I bought my first old Mercedes a little over 10 years ago. It was an 89 300e with 185k. I paid something like $1200 or something but there was a bit of a trade element so it really only put me out of pocket about $600.

Over the next 5 years I invested something north of $8 grand in parts/ improvements. With these older cars you have to understand that they basically need everything replaced to become a reliable daily driver again.

I sold this car 5 years later for $1,500

I also purchased a few more Mercedes and at one point I owned 4 Mercedes. I parted out one, and sold the other 2.

My next purchase was a 93’ Mercedes 300te 4matic wagon. Super cool car and I was already familiar with what needed to be done to get it freshened up. I immediately dumped 10 grand (I’m actually lying, it’s more), I replaced the entire suspension system, rebuilt the entire top half of the engine, body work, stereo, etc. Mercedes parts are expensive.

I live in the rust belt so fast forward 5 years to present and I have a leaky, rusty, musty 300te that still has a bunch of issues. Likely I will sell this car for less than 2 grand.

Lessons learned:

Good:

I learned sooooo much working on these cars. From ac repair that I immediately applied to my field in appliance repair, reading wiring diagrams, and just general knowledge/ confidence under the hood. This is priceless

Bad:

You should never buy an old car if you can’t deal with something being broken at any given time. I can’t stand broken crap on my car so I spent endless amounts of time (and money) repairing things.

Basically the first major repair you do will put you upside down financially with the car. It doesn’t matter how perfect the car is mechanically. Buyers who pay top dollar for old Mercedes look for low miles and condition. (Stupidly I might add). Your car (or proposed car) will likely not fit either of these categories. When I sold my first 300e I didn’t even get a chance to tell the guy what I did to the car. He test drove it, looked at the freshly waxed paint and bought the car.

These cars, contrary to the majority opinion, are not reliable. Yes, they basically will always run and drive to some extent, but plan on fixing something just about every weekend for your first year or so of ownership. Every “vintage” Mercedes owner most definitely has a spare/backup vehicle (or 3) because the primary car breaks down regularly. You will fall in to this same trap of owning multiple unreliable Mercedes and owning that many cars is more of a burden than you realize.

Owning that many cars means you have a garage full of used parts, and your spare time is basically filled with working on your “fleet”. If that sounds appealing to you then send me a message, I got a great Mercedes for you that just needs a few more things to be fully sorted out. I’ll give you a heck of a deal.

My biggest eye opener was when I purchased a 7 year old (2011) e63 AMG sight unseen on eBay. I had a pre purchase inspection done at the Mercedes dealer in Arizona and I bought the car.

3 years later I have burned through 3 sets of rear tires, from power sliding, power braking, and general wheel spinning madness. I can tell you that my e63 goes 160mph, and very quickly at that.

Aside from oil changes (and tires), the only repair I had done to this car was replacing the thermostat. I had it done at the dealer for $450. The ac still works, heated/ ac seats, it doesn’t leak in the cabin, and the car is every bit as comfortable as my old MB. I have my garage back, I have my weekends back, and I still have a reliable Mercedes. Also, newer cars have this fancy plug called an obd2 port, and basically if anything goes wrong with your car you can plug in a scanner and it will tell you almost exactly what is wrong with it. Try doing that on a 300e with mechanical fuel injectors.


Conclusion:

There are lots of posts on this forum touting the reliability and the safety of these older cars. I’m sure there will be several on this thread. I will tell you as a person who has been on both sides of the fence. They are not reliable in the sense that you are likely thinking, and you won’t find any evidence that will prove a 1980’s car with one (25 year old) airbag is safer than a 2011 with a dozen airbags, more sophisticated crumple zones, better brakes, etc.

If you like the car, buy it. Just don’t buy it if you think that it will be a good investment or a reliable daily driver. It won’t be either.

I find myself after 10 years of owning old Mercedes that I can no longer deal with the random oil leaking, parasitic draws, ac failure, and worst of all, rain water infiltration in the cabin. I’ve been driving my e63 every day since spring and it been a thrill to drive every day, and super reliable. It’s worth it to me to have a modest car payment, and the fact that I only get 11mpg. If I subtract the cost of all the tires I burned up, owning a 519 horsepower AMG car has been cheaper than my 300te. And that is including car payments.

__________________
Eugene

10 E63 AMG
93 300te 4matic
07 BMW X3
14 Ford F-150 Fx2