My w211 major repairs and maintenance for my 108,000 miles and 5 ½ years before rust worm got it at 238,000 miles. Many items likely less than your $5000.

Oil & filter changes x 14 uncounted air filters and cabin filters
Transmission and engine mounts
3 Transmission drain & fill with plug
Thermostat x 3 Drain & refill
Fuel filter x 3
Power steering drain and fill 3X
4 summer tires 4 winter tires with alloys
Sway bar bushings
outer tie rod both sides 1 inner
Alternator failed on road trip $$$$
Rear rotors & pads
Shifter bushing
4 shocks
Rad fans & controller replaced on road trip $$$$
Glow plugs x 2 with the odd replacement, once at dealer the rest by me
Injectors rebuilt and pop tested
Front left wheel bearing failed on trip with tow $$$$
Front rotors and pads
Fan clutch fluid
Front left wheel bearing again
I have not kept track of the cost of repairs and maintenance. The car would have been much less expensive to maintain without the 3 failures and dealer repairs on the road. All in all I thought that the cost was reasonable.

As to my 2006 E320CDI I was stunned at $1500 to fix brake lights, took a rear SAM and lots of diagnosis, I felt robbed.

Well after reading all the maintenance and repairs done, let me know when you sell the car. I’d be highly interested in taking it. Sounds af it’s becoming a thorn on your side with the age and maintenance that follows.

I think my son plans on keeping it. As long as he stays in the range of $2000 a year or so. Last year was his first year of ownership and he/we spent a total of $450 on the car. My guess is we're about to drop $3500 (still at the shop). So if the car behaves itself for the rest of the year he's at his expected average.

Although it's been a bit expensive, what's the realistic alternative? Ideally the best kind of car for him would be a Honda CR-V. But he'd need to spend $10,000 or so to find one with low miles in decent condition. In my opinion and his, better to keep feeding the W210.

If this was only about economics your son could buy a $2000 Camry and keep it on the road for $2000 a year. That might include gas, tags and insurance. Replace it with another $2000 Camry when presented with a big bill.

My son moved from the ‘98 sedan with 120K miles to his grandpa’s ‘00 Camry with 270K miles. T-belt due in 20K miles. So far we’ve spent $40 on new mounts. The E320 costs oil changes and cabin filters but the cats are rattling and there’s a nagging parasitic drain that’s driven me to sell it. I wouldn’t sell the sedan over cats but the parasitic drain has sucked (pun intended) too much of my time and exceeds my ability to fix it.

Sixto
98 E320s sedan and wagon
02 C320 wagon

Or you can go my route and get an 02 camry for free (dead motor) and fix it up for less than a grand and drive it.

its been close to 80K miles now, expenses have included cv axle reboot, brake job, tires, oil change every 5000 miles, one trans flush with citgo quatrasyn, brand new radiator and waterpump too, had to replace the flexjoint in the exhaust as the toyota one is useless scrap - I cannot recall anything extra right now.

do I like it over the benz - no way - its boring to no limit, the seats are useless and it handles like pudding even with its "sport" suspension and strut bracing.

depreciation perspective?
 

With respect to all posting here, upkeep costs are comparatively low per annum, even on older model Benzes, than depreciation in first several years on a new car. Figure fifteen percent per year for first four years; on a 30K auto that's eighteen grand or 4500 yearly, in addition to upkeep costs on any car--tires, alignment etc.


I've only bought one new car in last 50 years, and dreaded having some dingbat or distracted fellow citizen write me off in the first few years. That and other factors are hard to reduce to monetary values. While one or two of my veterans have been more expensive than expected--discovering hidden rust a decade downstream, from botched collision repair--overall they've been substantially cheaper than buying a new car, even every decade or so. But there are certainly less expensive paths than older Benzes; I expect a full price (and only price) comparison would argue for getting a 3-year-old car when you need transportation, so someone else takes the major depreciation hit, and unloading it when bills reach a certain point. IIRC, that's been the suggestion of some consumer advisors for some time now.


Let's just not compare repairs alone; the low upkeep of newer cars reflects in part that you're paying for newness every month (until they age out of depreciation curve).

Even though my W210 is a rust bucket, I still can't imagine getting rid of it.

Just the subject that I needed to vent my spleen!
I've been so annoyed at the crap in my 2000 E320 I considered starting a thread but never quite got around to it.

I bought the first 210, my '99 300Dt from a forum member who had done a lot of work and it continues to be a fine car. I had to R&R the polyurethane bushings to regain a normal drive quality. At around 260K it needed a trans rebuild otherwise its been reliable and a real pleasure to drive. replaced glow plugs and those cheap fuel return lines and probably will need to do it again someday but its not a bad job for this old geezer but as my back is failing I would just rather sell all my tools and move on.

Then one day I saw a 2000 E320 FS locally and fell in love with the Lumbar seat option and moisture sensing windshield sensor and it was just under 100K on the odometer so I figured it would be as reliable or better than the 300D.
Wrong! first thing that happened was it failed to pass smog. It kept showing an intermittent check engine light and was diagnosed as a cracked intake manifold, the massive casting that houses a rotating vane. Mercedes should have had a recall but I was friends of a factory trained mechanic that owns his own shop and I would rather pay an Indy so it was fixed. \
Just when I thought it was reliable the brake sensing switch made it fail to engage Drive while my wife was parked at a metered parking stall (they mark tires and its $35 if you run out of luck)
My wife was in a panic and was about to call a tow when I got the info where to place a coathanger wire into the magic little hole under the trans shift escutcheon and got it into gear and drove it home and ordered the switch.

The steering always felt not smooth and made a little swishing sound so I figured a flush and new fluid would fix that. Wrong again! Mechanic said he's seen the problem before and its a worn steering pump. I have been
avoiding fixing that because of the cost of a pump.

Bought new tires and had it aligned after replacing the bushings and it still drove sloppy and I am a fanatic for good handling. Turned out to be bad wheel bearings! my mechanic says he sees a lot of newer Mercedes with the problem, he suspects they are sourcing bearings from China.
I've decided that's the last "newer" Benz in this family :mad:

The niece drives the 300D and probably wishes her uncle drove BMW's or something flashy but she can't complain very much :(

A friend that does a long commute put close to 300K miles on a Prius and never had to change any suspension parts. Put a new battery packs in it at 150K and it eventually showed a check engine light and needed a CAT and batteries all over again so he sold it to the CA junker buy-back program for $1000. He now drives a Subaru and is a low maintenance car so far.
I think the days of quality German machines are over!
At least my 210's have NO RUST!!
If I had to do it all over again I would buy another '95 E320 and be content with a little less fuel economy but a solid vehicle!
Love them 124's :D
DDH

I put close to 200,000 over 10 years on my '99 E300 Turbo diesel and I don't think at any one time did all the lights work on it at the same time.

My brothers 2000 E320 ALWAYS has a light out, as soon as he replaced one another goes out immediately.

Terrible.

Don't ever move to the northeast. When my 210 was five years old, it already had more rust than my 201, which was almost 20 years old at the time.


Ah! The bulb out thing...best solution is to tape over the information center.

My SoCal W210 had some rust because it lived within a mile off the beach. Fortunately it was an easy fix.

I own a cheap toyota and owned benz too - my brother owns a mazda 6 and a honda crv.

comparing costs to your freinds prius - Any job I did on the toyota was pricey (almost equal to the mercedes in parts). Genuine toyota parts are very expensive and there are no OEM suppliers selling them elsewhere for cheaper.

e.g. if the struts blow out on an old camry - the replacement ones you will buy will make the car move funny. Original ones cost very dearly, even buying the OE supplier parts are different (e.g. SACHS supplies the struts on american built camrys - but they are not the same stuff you buy at the dealership parts counter) - same for balljoints and other items. CV joints are specially a pain as if you choose to opt for the cheaper store option you will invite youself to a buzz/vibration/annoyance party which cannot be solved unless you buy a pair of CV joints from the dealer. Or catch it before complete boot failure and reboot the original joints (they will last for about 300K miles that way - the boots get crispy every 100K)

The mazda has been similar but more forgiving as its a Ford and Fusions mechanical parts are the same - plenty available, brand new, OEM, OE, scrapyard, upgrade etc. Its a bit annoying to repair (typical Ford) but it drives very nice for an economy passenger car.

Both above dont hold a candle to the long term driving experience of a mercedes. I redid my W124 undercarriage fully after it was smashed and I got a nice payout - I had driven that car for very long journeys and I arrived not too tired - I have done the same on the camry and the immediate need after the journey is a warm bath and a dead sleep for 10 hours.

The seats, the behaviour on road etc. all are part and parcel of it - My W210 was very nice too - long legged cruiser that had no issues going anywhere and I would not be dead tired at the end or get spooked by crosswinds or slippery surfaces.

And the last - and most important - when you eventually crash or someone crashed into you - you will be thankful that you are in the mercedes and not the camry or 6 or accord or CRV or Prius.

It's the big reason I stick with Mercedes parts availability. P.S. Why did you call the 1995 E300D the humming machine?