand new C-Class. It was a C200CDI Automatic in Elegance trim. I really liked it. Very compliant, relaxing ride, attractive and well made interior and very quiet despite the 4 cylinder diesel/ automatic combination. Didn't handle as well as a BMW 3 Series and all the better for that.
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