Does this still hold true today?

Depends on how it was taken care of They re pretty reliable cars.

Also depends on how much of the work you do yourself and how thrifty you can be with sourcing parts. If it has not been kept up and a lot of non-critical items have been left undone, you could end up spending a few thousand bucks on new MB parts, or maybe $1700 in OEM parts ordered online, or maybe $300 on junkyard parts for non critical parts. Have that work done at a shop and you can triple those prices.

If the engineand/or transmission has been neglected, it could get insanely expensive. Service records are king, unless it has crazy low mileage.

not the 6 cylinder model,after 96.Easy to work on yourself.had mine since 2009

Holly crap I started this thread 14 years ago.

I have no idea I'd just buy one new enough to have an excellent bumper to bumper warranty!:D

On 09/21/2008, in post# 96, I wrote . . .
"I also think they get a bad rap. My '94 has been the 'best' MB and cheapest to maintain of all MBs I've owned."

Today, 6/6/2018 . . . it's still true! Wonderful car . . . runs like new. :)
The only thing that needs 'fixing' is the lumbar 'balloon' in the drivers seat. Not bad for 10 years later, wouldn't you agree??

I have a 1995 S320 with 200k on it. Runs great, still does daily driver duty like it was nothing.

best cars I ever bought were w126 diesel,and 99 s320

I can't believe this thread is still alive its 14 years old!

Right in time, I'm slowly looking for a later S320.

Funny, I've seen this thread for years lol, and never paid any attention to it.
Buuuttt call it getting older or wiser or what have you, the w140 has finally started to catch my eye so I was google'ing around about such as well.

I have something going wrong every 3K on my 95 E320 cabriolet. I honestly have to say it's the most troublesome car I've owned. Most of the problems are related to the body electricals. It's reached a point where I ignore the problems that don't directly affect drivability.

I went to the top of the mountain and bought a '97 CL600 with 44K on it two years ago. Car had been dealer maintained for the first 15 years, changed hands then after 5 years, sold to me. I spent about 6K in "make up" maintenance. For instance, it required 12 new coils at $130 ea (dealer), $60 ea (Amazon), new plugs a MAF, engine mounts, new Interstate 6 year battery, trans service with new connector (weeping ATF fluid), new spheres and service the hydraulic system for the self leveling, 4 new Continental Extreme Contact tires, front end alignment and other things that were ignored. Having done all of that I took a 3600 mile road trip up the West Coast, across to Wyoming, back through Idaho, Nevada and home. Car was a dream and never missed a stroke. I would have no fears of driving it cross country. Only negative was the gas mileage which doesn't bother me. I got 20 MPG for the whole trip. It has had nothing since then in repairs except a new front bumper and a wiring harness. Yes, a harness. They replaced everything in '96 EXCEPT six coax cables made by the OLD company. Keep that in mind when you think you've dodged the bad harness bullet.
And in closing, my kids will dig a hole out in the desert, set my body in the drivers seat, and bury me to drive my GREAT car for all eternity!!:D

I have a 96' S500 w/210k + miles that I've owned for 12 years and driven daily with a smile on my face.

The term "they don't build them like that anymore" was penned for this chassis. These are heavy, solid luxury cars (that will hustle faster than you think when needed) and like any other old tech machine, if you don't keep up with the little things, you will be more annoyed than happy.

The one achilles heal is the evaporator. It's an expensive job and I wouldn't buy a W140 that didn't have a written record of replacement. Here in Florida, W140's are becoming less common because people won't spend the money for an evaporator change and they get tired of cruising with the windows down in the summer heat.

I believe the engine harness concern was addressed on face lift cars (96' and later), but that would also be an item to inspect if looking at an early car.

The M119 engine is solid. The only engine item I've had was the need to swap out plastic cam oilers for the aluminum ones. 210k miles, no oil burn, quiet, plenty of power, what's not to like?

I replaced my SLS rear struts & spheres at 100K and I still can't figure out why people spend so much to bypass this system as this contributes to the stellar ride.

I could go on, but to answer the question by the original poster, the answer is "no".

I bought my S320 just short of 2 years ago. Like all used cars how it will be in the long term is a funtion of how it was cared for early on. Minw was a 1 owner car that was serviced at the dealer 3 to 4 times a year. It was loved. It now has over 200k miles on it and drives great. All I’ve done is coils/plugs, front brakes, and oil changes using the same oil it has always had. Everyone that rides in the car is amazed that it is old enough to vote and looks and drives as well as it does.