I'm interested in keeping my 500E as my daily driver for several more years, hopefully w/o a lot of down time. How many of our cars have past the 140,000 mile point, and which of us has the one with the most mileage?

Tom
92 500E
129,000 miles

my 92 500e has just over 160k miles on it.
It runs great and the miles do not concern me at all.
I am the thrid owner of the car and have every single service record document since day one.

Here is the "secret" to a long lasting car.

MAINTENAINCE- maintain the car properly and it will pay off.

The first owner of my 500e leased it and serviced it religously at his local dealer.

The second owner was a total fanatic and would even note down in the maintenaince book when he would polish the car!
The oil has always been changed every 3k miles and it has been running on mobil 1 for as long as I remember.


When I bought the car, it had around 125k on it.
As a preventative maintenaince, I replaced the timing chain and tensioner, and nearly all associated/surrounding hoses & gaskets.
I had to giggle when I first removed the valve covers because the engine is soooo clean inside.
I have cars coming in my shop with less than 80k on them that aren't this clean. There is NO sludge, no debris, NO GUNK!

Now, my car hasn't been driven lightly either.
It has been driven on two "One Lap of America" events and won the lux sedan class in 97.
It has also served the previous owner and myself well as a weekend driving event car for Porsche club events.
The car has a long list of mods, including some RennTech goodies.

The fact that the car has been driven "fast" and driven quite a bit on the road hasn't hurt it at all.
The big plus is that it has been driven by very few owners who were each aware of how imortant proper care & mainteaince are.
Owners who are "enthusiasts" and don't care about how much a set of spark plugs, or a trans filter costs,,,,because we understand that preventative service is sooo much cheaper than repairs.

I tell my customers all the time when they are looking to buy a used MBZ that mileage is not the most important item to look at.

I would much rather buy a low owner, high mile,,,, but very well amintained/documented car,,,,,,,,
than a low mile car that's been owned buy 6 guys who could make the payments- but couldn't afford or (wouldn't bother to )take care of their investment.

__________________
Alain
independant MBZ tech since 1981
http://www.motorsportlegendsks.com/

Mine has just under 220,000 and runs great! I have had the timing chain, rails, smog pump, A/C pulley and clutch, and other more minor repairs done recently. I am the second owner, and got the car at 84,000 miles. I keep it serviced, which is the key. I recently thought about trading, and drove E55's and M5's, but could not find anything as solid as my 124.036. So, I plunked $3,900 at the MB dealership to get the car in shape. I have had it on road courses and the drag strip several times, and I drive it aggressively (sometimes, even hard!). Total ownership expenses, including depreciation, fuel, insurance, license plates, and ALL repairs and service are running around $0.32 per mile. Not bad at all for such an impressive car.

All this, and looks good too!

My two cents.

I have 154k on mine. I bought it a little over 2 years ago with 137k on it. It was purchased from a MB dealer who had done a lot of the service work on it, but it didn't have complete service records.

In the 2 years, I've put about $9000 into the car (timing chain, rails, tensioners, heater core, AC evaporator, tires, alternator, rear self-leveling work - still have a clunk back there, etc.). When we did the timing chain, it was spotless in there and the mechanic said the engine was in fabulous shape - so that gives me hope that I can get more miles out of this.

Things that are not yet perfect - clunking sound in right rear shock area (have already replaced nitrogen cells, flushed rear suspension fluid, replaced shock tower mounts, and more - it may just need a new shock), intermittent "check engine" light, driver's seat bolster starting to unravel, and figuring out how to use my iPod with the factory Becker or replacing the head unit.

The car rides great and when working properly, has me thinking that I can be satisfied with this car for a long time. But if I learn that it keeps costing thousands per year to keep running, I'll have to think about a newer, more reliable car.

Just passed 200000km (124000 miles). So i have a little bit to go until I´m over 140K.

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I live my life a quarter a mile at the time

"the hardest cars to chase are german cars" - L.A. police department

MB E500, 320CE
Corvette C4 93, C5 -01
Toyota Celica x2
Yamaha R1,

I have 142K miles on my 500E ... runs great, most always did. Though I wouldn't trust the general public around here to make it a daily driver.

Most everything has been attended to between 130 and 140K. I easily can see many more years and 200K+ miles with this car.

__________________
Jim

1992 500E
2007 CLK63
2003 Audi RS6
2001 Audi allroad

Just to let you guys know that there is a 500e with 488k km (300k miles) on the German autoscout24.

http://www.autoscout24.de/home/index/detail.asp?ts=6080451&id=26362694

I'm 100% sure it's 488.000 and not 488 because it has been there for quite some time and in the beginning the 'Kilometerstand' was definitly 488.000.

Hi, It does have 488 000 km.
This garage has many 500E and E500 on sale.
They are usually pricey, so under 10 000 Euros is because of the mileage.
Butin fact I am not surprised ; the V8 are very strong engines if correctly serviced.
Good new for our cars.

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Carpe Diem