Looking at a 99 e320 what to be aware of?

[dlssmith]

I am looking at a 99 E320 with about 75000 miles on the odo. It is a one owner and looks very good. Dealer is asking is $19795.

Can anyone point to issues with this model and year that I should look at?

Forum members input is greatly appreciated.

DS
87 300D
Northern Iowa.

[johneb48]

I have a '98 E320 with 49,500 miles all service performed and garage kept--one owner excellent condition--no acidents--$17,500.00. Interested--I live in Florida. Email johneb48@hotmail.com

[milhan]

that seems a little steep for a 99 E320. I bought my 99 E320 4 matic 2 years ago for 16,900. This is a great year for this model. Has the xenon option, ESP, etc. I never heard of anything real bad with this years E320. Good luck, this is an awesome car!!!

[Ali Al-Chalabi]

Check to see if the harmonic balancer has been replaced. Overall a good engine and by 99, the 722.6 was a fairly solid transmission.

To give you some perspective I bought a blemish-free silver E320 in February for $16,800. It had 27K miles on it, which is a big reason why I picked it. Your deal is much too high considering the mileage. Go to edmunds.com and find the feature where you enter zip code, color, mileage, general condition etc and you'll get three prices: trade in value, private sale, dealer sale.

[milhan]

i thought the harmonic balancer issues were on the ML320 . I believe this is a differant motor than the 99 E320 same displacement, but its configured a little differant.

[dlssmith]

I originally started this post back in April. Today I went by the same dealer and that E320 is still there! So, I thought, what the heck, and I drove it. It's really in excellent condition, the driver seat looks practically brand new. Now the asking is $15,900. What should I offer? It has zero rust, new tires, and no interior noises even on rough roads. 76,000 miles.

But, no seat heaters, damnit.

DS

[Peter Guenther]

The 99 was involved in a pulley recall my 01 had it changed under warranty 320 is 320 I would go low, you can always go up. I was told that if a car sits on the MB lot they get nervous they expect them to move in 2 to 3 weeks. You could always get the vin and check with the MB dealer as to open campaigns.
It seems you are selling yourself, its always dangerous!

[deanyel]

That's extraordinary that a dealer would sit on a car for 9 months. They've taken $4,000 in depreciation just trying to sell it. I've never heard of such a thing. Most dealers will set some kind of a time limit at which point they wholesale.

[Hatterasguy]

Some dealers are pretty stupid. In todays market I'd offer $14k, maybe $15k max if you really want it.

[dlssmith]

I agree the dealer is a dope for sitting on it. There isn't much market for MB in this area, though and it's a Honda dealer. I got it for $14k. I am happy with that. It's a one owner and has all records. Fine condition.

[Will_w202]

It's really not that unusual. It's standard practice at my 2 area MB stores. My car sat 8 months and the only reason I bought a 97 4cyl car is because the price went from $16,900 to $13,900, and that was Starmark. Not my first choice for engine and color, but it was a steal, and I've grown to like it.

[jlomon]

Originally Posted by dlssmith

I agree the dealer is a dope for sitting on it. There isn't much market for MB in this area, though and it's a Honda dealer. I got it for $14k. I am happy with that. It's a one owner and has all records. Fine condition.

I'd be willing to bet that the reason they kept the the car for that long is that when they accepted it as a trade in they valued it far too high in order to make the sale on the Honda and then couldn't move the car themselves, either to a retail customer or wholesale to another dealer. But after 8 months of no action on the car, they decided to cut their losses and sell the car to you, probably at a huge loss (over and above what it has cost them to keep on the lot for that long). At the dealership I used to work for, this was a constant source of friction between the new car manager and used car manager. The new car manager would sometimes accept a trade-in far too "heavy" in order to do a deal on a new car, and the used car manager got stuck with the car in his inventory. It can become an excellent opportunity for a consumer, if you notice a car that's been sitting on a lot for a long time, especially at an off-make dealer.

[forp]

OMHO, the best way to go with this type of purchase would be to move up to the 2000 model year and look for a private party sale with time left on a Starmark warranty. Last month, in my area, there was a 2000 E320, 65,000 miles, original owner, with Starmark warranty until Feb., 2007, for $17,500. Starmark warranties are only transferable between private parties. If it goes through a dealer, the warrenty is void. That's the kind of car you want. You have to be patient and diligent because these deals can be far and few between and then gone in one day. I don't think you could find a 1999 model with Starmark warranty still valid. On the other hand, if the used car traffic in northern Iowa makes if very unlikely this will ever happen, read all you can in this forum about any issues and good luck.

One more thing: If you do end up with a 1999-2000 era MB with typical miles, the crank position sensor is probably on its last legs.

Dan

[dlssmith]

I did end up with it. And it's really a good ride. Funny thing, driving out of the lot today when I went back to pick up my old one, the driver rear window stuck open, bad regulator, I turned around and caught the sales manager there and then and he agreed to fix it. They're working on it now.

They replaced the other rear regulator a few months ago.

BTW the sales manager basically said: make us an offer, we want it gone. They were very upside down on it for precisely the reason offered in a previous post. My first offer was the lowest price I'd seen on ebay, and then I came up a little. But I paid nearly $6000 less than what they originally listed it for almost a year ago. They paid heavy for it when the po traded for a brand new Honda. And there aren't but a few MB's in this whole area, and the nearest MB dealer is about 100 miles away.

Funny thing, I owned a Honda accord for many years and they serviced it for me occasionally. I always thought I was getting hosed on that, so now it felt kinda good to get some of it back. sort of.