I would never consider such a W140. Your nuts for $5k more you can get a one owner, full history, no BS mint example.

4 owners and a salvage title? They are nuts offer then $7k tops.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

........offer $0.00...........tops.

Well if it runs and drives its worth something, but a beater it always will be.

As PT Barnum once said, "Their is a sucker born every minute"

4 owner salvage title W140's have a large market.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

It might be worth something to a fool........but........not to a knowledgeable person.........all of whom frequent this forum.

Oh yeah, I know exactly where this W140 will end up. After rotting for a few months it will be sold to a car dealer in how shall I say, a less then "nice" area. Said W140 will be buffed up and placed on the lot for $XXXX with some nice finance anyone credit terms. 20% interest maybe?

Then it will be bought, have some cheap "dubs" slapped on along with cheap tints of course, and cruise said area.

I see these cars everyday in New Haven driving on my way to school.


Non of the educated buyers that use MB shop would ever consider such a car, score one for MBshop!

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

Someone will eventually buy that frame damaged car for exactly what the seller wants. Not everyone checks carfax. I personally would not buy it unless I got an exceptionally good deal because of the major resale value hit.

Im afraid I don't buy into the saftey feature scare tactics. Unless you get hit by a Tractor Trailer some minor frame damage is not going to affect you much. Most of the energy absorbing features are in the front of the car and those components are replacable. The whole salvage title concept has been cooked up by the sleazy insurance industry and the sleazy car rebuilding industry that buys and repairs the cars that the insurance companies are too cheap to repair. Most of the rebuilders are great at washing titles. If your not in their circle of fraud your the guy that ends up with the resale value killing "salvage title".

I would be worried more about ride quality and tire wear with a frame damaged car.

You don't have to check CarFax to see a car has a salvage title - you look at the title. It's very rare that a seller would not disclose - failure to do so would render a transaction voidable - i.e. fraud in the inducement. There's no such thing as washing a title anymore. It's a permanent designation in all 50 states. There's nothing wrong with a car having four owners - title changes don't inherently impair the condition of a car. But salvage title should be avoided in a car in that price range. For it to be salvaged it had to have damage commensurate with the value of the car.

I should be very careful with what I say on this thread. Last time I went anti used S-Class ownership sharing my cousins case....(search thread: why not to buy a Mercedes)....I ended up being the bad anti mercedes hating guy and eventually getting banned...lol. hahaha. But I love Mercedes...

So All I will say is, will this car make you happy? Are you willing to consider the fact that although this car might be cheap now, in parts this car is still worth in excess of $100 000...now that the car is aging, the question is, if these parts start to go and need replacing.... will you be able to afford them? Do your homework, go on a parts site and see what the parts prices are like, and weigh you're options. I don't hate the S-Class model, I'm just in favor of making a smart business decision with the money you're going to spend.... At the end of the day, don't risk family vacation money for use on you're car upkeep fund....

I have 2 observations:
On the subject of the salvage title, you can count on losing at least 20% of value just by having a "funny" title, although as the car ages and depreciates it matters less and less. If it was totaled and wound up as salvage, it must have taken a pretty good whack to total it in the first place.
Car dealers like to play the carfax information both ways: I work at a dealership and had a situation on a late model BMW recently...we did a $5000 collision repair, put it back together so it was as close to perfect as it could be. The owner went to trade it in, was told by my pre-owned dept that the $5000 repair knocks $7500 off the trade in value on the car?! This was after the repair was done. I get the sick feeling that a potential buyer of that car would be told that the carfax info is not important, and it was expertly repaired, hence the ACV is not hurt by the repair history. Voila, the dealership pockets an additional $7500 on the deal.
Insurance companies SELL the information to carfax...we at the shop level don't disclose anything to carfax, we feel it's a privacy issue.

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2002 Ford ZX2
2 x 2013 Honda Civics

Brian is spot on as regards to the high maintenence cost of the 140s. The 140 is highly prized by Mb enthusiests and MB shop owners. The average MB ocassionally needs expensive repairs so the owner of an MB repair facility needs X number of clients to stay in business and pay his bills. Now if all those clients own a 140, he can take his family to Hawaii for vacation instead of camping. He can buy that boat he has been dreaming about.

Now you say," I do all my own work". So when the CEL comes on, you go to the local parts store and scan your codes for free. You get two codes so now what do you do with them? There is a problem with a CAN bus, but what is the problem? Somehow you find out you need a new module. OK so the module is only $2200, and you buy it and install it. Car still has same problem and may need to be towed to the dealer to have the car programmed to accept the new module. Do you think the dealer will loan you the tool? Guess again, buddy. You're going to take it in the shorts. Then a few months go by and the wife calls to tell you there is something wrong with the car. Hopefully your 140 reserve fund has built up enough for this round. Ask any professional mechanic and he will agree that the 140 is one of the finest to come from MB and also the most expensive to maintain.

In my opinion the 126 is an incredible car and still doable by a DIY. Who needs a remote control switch to adjust the rear view mirror anyway?

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Auto Zentral Ltd.

Exactly, and the primary reason why I would never consider a W140.

Besides the fact........they look fugly.

Peter, as a person who has probably more experience in actually servicing the W140 than anyone else on here, can you provide an "average" annual cost of maintenance and repair (excluding tires) for a "typical" 1998 S320 with 105K on the clock??

I realize it's a loaded question and some vehicles will fall far from the mean..........but........the answer would be quite valuable for those considering such a vehicle.

The cost should be the combination of parts and labor.

Thanks.

Just look at any car with a salvage title, I can spot body work a mile away. Not have panals fit would drive me nuts on a $70k+ car.

Maybe its just me but I would pay extra for a one owner example with 0 accidents. Their is something to be said for nice original paint and sheet metal.

Local shop has the MB diagnostic tool, I think they charged my friend $70 or so to diagnose his car.


If you don't want to buy a $15k S320 and pay to fix it, you could probably find a leftover 2006 S350 kicking around. Pay $70k and you will have a nice warranty and not have to pay for repairs. After 4 years or 50k miles buy another new one. Or buy a BMW, they cover everything but tires, no out of pocket expense. Well excpet that payment...

I'd rather just cough upa few bucks to fix the W140 once in awhile.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

I can spot bad bodywork a mile away too...good bodywork had darn well better be invisible to the casual observer. I drive myself nuts sitting in rush hour traffic looking at the poor panel fits and color mismatches on cars around me. For that matter, GM can't seem to shoot pearl white finishes without getting mottling and blotchiness even from the factory. They should be ashamed of themselves. W140's scare me to death...they are too elaborate for my taste. Our shop seems to get a lot of 6-cylinder W140 sedans, and that is a lot of car for a 3.2L six to lug around. My personal opinion is that the leather is of lesser quality in 140's than in the older cars, it almost feels plasticky, like the cheesy "corintian leather" Chrysler used in the 70's. Why spend the $$$ on leather if it looks, feels and smells like vinyl?

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2002 Ford ZX2
2 x 2013 Honda Civics

"and that is a lot of car for a 3.2L six to lug around"

Uh, didn't the Euromarket 140s get a variety of engines even smaller than the US 3.2L - and they run at 100 MPH plus quite often? Don't the diesels have even less HP in the 140s than the gas engines?

I've driven several S320s and found performance of all of them to be quite acceptable - better than 100 MPH with around 8.5-9 sec 0-60 times by my watch ...

This would appear to be sufficient, if not the best, performance ...

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George Stephenson
1991 350 SDL (200K and she ain't bent, yet)
former 2002 E320 4Matic Wagon - good car
former 1985 300 CD - great car
former 1981 300 TD - good car
former 1972 280 SEL - not so good car
a couple of those diesel Rabbits ...40-45 mpg