Our '95 E320 wagon has recently kept a monthly appointment schedule with the shop. Most recent was the air pump, pulley, serpentine belt and fan bearing. My wife and I have decided to sell it while it still has some residual value.
She likes how it drives, likes haveing the 3rd seat and loves the cargo carrying capacity. Soooooo we have started to look for an '01-'02 model- NON 4matic.
Other than the harmonic balancer, what are the problem areas ?
How does reliability compare to the W124 series, particularly the '94-95 models ?
Ideally, I would like to get an example with less than 50k miles.
I understand the MB-USA has changed the Starmark warranty program. How does it work now ? Is it still worth the cost ?
In checking prices on Ebay and via MB-USA used car search, I see ~$8k price differance. Is the differance justified if the vehicle is Starmaked ?
Well, I just replaced my 1994 E320 with a 2000 E320 ( non wagons though) and I thing the overall quality of the 94 was higher than the newer W210's.
I still think it's a fine car and relatively troublefree, but I think Mercedes was feeling the pinch from the Japanese on features and have been playing catch-up.
If you had a mid to ealy 80's MBZ you noticed the significant feature increase with your '95. The same thing, in spades will happen with the newer W210's. Unfortunately it's hard to increase features, keep quality high and keep the price from climbing. Nevertheless it is still a fine car and you'll enjoy it.
I wish I felt Starmark had as much emphasis and energy from the technicians and engineers as it seems to have from the marketing and sales people. I feel it adds value and a consistency to expectations of the dealer sold, higher quality "pre-owned" cars. I also think it's oversold and overpriced. I place the highest premium on a car I can purchase from the first owner who was very careful and detailed with all services and records. That beats Starmark any day. Only problem is that the dealer can't sell that.
I actually bought a car with over 50K miles (72K actually) but it was in very clean shape and my personal mechanic vouched for it. I also purchased an extended warranty to cover the expensive electronics should they go South on me.
That was my personal Starmark for $60 plus the $2000 warranty. IMHO
Watch out for the rust problems! Mercedes tends to develop rust almost anywhere, but most common under the upper door rubber sealing.
W210 is certainly a great car to drive but there is also some other issues. A friend of mine has a E270 cdi -01 with 72000 miles on it and has besides from rust had pixel error on the display which often starts with gear indicator (common from -00 and up), the alternator gave up and a rebuilt of the front suspension.
So my guess is that you probably gonna downgrade on behalf of reliability, but still the rust is the most important thing to consider, so search this forum for rust before you make a deal!
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