Excellent Post!

I agree about the previous owner. It's amazing how most people selling a car have a history story; owned by mechanical engineer, a little old lady who only drove it to church and it was downhill both ways, yadda-yadda-yadda.....

As Chuck says it's all about CONDITION! Too many people select used cars based on "the story" or the color. Bad mistake.

To me ANY rust disqualifies the car, but again I don't live in rust country so I don't have to settle for it. I do believe that paying top dollar for such a car is a mistake and that part has nothing to do with oil change intervals.

Have a great day,

Tough crowd! But hey I came here for opinion, I'm glad to get them.

OK, this car may not be the "right" car. I'm not trying to defend this particular car - I don't own it or have an interest it. I'm just trying to find good, safe, economical transportion for the next 5 years and 100K miles. If I were to buy this car, that would be my objective. I thought $6500 WAS a good price, but I can see that is not shared by some of you guys.

Now, if I thought I could find a well maintained, properly running '95 E300D for less than $6000, I'd stop looking at this one.. I just haven't seen it. Maybe you long-time diesel guys haven't noticed - but I think the demand for all diesel cars is going up.

Also, I'm not married to this car because I only have $6500 to spend. I don't need to limit myself to $6500, but I'm pretty tight with a buck. In fact I don't even need to buy a car right now - I just thought this is a good time to buy a diesel as a 3rd car.

This car is definately not a beater - by anybody's standard! By describing a 200K car with a few surface rust spots I got you guys thinking I was talking about shelling out $6500 for a wreck. Not the case. (I know - there's the underhood rust situation - I'm having that looked at and it is not indicative of the rest of the car in any way).


To address some points made:

"Mechanical Engineer" - yeah big deal. I only mentioned it because it is shorthand for saying "here's a guy that ought to have a clue". A mechanical engineer is not likely to drive around in a car with a transmission that doesn't shift right, not likely to put up with things that don't work the way they were designed to work. He's likely to notice that an engine mount is shot and needs replacement. He's likely to be tuned into stuff that the general population is just oblivious to. This car at 200K is the product of this type of individual. I'd take this car at 200K having met him and seeing how he operates. I would NOT buy a car off a local car lot with 150K miles for the same price. Even if it came with a "warranty".

"It's all about condition". Exactly. I just didn't tell you about all the "good" things about the car - the car is in very good, not excellent cosmetic shape in and out. It's had honest use and good maintenance and shows a little wear. No Armor All in this guy's garage. Not a dent in the car. Clean, but not too clean if you know what I mean. He has not "detailed" the car for the purposes of a sale. He could have had that surface rust fixed for about $200 but he didn't want to tamper with it, decided to leave it up to the next owner to decide how to deal with it, which I appreciate.

Mechanically, it's well maintained. Brakes, rotors, exhaust, tires, etc. etc. etc. all have had recent work and are all in proper condition. He only uses Mercedes parts. He has an ex-dealership tech that takes regular care of the car, he has all records for the car since new.

I think you get the point - I want the cheapest good diesel car I can find. It will be a driver, not a garage queen. But I don't need to get into a situation where I'm just asking for trouble. And that's the challenge. This car DOES have 200K miles after all.

My gut tells me this car has been worth pursuing to this point, but to close the deal I sought your sage advice! You have slowed me down, I'm not as sure about this as I was. But I don't think I gave you guys the right impression of the car's condition.

LarryBible, I'm interested in your opinion that the OCI this car has had is not likely to get it to 400K. Are you so sure that you would recommend I don't bother paying for a leakdown test to be sure? Boy the engine sure looks clean thru the filler cap, and he drove this car between NH and Long Island pretty frequently at 75 MPH - a 5 hour trip. Besides, all I really need is 300K miles. That's 5 years for me, which is enough. Frankly, I'm much more concerned about the transmission, HVAC fan and condenser lasting 5 years than I am the engine. But I'm not the expert.


Thanks to all!

Well,

Seems to me like you still think the whole "mechanical engineer" thing is an advantage for the car. Well, didn't you read chuck95e300d's post (three posts back) in which he stated "Isn't there a story about the shoemaker's children not having decent shoes?" In other words, drop the engineer thought. It means NOTHING that he is an engineer. Hey, I'm a Computer Engineer yet some months ago I took off the cooling fan from one of my computers and went on to use it for a week without replacing the fan. So when I sell you this computer and tell you about myself, should you still buy it confidently even though the CPU has been overheated due to my negligence/laziness?

Larry Bible's claim on the entire oil change interval and the engine's ability to do 400K is based on the fact that oil analysis don't show you microscopic dirt? Well, not true. My oil analysis shows me the concentration of that dirt. So I don't know what he is talking about. I'll say this now and I won't say it again, don't let the oil change interval be your reason for not buying it.

__________________
1999 Mercedes-Benz S600, 103K miles - garage queen
1988 Mercedes-Benz 560SEL, 89K miles - daily driver
2007 Hyundai Sonata Limited, 31K - daily driver

well i think that as a group engineers, especially mechanicals would be more likely than the general population to do good maintenance. that is not to say that some might be duds.

i guess i would be more interested in knowing if it really WAS owned by a m e.

this fact would not cause me to buy a car that did not look like a good deal.

__________________
[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

I was at the MB dealer today and they had a 1996 E300D on the lot. One owner, perfect maintaince, perfect shape, and just over 50k miles. They are asking $21,500 and probably will get about $20k. $7k for a nice 1995 E300D is about right even with 200k on it.

I know enough about these that by looking at it in person I could probably tell how tight the engine is. Newer engines let less crap into the oil and it lasts longer as a result. I think MB specs 13k mile or once a year changes for the new CDI's. I would be willing to bet that after one year and 13k miles the oil comes back from the lab fine.

__________________
1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

FSS reccomends 10,000 mile intervals on my 98 E300. I let it go 9,000+ on synthetic before changing it.. previous owner did the same thing and the engine runs extremely well with 240,000 miles.

Being an engineer myself, I've; worked with, worked for, hired and been around lots and lots of engineers of all disciplines. As far as car maintenance as a group I've found them no more or less apt to properly maintain a car than any other group of people.

In fact I would say that they might be a group of people that knows less about car maintenance than alot of others.

Try to find a car that has had frequent oil changes rather than adequate oil changes IF you wish to take it to very high mileage.

Good luck,
Change oil hot and change oil often.

OK somehow this has turned into a debate about whether the fact that an ME owns this car makes it any good. Can we drop that? All I was trying to say is that this car has been properly maintained by somebody that's tuned into the needs of the car. Just like it would be if it were me that owned it. And I am NOT an engineer.

Anyways, if anybody was still interested, I attached some pictures of some of the body rust. And a picture of the trunk that seems to indicate this is NOT a rustbucket.



Thanks
Mike

Attached Thumbnails

         

Looks nice, same color combo as my car.

Have you looked at other E300Ds for comparison purposes? There are 21 on Autotrader right now, only 3 of which are listed for $7K or less. Of course listing price doesn't mean they are selling at those prices...much as KBB and NADA book values don't mean too much as books don't buy cars.

Autotrader listings

Then there is this 96 E300D limo (!) on Ebay

I would not buy a rusted car, you will never be able to sell it, $7500 for a 200K car, way too much

__________________
2000 Ford 7.3 Powerstroke 4x4
2006 Mazda Tribute
1983 Black 300 D (donated to charity)
1993 Teal 300 D (160K) Sold
"I love the smell of burnt diesel fuel in the morning, it smells like ....VICTORY"

Semper Fidelis
USMC 1973-1976

Rust like that coming up from under the plastic is common on these cars. I wouldn't be surprised if you could stick a screw driver through that door.

It must start around the holes drilled to attach the plastic.

__________________
1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200