The Interior

These are the most common major problems that occur on 2002's. There are also other, smaller problems, but most of them fall in the not major enough to keep from buying the car category. Many small interior annoyances stem from broken interior fittings (window winders), and sunroof leakage.

Seats:

In 2002s, I have seen at least 4 different seat types that look standard:

  1. Early seats without headrests and manual cam-like seat rake adjustment.
  2. Early seats with headrests and a gear driven seat rake adjustment with a chrome metal cover
  3. Late seats with headrests and a gear driven seat rake adjustment with a plastic cover.
  4. The 320i seats with headrests that look like the late model 2002 seats but have a slightly wider base.

The original seats were also offered in a variety of styles. Early cars had low back seats, that were wider, had manual seat rake adjustment, and didn’t have headrests. Some early cars also don't have reclining seats. But, for the purpose of this guide, let's focus on the two most common, standard seats. There are at least two patterns for the vinyl seats: 7 pleats that go up and over the seatback and 6 pleats with a solid panel on the top of seatback for the 1974 models.the correct vinyl used oathe pleats is a round perforation look. Square MB-tex (Mercedes vinyl) is a common Mercedes vinyl used when the seats are re-upholstered.

Carpeting and Center Consoles

Door and Quarter Panels

Door panels: original, undamaged door panels is an excellent indicator of love and care. From the factory, a plastic sheet protected the cardboard used for the door panels. However, any repair inside the door meant removing this protective plastic. Unfortunately, moisture behind the door panel will damage the cardboard. New door panels are being re-manufactured, but they are very expensive. Speaker holes cut into the door panels are common - but, it should be avoided in the future because it is difficult to find enough metal to mount the speaker.

I have seen a lot of debate regarding the locations for the placement of speakers. The standard locations when the cars were new include: a single speaker below the radio in the center console, speakers attached to the panels under the dash (or holes drilled cut into these panels-but, this is also a bad practice), and mounted on the kick panels. With the advent of quadraphonic, stereo systems, people wanted to install four speakers. But, where to mount them? Besides the doors, speakers were installed in the tray supporting the lower cushion of the rear seat (a good place) or in the rear deck behind the rear seat (not a good idea). I still recommend speakers in enclosures that sit on top of the surface rather that cutting holes. Large stereo systems that require large holes cut into the wall behind the rear seat for Subwoofers should be avoided.

There are two metal strips mounted on the top of the door: a Squegee-like trim on the outside for keeping water out of the door and a felt-like trim an top of the door on the inside (part of the door panel). These two pieces are expensive to replace. Look at them closely to make sure they are not bent or severely scratched. Damaged trim pieces should be the “tip of the iceberg” and prompt you to look closer at the door for the reason why they were improperly removed. The wind wing window is very robust. Very rarely has it been removed. But, if it has, then look at the inner Surface of the window side window for vertical scratches because the windwing frame serves as one of the tracks for the wind-up, side window. Also take a look at the metal trim next to the window. If they were removed using the wrong technique, then it will he obvious where they were bent.

To remove the wind wing window knob, you need to push out the center piece of plastic from behind. There is a hole in the knob where you can insert an L-shaped object and push the center out. Many people are too lazy to figure out the proper technique, so they use an object to pry it out. The only way to deal with this (if it bugs you like it bugs me) is to buy a new knob.

Headliner and Sunroof

Interior styles and colors

Carpeting

Take a look at the inner surface of the roll-up windows. Minor scratches in a vertical line show improper alignment. Also take a look at (and operate) the wind wings. Replacement of these can be costly.

Gauges and Instruments

Gauges: there are several different instrument clusters. The clusters are easy to remove and service (Hollywood Speedometer comes highly recommended for repair of speedometer, tachometer and/or clocks).

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