Even though I bought mine from a dealer, it was still worth checking that absolutely everything was working. There were a few things the inspection did not pick up:
- Driver-side seat heating fuse had blown.
- Driver-side headrest adjustment motor turned, but did not move the headrest.
- Right front headlamp wiper had come loose and did not move until bolt was tightened.
- One front wheel was out of balance, producing slight vibration at 75 mph.
- Spare tire had a cut in it, caused by the funny way the jack has to be stowed.

On general expense, if nothing goes wrong, the cars are not expensive to run. If something happens to components that are not shared with, for example, the S class, it can be very expensive. Other notes in this forum show the roof electronics to be such an item. This is inevitable due to low volume production.

As you may also gather, hardtop leaks are not unknown, and very expensive to have fixed. Either test in a storm, or run a hose over the joins with the windscreen for a long time, I would suggest.

Whatever warranty you wind up with, I would certainly want to understand whether the soft top mechanism was covered, and roof leaks.

Momo

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1990 500SL 65k km - until May 11 2004
2004 E320 4-Matic wagon
2004 CLK500 Cabrio from May 11 2004