I have two other MB vehicles, and have driven MB sedans and Gwagens for 30+ years. Can members here tell me if buying an E320 sedan is a good idea. What are the weaknesses? The vehicle has only 67,000 miles, is black and perfect in every detail.
The owner is known to me, and has records for almost the entire life of the vehicle. Oil changes at 2,000 miles, for example.
I would like to know about electirical and other issues that might be a problem.
"Green" insulation was used on MB autos during the middle to later 1990's, so I am concerned about those years, and problems that might be related.
Yupp. I own 97 and 99 models. They have more electronic gizmos (that can fail), than older models, but I appreciate better leg room and traction control.
No corrosion even on th 99 model, that spend 5 years in snow state.
Sounds great! I have 66k now on my '98 & you can see I'm used to older ones that had more substantial components. Some items are not as durable as they should be: motor mounts & other items that have not lasted as long as on my previous cars but...this car drives, rides & handles like a million dollars! The 2k oill changes caught my eye in your posting; ideally, the current owner has been using mobil 1 as well as a fleece filter as called for starting with the advent of the v-style engines and the flexible service system that have allowed for 10k+ mileage oil changes.
As for the car you're considering: with the care & attention it has received, you cannot go wrong!
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'87 300E: sold after 11years @ 230k & still on the road somewhere in rural Tennessee.
'94 C220 with 93k totalled 10/06 by hit & run broadsiding monster truck: not a scratch or bruise for me
Vehicle: 2001 E320 - Brilliant Silver/Ash: MBCA member
Location: The Mountain State
Posts: 6,363
That sounds like a good car to me too. I wouldn't be that concerned about potential electrical problems, it seems like all MBs have those. Yes, the older models seem to be less troublesome, but I have not experienced anything serious here. Plus, I also have the service history on the pre-owned M-B I bought, and the original owner had very few issues either.
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Ich liebe meinen Mercedes-Benz!
Thankyou all for the advice. I have done a CARFAx review of the vehicle since the first couple of years it lived in Flordia. I am very anxious about cars exposed to salted highways (Midwest or Germany), or salt water - although I live on the Puget Sound - no big wave action to put salt into the air.
So, I plan to look at the car again to examine for rust issues around the spring perches are other potential sources of future trouble. It is very interesting that I was able to look at hurricane and tropical storms on the Flordia Altantic Coast to see if there was any strong storm action or high water issues. The car seemed to miss a significant storm event.
This forum is a great source of information. For example, I discovered the harmonic balancer issues, and found that the dealer repaired that recently. I hope the dealer has been watching things like spring towers and related issues.
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