TARNISHED STAR.(News)(Mercedes C320 sport wagon)(Product/Service Evaluation)

Byline: NATALIE NEFF

A year with our C320 sport wagon left us wanting. Not for more practicality or panache or even over-the-road enjoyment; our long-term Mercedes delivered those in bucket loads. But for a car that cost almost $46,000, we'd expect things like gloveboxes to stay bolted in place. Heck, we'd expect that from a $9,000 Kia Rio.

Instead, our wagon had more things lifted, tucked and tweaked than we would have bet on, given Mercedes' reputation for quality. And if not for the superior warranty and dealership service, our C320 might have spent a lot more than 11 days in the shop-and required a lot more out-of-pocket.

Yet despite all the trips to the dealership, we loved our little Mercedes wagon. Call us suckers for a pretty face and some great moves.

Our problems started out small, with a broken seatbelt buckle here, a sticking climate control button there and a faltering transmission somewhere in between. Minor inconveniences that we hardly batted an eye about in the car's first six months with us. With the buckle and button replaced and the tranny module reset, we were good to go.

Soon afterward, however, the problems started to mount. First, the shifter assembly literally fell to pieces in our hands and needed to be replaced in its entirety. Then the front end started making ungodly noises (``There's a whine somewhere, then there's all the clunking, crunching plastic noises coming from the front suspension at low speeds,'' noted one tester), which led to a thorough cleaning of the antiroll bar bushings and the outright replacement of the differential. By then even a clouded fog lamp lens got us shaking our heads and wondering, ``What next?''

Next just so happened to be failure of the shifter-again-a glovebox that fell off-twice-a CD player that ceased recognizing CDs-also twice-a headrest that stopped working, weatherstripping that popped out and a front end that sounded like hell-again. Quite an ...