[benzman2]

Hi I am about to purchase a 1987 300E with 153,000 miles on it. How reliable are these cars in the long run? Also what does a radiator like light on the dash mean? The light stays on. Thank you.

 

[Colorado E420]

I am guessing the "radiator like light" is the low coolant indicator. That's what it is on my 94' E420.

I can't speak for reliability as owning an MB is new to me. But, I have put 5k on my 101k car in the last two months with no problems. All depends on how the car was cared for through it's life. I would not buy a high mile car without maint. records. But that's just me, I am anal about taking care of my cars.

Colorado

 

[Benzboy12]

I have a 300E benz with 150,000 miles, and it all depends if the car was well maintained and taken care of. These cars have been known to go up to and farther than 300,000 miles. Good luck it might be a good buy.

 

[mike690003]

The future life of the car depends on how it was treated in the past. Neglected maintenance and repairs lead to MAJOR problems down the line. If the car does not have any or too few records, I would offer a lot less money for it. You might need the money in the long run. I had an 87 300E, and I purchased it with about 130K on it. I had it for 2 years, and it needed A LOT of repairs. The transmission, overheating, and a host of other rough running issues. I later sold it with about 146k on it. By then, I had already fixed the car to 95% perfection. I had a shoebox filled with receipts of parts and repairs I made to the car. Some work still had a warranty on it. Needless to say, the new owner is pretty happy with the car. The moral of the story:You need some form of documentation of repairs made to a car.

 

[gallian]

I agree with the above post. They are wonderful cars to drive if they are properly cared for. Get the car thoroughly checked out and look for recent repairs--I too have a shoebox full of receipts for a car I bought, fixed up and eventually sold to a very content new owner.
The car looked fine when I purchased it but didnt have any records and so when you get a pesky problem like a rough idle, its hard to know what to troubleshoot, and whats already been taken care of.

Good luck.