I am considering the purchase of a '99 E300 turbodiesel...I would like to hear anyone's opinion that is the original owner or bought their car with very low mileage,starmarked etc

seems these cars are pretty rare,I had a buddy in Texas that owned a '98 for about 2 years and recently sold it becuase he said he was tired of all the small probelms that required all the trips to the dealer(although all were covered under warranty)
I never drove the car..but as I recall it was a posterchild for fast quiet diesel performance..many of the ones I see for sale already have over 100K miles on them so I consider that a good sign of reliability
I am looking for a '99 over a 98 because of the airbags in the headliner..I also would like one with the Xenon headlights..and yes I understand that what I am looking for is a VERY rare car

..and I might also be selling the 92 300SD(have to think about this one)

opinions?


Warren
1992 300SD 158K
Columbus Ohio

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If the 99 E300 is the same color or another sweet color with leather, fairly low mileage.... Do it.
You might not know, but you can check the title history on the vehicle you want or any vehicle registerd in Ohio on the 'Net by the VIN on the Ohio DMV website. I did that when I bought my '97 E300 from Sadusky Ohio...

My $.02 :-)

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#dieselFLEET
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'97 E300
'99 E300

We have, what is what we believe the last 99 E300TD imported to the States. It has all the options you want, however, it is VERY rare to see a Diesel with Xenon lights, and leather. They are out there, good luck!

I bought my 1998 E300 slightly used - about 9 months/8K miles on it. Took delivery in May 1998 and have owned it ever since. Currently has 51K miles on it.

My advice is not to bother with this car. Get an E320 instead if you must have a 210 chassis car. The M112 V6 is proving to be much more reliable than the OM606 turbodiesel.

Overall the car is a joy drive and has been reasonably trouble free. The CD changer died, a bulb or two has gone out, and I've had very occasional false reports of bulbs out.

The OM606 is a marvelous engine when it works. But it's broke way too much. My car has been in the shop with failed transmission electronics (18K miles, diesel specific problem, 2 weeks shop time), failed glow plug (36K miles, 1 week shop time - parts availability was a problem), failed fuel system o-rings (40K miles, 1 week shop time, tech incompetence - unfamiliar with diesels), and another failed glow plug (51K miles). It averages out to about 1 week of unscheduled shop time per year. And the worst is yet to come.

The glow plugs tend to bind up very tightly inside the head in this car. A layer of carbon packs around them and holds them very tightly in place. During the second glow plug change (two weeks ago) one of the glow plugs sheared off in the head. This is not an isolated incident, I know of two other OM606 owners who have experienced the same failure. Haven't repaired it yet, I'm making do with five functioning glow plugs. Repair will most likely involve pulling the head and using a machine shop to remove the glow plug remnants. Figure it's a $2K repair. I'm putting it off until I can be without the car for two weeks or more.

Anyways, with all the engine problems I cannot recommend this car. It's a shame, because everything else about - seats, ride, handling, climate control (!), power, range, etc. are fabulous. But quite simply it is a shop queen. It's rare enough that parts availability is noticably worse than for the gasoline car, and techs are much less familiar with it.

I'd sell mine right now, but I don't care to spend a bunch of money on a car right now, and there's nothing I can live with available for what the E300 will yield.

One man's opinion,

- Jim

Sounds like the 96-97 non-turbo's the way to go... I just have to buy the xenons for mine, because they are indeed rare on a diesel...

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#dieselFLEET
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'97 E300
'99 E300

I purchased my 99 E300 new and now have 53K miles on it. The car has been very reliable with only minor problems covered under warranty. The engine has been totally trouble free and runs like the day I picked up the car. The only problem that I didn't expect was to have to replace the rear window regulator so soon. I have since learned this is a common problem in the W210.
I have taken the car to several different MB dealerships for service and they often comment that the E300 is "bullet proof." I assume they mean they see very few problems with it.
This is a great Florida car but I'm not sure I'd own one if I lived in a colder climate. I owned one in Colorado and it didn't like cold weather at all.
Quiet, fast, spacious and very fuel efficient. It's hard to find another car that can fill that bill. Give one a drive and I think you'll be pleased.

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99 E300 133K
98 ML320 99K
87 Saab 900 Turbo Conv 123K

My 98 E300 has been extremely reliable. I've had some of the common issues mentioned above including driver seat rails and some other oddities that were covered under Starmark.

Bought with 50k on it, have put 25k miles on it, never had a warning light or breakdown.

Check the service history on your potential purchase - it should be telling.

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Barker

Thanks for the information....I have heard mixed reviews on this car..ie shop time......which after what I own now..concerns me

I know that Xenons are very rare on this car...I have seen only two and they both had more mileage than I cared for

one was Azure Blue/grey leather and the other was white/grey tex.....the blue one had 110K and the white one 175K

by the way there is a realtor in rown who has a blk/blk tex with Xenons....I am making the assumption that he ordered the car as the dealers in my area are small and I don't think would have ever stocked a rare car such as that one


Warren

1992 300SD 158K
Columbus Ohio

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You can always just urder the xenon upgrade from Bekkers. Which includes the whole headlamps assemblies as if they came with the car ad they are E-Code. Better beam pattern on the road. www.Bekkers.com

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#dieselFLEET
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'97 E300
'99 E300

not worth $1100 to me...I would most (or all) of that when I got rifd of the car

the few I have found with Xenon on the used car market don't seem to be any higher priced than those without...this is especially true on the E430's I have seen



Warren
1992 300SD 158 K
Columbus Ohio

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Wow, that's a lot of response in less than 24 hours. Warren, check the archives for E300 in the time frame of November - December 2002. We had a lot of discussion about them at that time, as well as a roll call of W210 Diesel owners that I started.

I ordered mine in April of 1999 and took delivery on June 7. It now has about 83,000 miles on it. I've probably had the average number of problems, but nothing that I would consider excessive. The only Diesel specific problem I've had is the short life of the glow plugs - about 30 - 40K miles. Dealer knowledge of the Diesel is a problem, though. The first time my glow plugs went, the tech diagnosed it as bad injectors and replaced all of them. Under warranty, thank goodness. Then one of the new injectors was bad out of the box and they still had to replace the glow plugs once they figured out that injectors weren't the problem.

On the glow plugs, not only are they hard to remove, you have to take off the intake manifold to get to them. So if you have someone else do it they'll hit you for big labor. My last one was $540, which is why the dealer won't be doing it for me anymore.

I would expect that after this much time that any chassis or other driveline problems (transmission controller, window regulators) would have been addressed. Check back with me in a few months and I'll be over 100K and out of warranty.

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Rick Miley
2014 Tesla Model S
2018 Tesla Model 3
2017 Nissan LEAF
Former MB: 99 E300, 86 190E 2.3, 87 300E, 80 240D, 82 204D Euro
Chain Elongation References

I'm surprised John Shellenberg (AKA Blackmercedes) hasn't chimed in on this thread. He picked up a used 1998 E300. It broke so many times he sold it after six months. I can't recall all the problems it had, just that it went to dealer on the back of a wrecker multiple times. So I only have the second most problematic E300 on Mercedesshop.

- Jim

Hmmm.... Just doing some back of the envelope math. It the E300 requires glow plugs every three years @ $500 per, and the E320 requires a new set of spark plugs at 100K miles, which is cheaper to own.

My rough estimate is the E300 uses about 700 fewer gallons fuel to travel 100K miles. If it requires two glow plug changes vs. one spark plug change on the E320, which is less expensive to run? The E320 owner will have spent an extra ~$1000 on fuel, the E300 owner an extra ~$1000 on maintenance. Within the margin of error of my estimates, it sounds like a tie. The E300 spends more time in the shop, the E320 more time at the gas pump.

Anyone have more concrete information on the frequency/cost of changing plugs on an M112?

- Jim

One thing you forgot to factor in is the cost of the E320 was about $4000 more expensive than the E300 initially


Warren
1992 300SD 158K
Columbus Ohio

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As you would be able to tell from my previous posts, I am new to MBs and have only owned one diesel before, and it was a GM product. I bought my 98 E300 with 39K on the clock and it now has 48K. Before I bought it, the only shop work was a replaced glow plug relay. I have had no trouble with my car in the almost 10K I have owned it. For about a week, the sunroof acted funny, but now it is fine. I love the car. It is fast, comfortable and unique. I am just trying to learn as much as I can from the people on this forum, so when the s--- hits the fan and I have a problem, I will be able to handle it and still love the car. By the way, you should read some of lightman's posts, he has two (I think one is his mom's) and seems to know a lot about the vehicle.