Hi Everybody-

Great forun, sorry I didn't find it earlier.

I little history: My first experience with a Mercedes was when I was 16. My Dad bought a new 1977 300D. It cost about $18,000 at that time ( a lot of money to me) and I remember loving the way that car drove. It felt so good to sit behind the wheel.

22 years and several cheap german cars later, I finally bought a Mercedes. It was a 1985 300CD. It took months to find a good example because people tend to run diesels into the ground before fixing anything on them. I put a few thousand dollars into it and soon it was driving like a MB should.

A few months ago I was getting tired of the traits of a diesel and decided to sell her (big mistake I now see). I bought a Jeep Grand Wagoneer. You know, the one with the wood on the side? The main reason I did that was because I wanted to buy a Hobie Cat and didn't want to put a hitch on the MB.

Anyway, I'm re-evaluating what I want to drive and I've decided to look for a 1994 E500. I don't think that an E500 should be used as a daily driver (any comments), so I think that I'll try to find another 1985 300CD (22 mpg) for my daily driver, along with my 12mpg Jeep. That sounds loke a lot of cars, but I still want to buy a Hobie for next summer.

So my question is: There aren't many E500's to be found. There are several in the Northeast but my concern is the salted roads. Should I not buy a car in snowy areas? No offence to all of you in those areas. A guy at Simonson MB in Santa Monica told me yesterday not to buy a car from a snowy area. There are a couple of nice looking E500's on Autotrader now but they are in NY and Maine.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank You,

Craig

OK, bad thread name. It should have been "Should I buy a car from the Northeast?"

Also, does anyone know about getting 'Starmark' certification? I looked on www.mbusa.com and did a bit of research. It seem that I can take a car to the dealer and have them do the certification process. If it passes, does anyone know how much I'll have to pay for the warranty?

Thanks,

Craig

E500s were not often used as year-round cars. I'd ask about the car's use from the prior owner and have it inspected...any signs of underbody corrosion and you have your answer.

__________________
"If God had meant for us to walk, why did he give us feet that fit car pedals?" Sir Sterling Moss

Michael
2014 E63S Estate
2006 SLK55
1995 E500
1986 Porsche 944 turbo

I guess the answer is obvious. A car with 50 or 60,000 miles more than likely wasn't used as a daily driver.

Does anyone know about obtaining Starmark certification? After reading the MBUSA website, it seems that I can take a pre-owned car to the dealer and ask to have it Starmark certified.

Has anyone done this? Know how much it costs for the certification and then the warranty?

Craig

Dcraig- If you have id'd some E500s of interest, you may wish to contact those owners and arrange for a detailed PPI report. If the PPI gives a clean bill of health and records are all in place-----that's the best you can do on the open market (sight unseen- and absent test drive).

good luck and let us know what turns out
-fad

PS- you may also wish to ask one of the 500e/e500 owners here for assistance checking out a subject car out of the LA area- viewing and test driving