Looking at buying a used R320 CDI, what should I know before hand? Thinking of 50-80k mile range, (just out of warranty) and only diesel. Does the cdi have a noticable clatter under accleration? I have driven only one R so far, but have serviced many Jeep Grand Cherokee CRD (3.0 v6) and E320 CDI (inline, not v6) at work and never noticed the clatter on them unless they had gas in the tank. It was under load at 1300-1500 rpm or so, did not make a sound when in park and revved up. Plenty of power, amazing! It also had oil seeping from the intercooler pipe at the intercooler and maybe a leak in the intercooler, the rad fan was pushing it all over so hard to tell the source. The tires on the one I saw were pretty beat up too, are they hard on tires due to the weight or other issue?
Thanks for any advice
greg

What is your budget to spend on one?

As with many of the newer MB's there are nagging issues with the "little" things.

Overall a good car, but make sure that the trans was serviced at 40K & get the trans serviced as soon as you buy one.

Also fuel and air filter replacement at 20K is very important.

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My budget is $25k, but might be $30 plus taxes judging by what I am finding. The time is now since all the leases are coming up. Maintenace is not an issue I work full time in euro specialty garage, we just don`t see any R class or any other truck that new from Mercedes, the older ones seem to hold up just fine (1998-2000 ML). I am specifically worried about injection issues or cam problems that afflict other brands of modern diesels (mainly VW) since there are no aftermarket parts for the cdi around here. Are the electronics sound? If it has back up camera and NAV and dvd will it work for sometime???

When I read/responded to your post last night I immediate set out to find where on the Internet I saw in the past 5 or so days, an R-Class diesel for $26,988 or $28,988 if I am remembering correctly. Since so few of us want an R Class - I just dismissed it and continued surfing the Net. Now I can't find the da#n thing! It was noteworthy because I'd never seen a diesel R Class for that asking. I doubt I'll find it, but I'll look at the usual sites I visit.