Hey everyone,

I posted about this topic a while back and got some good advice. I am slowly narrowing down what I want and have a few more questions about a specific model.

I currently own a 95 w124 wagon. Best car I have ever owned but at almost 300K miles it is having issues and I need to move into something newer.

Looks like I can get into a 2011 e350 wagon for around $25K. I am looking at this year and model because it is new enough that I can get it financed through a dealer, while keeping the price at or below $25K.

My questions to all are:

Is 2011 E350 a good year? Having driven a 95 E320 I know the importance of picking a good year where the bugs have been wiped out.

Are there major issues that I should be aware of with this year/model? For instance 95 w124 had head gasket and wiring harness issues, also reverse band issues. All were big ticket fixes but once completed the car was great.

If there are major issues/bugs, at what mileage would they be expected to come up at?

Would it make more sense to go to a 2010 or a 2012? Or some other year that has remarkable improvements?

At the end of the day, I want reliability, reliability reliability! I don't care for the frills. If you know what a 95 w124 wagon is you will know what I am talking about!

Thanks in advance for any and all insight!

Im in the same boat as you are and we are looking at a E or a C. I was talking to my indy and he mentioned something about cam codes on the 2010 and earlier. Apparently he said that the cam gears and axillary gears were made out of an inferior metal and were prone to failure. He thought the problem was fixed by 2011 but he was not sure. This was in the V6 for the E class BTW.

__________________
Sent from an agnostic abacus

2014 C250 21,XXX my new DD ** 2013 GLK 350 18,000 Wife's new DD**

- With out god, life is everything.
- God is an ever receding pocket of scientific ignorance that's getting smaller and smaller as time moves on..." Neil DeGrasse Tyson
- You can pray for me, I'll think for you.
- When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.

Called balance shafts. Car will run, but idle like crap. Engine out deal to repair. It's not a problem by 2011

__________________
1985 500SL Euro w/ AMG bits 130k
1984 300SD Turbodiesel 192k
1980 240D Stick China 188k
2001 CLK55 AMG 101k
2007 S600 Biturbo 149k Overheated Project, IT'S ALIVE!!!

What about the 09's? Found a CPO 09 with 33k. Seems like a good price but not sure about the cams. Is there a way to tell? Do you know at what mileage they usually fail?

__________________
Sent from an agnostic abacus

2014 C250 21,XXX my new DD ** 2013 GLK 350 18,000 Wife's new DD**

- With out god, life is everything.
- God is an ever receding pocket of scientific ignorance that's getting smaller and smaller as time moves on..." Neil DeGrasse Tyson
- You can pray for me, I'll think for you.
- When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.

There's a year range regarding engine serial numbers, so you can figure it out before you buy. I think somewhere in 2009 is the cutoff.

__________________
1985 500SL Euro w/ AMG bits 130k
1984 300SD Turbodiesel 192k
1980 240D Stick China 188k
2001 CLK55 AMG 101k
2007 S600 Biturbo 149k Overheated Project, IT'S ALIVE!!!

Thank you for the info! Any other known bugs?

I found this on another forum, not sure if this is what you were speaking of. I just cut and pasted it:


Step 1:
Run the VIN on this site Каталог Mercedes

(use google translate to change Russian to English or whichever you prefer)

Step 2: Look at the output below:

E 350
Description of the model: E SEDAN
Model Code: 211,056
Catalog: 65H
Engine: 272 964 30 340 963 <
Conditions for affected engine(s) are:
272 30 468993 and below
273 30 088611 and below

-If codes P0016 & P0017 show up on OBD II reader, then you will most likely have the balance shaft issue, if not, then you might need to replace the magnets

-Issues most likely to occur prior to 100k Miles

-Some MB dealers may or may not honor of "goodwill repair"

Added notes:
NJ lawsuit - MB wins
CA lawsuit - still in effect? where can we find updates for this?

To get expect a chance of a goodwill repair you'd need to be the original owner of the car and probably a multiple Benz owner even then I've never heard of balance shafts getting fixed as a good will repair. Mbusa isn't going to reward you for loyalty if you've never bought a car from them.

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68 280SL - 70 280SL - 70 300SEL 3.5 - 72 350SL - 72 280SEL 4.5 - 72 220 - 72 220D - 73 450SL - 84 230GE - 87 200TD - 90 190E 2.0 - 03 G500

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