Whats wrong with the car is that its NOT a diesel!!!! Thats a lot of miles on a gas engine, rebuilt (what did they actually replace?) or not. I personally couldn't go anywhere in a car with those chrome wheel well covers either, can anyone say pimp ride??

Aside from that - think about it. Its $3000, which is about the cost of a used jetski. You can expect some problems along the way, like any car that old. However, weigh that against the cost of a new car, and make your decision. Myself, I dont want to be stranded on the side of the road no matter how much money it saved me.

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2004 Ram 2500 Cummins HO
2000 Jetta TDI
1999 E300 (sold)

For me that's a rule with Ebay. But often you can get someone from this forum that can offer a good deal of advice, if not direct experience with the specific auto. Sometimes, someone will say, "I sold that car a few years ago" or " I looked at that car", etc. Kinda cool !

BTW Welcome SnowMan.. I hope this forum provides for you what has been provided to many others including myself. A friendly place to learn alot about your Benz (s). Welcome.

James

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James

85 300SD 285k
Charcoal Gray/Grey MB-Tex

79 300CD 142000mi "Rabenshwarz"
Black / Black MB-Tex, Burlwood Int. TOTALLED - 10/24/02 --

Thanks for the welcome JPL. Just using the search function I have learned a lot.

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1985 500SEL 124k miles
2001 Honda Civic EX

I would not buy a car off eBay because of all of the fraud that has been going on. I use it as a guideline. There is still no substitute for buying a good local car with verifiable service history.
Mind you, if I lived in Ontario or Michigan, I might want to look at cars from rust free locales.
What could the worst case scenario be with this car?
Would an engine compression test give a good indication of the strength and remaing utility from this car? It's not adiesel, and both a wet & dry and leakdown tests would be in order.
Are reman engines inferior to a rebuild by a good shop?
How much would a rebuilt trans cost?
The suspension system is easy to check out, I would think.
The body sure looks good. Is there any bodywork or a recent repaint?
I wonder if the slightly worn leather or MB tex can be resprayed with dye? (My MB Tex armrest $25 home-repair & vinyl dye respray turned out well & the patched rip is holding up well after a year.)
Personally If I could afford to pay cash for that car, I would consider it, if it checked out, but I would keep my line of credit free in the event of a 5 o'clock suprise.
But Gilly is right. It is a V8 gasser. Like a gorgeous woman, enticing but high maintenance. I'll stick to diesels.

I have purchased quite a few things from ebay including, relatively recently, an '89 300TE. Bottom line? I got what I paid for. I think it's very possible to get a good deal off ebay. I think it is very unlikely that you'll get a steal. If your interested, I'll give you the complete story of the purchase; much of it is informative. My biggest lesson learned is that there is an incentive for dealerships to not look too closely at their cars in order to be able to truthfully state that the know of no problems.