Looking at a 87 300E

[kcamsdog]

I am 17 years old and looking for another car. I found a 1987 300E for sale by my uncle. He has not had any major problems with this car. Before I spend the $2200 on this beautiful car, I wanted to do some research as to what commonly goes wrong with these models and what the damage to my wallet will be. I already went through my "beater" phase with my 91 Mercury Tracer, and am looking for something with more value and will look nicer going around town. If you guys would be so kind as to help me out on this, it would be awesome.

[Jackd]

The Mercedes 300E has frequently been labeled as the best Benz ever built.
But you're looking at a 18year old car, which is not bad in itself, but could be the subject of a few surprises.
The major things that can go wrong are: head gasket, A/C evaporator, fuel distributor, valves guides.
Is the car burning oil?
How's the transmission shifting?
I would have te car inspected before buying it, but for $2,200. you are not taking a very big risk

[petaling]

if your uncle is the first and only owner and serviced it diligently,it's a steal

[Ferdman]

Get a PPI done by a MB-trained technician so that you know the condition of the car and what maintenance might be required immediately. It would help to know how many miles are on this car in order to properly evaluate whether $2,200 is a good deal or not. As you may have read, 'there is nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes'. Head gasket replacement, evaporator replacement and transmission repairs can burn through thousands of dollars.