I'm new to Mercedes but am going to buy a 300CE. Anyway, Most of the early 90's models I have seen are right at, or above 100k miles. I know every situation is different but how many miles can you usually get out of the Mercedes engines? Are they like a lot of American cars the start to crap out at 120k+? How about the computer functions of the car, are they prone to going out on high mileage cars? Same question about the transmission, etc. I appreciate your help on this.

In my experience if fully serviced on schedule they just keep going, diesels especially. Mine has 170k miles and is as tight as when it had 50k on it. I expect to run it to over 500k. I know a taxi driver in Belgium with a 300D who runs it 24/7 on shifts and he has over 1,000,000km with original engine and gearbox. Key issue is service history, i would rather buy one with 150kmiles on the clock and a full history , few owners etc than one with 50k and no service record.

Keith

The three most important factors in the longevity of any vehicle are: 1) Maintenance 2) Maintenance 3) Maintenance!

Judging by your question, I’m not sure that a 10-year-old Mercedes is a good choice for you. What most of us here would consider regular maintenance, would cause the majority of other car owners to label their cars as “lemons” and trade them in for new ones.

Case in point: I’m frequently performing service on my three vehicles. (changing fluids: oil, tranny, axle/gear oil, coolant; replacing brake pads and/or rotors; flushing brake fluid, changing shocks/struts, suspension bushings, tie rods, spark plugs & wires, caps & rotors, air filters, valve cover gaskets, flex disks, miscellaneous bearings & u-joints) I consider all this to be perfectly normal maintenance, and all of my vehicles are very reliable. A good friend of mine has a completely different take. His only interaction with his cars is getting in and turning the key. If he owned my cars, he would consider them to be “lemons” because they require “so much maintenance”.

The problem with most people is that they know absolutely nothing about even the most basic systems within their cars and they ignore warning signs that service is needed. Therefore, when a normal item wears out – like brake pads – they’re totally surprised by it, and repairing is becomes a crisis. Then they take it in to a shop, and find out that the alignment is out of whack. So now they also need new tires and an alignment. Add to the mix that some shops are, shall we say, of questionable repute! And all the sudden, the bill is over $1000 and the owner is appalled!

The key is that you have to take responsibility for the maintenance of your vehicle. That’s NOT to say you have to do all the work yourself (although it would save you a fair amount of money) just that you have to manage it, or it will manage you!

All that being said – MBs are not inexpensive cars. You could get a much lower cost-per-mile ratio from a used Toyota. But MBs are magnificent machines. They ride and handle wonderfully. And you will not find another vehicle built with this degree of craftsmanship.

Jeff Pierce

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Jeff Pierce

Current Vehicles:
'92 Mercedes 190E/2.3 (247K miles/my daily driver)
'93 Volvo 940 Turbo Wagon (263K miles/a family truckster with spunk)
'99 Kawasaki Concours
Gravely 8120
Previous Vehicles:
'85 Jeep CJ-7 w/ Fisher plow (226K miles)'93 Volvo 940 Turbo Wagon
'53 Willys-Overland Pickup
'85 Honda 750F Interceptor
'93 Nissan Quest
'89 Toyota Camry Wagon
'89 Dodge Raider
'81 Honda CB 750F Super Sport
'88 Toyota Celica
'95 Toyota Tacoma
'74 Honda CB 550F

I agree with Jeff, but would add that driver/owner skill and driving habits are also major factor in the longevity and cost of ownership. I am not a DIYer, but my car gets its regular maintenance by an MB dealer.

I applaud your choice of the 124 coupe. IMO, the sedans are a dime a dozen today. A clean, well maintained (& preferably non smoker and garage kept) coupe is rare. In 1988 they only sold about 2,500 here in the US and the MSRP was 52-54K, (about 8k more than the 300E sedan) From there the price went up and unit sales down until they discontinured the platform.

From what I read here, the bottom end of these I6's is nearly bulletproof. The top end issues are discussed all over this forum. I suggest you read up on the M103 and M104 problem areas if you are not familiar with them. The dohc 24v M104 replaced the sohc 12v103 in the early 90's, which is apparently the time frame (or the particular vehicle) you are focusing on. They each had their problems with OEM failures, and knowing what they were will help you in analyzing vehicle maintenance.

If you are looking at an AMG coupe, expect harder than normal wear and focus even that much more on maintenance history.

FWIW, I expect my bone stock garnet '88ce (now with 74k on the clock) to be the last car I own. I'll leave it to my oldest daughter when I die.

Final thought (Wish I'd said that): There's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes.

Good Luck

Thanks all. I have several vehicles and many of them, such as my old Charger, are not a vehicle that you can hop in and expect everything to work perfectly all the time. I understand that the MB is a high prevent. maint. car and am willing to pay the extra money in repairs/maint to drive such a fine car. However, I was asking so that I didn't have any surprises, such as, oh ya, the trans goes out usually around 120k and it needs to be hand built by Rodrico Isskah in Germany and delivered personally by him on his schwin for a price of $25,000. Ya know what I mean?? Not to sound stupid but I really know nothing about MB so please don't take my Q's as coming from a total moron, just a MB illiterate. Thanks again and what a great forum. Tons of reading for me

I jsut picked up my "new" 1989 300ce yesterday.. I have been looking for a couple of years... 122,600 $4800 Paint shines like new... however, some small road rocks knicks here and there that I am touching up. Also doing the Forever Black thing on the door handles and bumper trim...they always fade

Black with mint grey interior. Newer transmission, radiator, muffler, resonator, a/c condensor and expansion valve.

Also replace once....shocks and front shock mounts.

Great service records.

What put me over the top: I called a previous service guy. He said the woman had a in one of the wood pieces. He said if he replaced it, it wouldn't match the others... she said replaced them all. It's nice to have that kind of discretionary dollars

forget that Forever Black and try peanut butter (learned from this site) it works wonders

just put some on the rubber trim and let sit for an hour and clean it off, the oil frm the PB restores the rubber

nice find the CE !

+ren

Contrary to popular myth, MBs are NOT high PM cars. The PM schedule of tasks is about the same as a typical Toyota. Like any older car, their repair frequency will increase with mileage and age (repair and PM are two different things) because they are fairly complicated - more things to break, however, they are very well engineered and built cars.

The key to the life and reliability of a used car is whether or not the PO had the MB recommended PM done and kept up with all the minor repairs. For this reason maintenance and repair records are very important. If a car has records, audit them carefully. If the car has no maintenance/repair records, keep looking.

Duke

The real key to a high miles Mercedes, like a million miles, is lots of highway driving. I have never read about a million mile Mercedes where the owner didn't live 100 miles from work, or 75 miles from the grocery store, or something like that. Maintaining a moderate speed on the highway causes minimal wear and tear on the car. How long a car will be on the road is ultimately a question of economic viability, how much does it cost to repair it. A car like a 300CE has much greater economic viability if you are a DIYer. The marketplace values on 300CEs and other MBs like it are telling us that their economic viability is questionable today - parts prices are now too high and there are not enough DIYers out there.

With any older car, it pays to be handy and do some repairs yourself. No car is maintenance-free, but these cars have a solid mechanical foundation so you can twiddle with them a lot. Plus, the older the car, the less familiar the repair shops are with them so you may be paying for their "learning experience".

Of course, there is always the chance that a major system will let go at any time. Then you have to decide whether to shell out the big bucks, or just put the old girl in retirement.

Mine is 20 years old and all the body panels and doors are still nicely aligned. Most other cars would not be so lucky.

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1985 380SE Blue/Blue - 230,000 miles
2012 Subaru Forester 5-speed
2005 Toyota Sienna
2004 Chrysler Sebring convertible
1999 Toyota Tacoma

I agree with this all the way. I bought a w201 from a extremely wealthy "Gucci from head to toe" lady and the car looked great with low mileage but had no records of service history and it turned out that the car was never serviced and had almost never had any parts replaced or even seen a garage. She was gorgeous, but the car was not. Every part that could fail...failed. I have a file that is the size of a New York phone book for this car. I paid a very heavy pice and the lesson was learned. My 300ce on the other hand was a one owner car and the car was serviced at the Mercedes dealer it was purchased from and I have most of the records since new. That was the only reason I bought this car. Buyer beware.

A Mercedes can live a healthy life if treated well. Some models have known issues that need to be addressed some time or another and some models are cheaper to maintain than others and some models are more reliable than others. At 100,000 miles, a $50,000 Mercedes that can be had for $5000 could be a great buy.

Is the 300ce your are looking at have some AMG equipment?

Good Luck!

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1989 300CE Astralsilber/Schwarz
1992 300CE Schwarz/Schwarz

Nah, just AMG wheels. I do like the looks of the AMG but after buying the right car I doubt if a body kit will be affordable. I really appreciate this thread as it has convinced me to hold out for a while to find a very well maintained car. So far I have only found one car with well documented service and it was already sold. Thanks.

I'm happy to hear that you will hold out for the right car. That's the best thing. Have you driven a 300ce? If you haven't, see if you can take one out for a road test to get a feel of how it drives. One thing I can tell you is that a 300ce with oem 15" rims with cheap tires will give you a much different impression of the car compared to one with 17" AMG rims for example, granted the suspension of both cars is in the same condition.

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1989 300CE Astralsilber/Schwarz
1992 300CE Schwarz/Schwarz

I wonder why?

Keep looking until you find that well documented car; lino's story about the low mile 201 that wasn't maintained is classic. Low miles can fool a lot of people. I caution most to not too over focus on mileage. The key is overall condition and the existance of maintenance and repair records.

Duke

Here's my two cents. A friend of mine bought a new 1987 260E. Since around 1989 I'm the only person to have worked on it. All scheduled services were done on time. The oil and filter were changed between the services (approx. every 3,500). All wear and tear items were checked periodically. In other words, the car was well taken care of. Still, it had all the problems one would expect from this chassis/engine combination. I re-built the transmission at 150,000 miles. I did a valve job/guides at 275,000. A/C compressor, drier, etc. at 325,000(it never needed an evaporator). At 470,000 miles cylinder #3 lost compression. A leakdown test indicated a problem with the piston/rings/cylinder wall. We decided that enough was enough and my friend sold the car for $1,500. The new owner was made aware of the nature of the engine problem but decided to buy it anyway. Considering it's age, the car is in remarkable shape. I planned on photographing the odometer and posting it here but I didn't get the chance.