Right about the miles mine started falling apart out of warranty. The turbocharger on mine failed under warranty. After 90K, that's when mine started racking up the /fail.

Main expenses were the brakes, emissions snafu, and just miscellaneous stuff here and there. A little "deferred maintenance" from previous owner when I got it with about 140K miles, then did OK for about 30000 miles before this disastrous run.

Picked it up today, good news was it started, bad news is I rolled the window down and the motor is broken and it won't go back up. I'm sure that's many hundreds of dollars, but I am thinking about pushing the car off a cliff in the middle of nowhere to put it out of its misery.

Anyway, it's only money. It's a big setback, and I resent Mercedes for not making a quality product, but at least I know never to touch them again.

Highlight of the day was another guy who had a 1999 E320 (a year newer than mine) that was incredibly in even worse shape. We bonded over what a bad product we own!

That cost $6500 ?

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1998 C230 330,000 miles (currently dead of second failed EIS, yours will fail too, turning you into the dealer's personal human cash machine)
1988 F150 144,000 miles (leaks all the colors of the rainbow)
Previous stars: 1981 Brava 210,000 miles, 1978 128 150,000 miles, 1977 B200 Van 175,000 miles, 1972 Vega (great, if rusty, car), 1972 Celica, 1986.5 Supra

I may have bought my last new, or used MB, the 2006 E320 CDI that I bought used 3.5 years ago, now with 69K miles on it.

I was raised in a family where my parents bought and drove new MB diesel cars starting in 1969. That's what got me started on buying and driving a used, 8 year old 1983 MB diesel with 93K on it in 1991.

My next MB diesel car was a new 1999 E300TD sedan. Spent $42,500 plus sales tax on that car. Never again. Too much money for too little return. Drove it 100K in it's 1st 4-years of ownership. Nothing but a problem basically for years - one thing or another. Gifted it to a Brother 3.5 years ago. It had 132K on it. I repeatedly warned my Brother that it would cost $1K to $3K a year to keep it on-the-road, if he was going to drive it a lot. He keeps it as his garage queen. Seems to have ongoing issues, even when not driving it but a thousand miles a year.

Ismalley your mileage is truly something.

I agree with you 100%, in 100k miles I have spent around £2000 in parts and probably saved over £6000 in labour from doing things myself. You do form a bond with your car during that time.

If the op was doing it himself he would have saved a bomb, however that doesn't excuse MB of doing a shoddy job in the late '90's.

Indeed, I don't have the time or mechanical aptitude for repairs. The guy at the store told me I was "lucky" to only have spent that much. Also that includes oil changes, I live in an apartment complex that prohibits changing the oil there (which they strictly enforce). Anyway, life will go on- I'll get what use I can out of the car, hopefully another 6 months/6000 miles, and then buy the cheapest Toyota with 100K miles I can find. Pleasant day to you all!

Get a 2011/2012 Honda Accord.

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Jim

dont fall for the toyota runs forever jingle.

due to that jingle nearly all toyotas are driven into the dirt, because owners assume toyotas only take oil changes with the cheap slippery stuff @ 14.99.

corollas are almost always junkyard material if more than 50K miles because they are driven by students or "toyotas run forever type folks"

camrys face the same fate.

get a 10 or 11 honda or a subaru, lots of cheapo parts available and not usually beaten to death (subaru maybe because they are sometimes used for snow duty)

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2012 BMW X5 (Beef + Granite suspension model)

1995 E300D - The original humming machine (consumed by Flood 2017)
2000 E320 - The evolution (consumed by flood 2017)

iuecon99, buying the cheapest Toyota with 100k miles that you can find sounds like a repeat of your experience with the 1998 E320. The cheapest Toyota likely will not have been properly maintained, and will require extensive repairs due to the PO's negligence. There are no free lunches in this life.

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Fred Hoelzle

For over thirty years, my daily driver was either a BMW or Mercedes and I didn't want anything to do with Japanese cars.

I bought a 2008 Civic with a 5 speed manual last year for 6k. One owner, with service records ,100k miles and very clean. In 12 months of daily driving, the only non maintenance repair has been the MAF sensor(around $100 from the dealer).

I also traded the 2005 Thunderbird in on a certified 2014 Tundra Limited double cab with the iForce 5.7 v8. No one issue in the last year other than a dead battery. Toyota reimbursed me for the battery and new battery terminals no questions asked, and even offered to pay for towing and a rental car. Now that is customer service!

I still have the young timers and old timers, but in this day and age they are just relics not suitable for reliable and economical driving.

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"I was a dirty bird, Carol's not grungey - she's *****in" John Milner....American Graffiti

There is nothing more expensive than an old Mbz if you can't do you own repair or diagnosis. OTOH, there is nothing cheaper than owning a Mbz if you are handy. I love all my old diesel. Cheap to insure, easy to work on, load of helping hands/info from this forum, cheap spares, availability of cars in jy. It has been good experience for me since I changed my car brand to Mbz.

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Not MBZ nor A/C trained professional but a die-hard DIY and green engineer. Use the info at your own peril. Picked up 2 Infractions because of disagreements. NOW reversed.

W124 Keyless remote, PM for details. http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/mercedes-used-parts-sale-wanted/334620-fs-w124-chasis-keyless-remote-%2450-shipped.html

1 X 2006 CDI
1 x 87 300SDL
1 x 87 300D
1 x 87 300TDT wagon
1 x 83 300D
1 x 84 190D ( 5 sp ) - All R134 converted + keyless entry.

I would argue BMW is. Around here the dealer charges $208/Hr for labor (that quote is a couple of years old and may have gone up since then). BMW's have the maximum possible plastic content under the hood (I truly believe they would use plastic pistons if they could get them to last 40K miles.) I work on my friend's 2003 530i and participate in the Bimmer forums so I speak from first hand experience. I have replaced numerous disintegrated, rotted, hardened plastic and rubber parts on that car. It leaks oil everywhere and burns it too. Had had a couple of computers go bad also. Goes fast though.

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1998 C230 330,000 miles (currently dead of second failed EIS, yours will fail too, turning you into the dealer's personal human cash machine)
1988 F150 144,000 miles (leaks all the colors of the rainbow)
Previous stars: 1981 Brava 210,000 miles, 1978 128 150,000 miles, 1977 B200 Van 175,000 miles, 1972 Vega (great, if rusty, car), 1972 Celica, 1986.5 Supra

I agree 100% with you. Mercedes diesels from the 80's are the best engines but they require maintenance I save a lot of money driving my Mercedes diesel doing 90% of the mantaince my self

coming to topic

Now I dont quite get the issue here, is the original poster assuming that buying a more than 10 yr old used car and tacking some amount of money (regardless of how) makes for an excellent car? We dont know if the mechanics who touched it are familiar with it so they could have pointed out smaller jobs while repairing something else.

now speaking of japanese reliability - all I can reply is LOL - my family owns 5 cars, three japanese and two german. - the japanese ones are a mazda 6, a toyota camry and a nissan altima - the two germans are in my signature.

try pricing genuine parts for a toyota (as in real genuine toyota packaging) and then sort it out, its a right pain and the mazda is built like an onion - you have to peel away a lot of the car to work on it. Or try sorting electrical issues in a modern Nissan... (its an exercise in patience)

I'll take my 2 older benzes anyday - I keep them in tip top shape and set aside some time, parts and resources every year at tune up time to keep them in good condition. That doesnt include airing the tires or replacing blown bulbs etc, they are replaced at failure - i also include window regulators in that too as they are wear items like wipers, I had the fortune of replacing toyo camry solara regulators recently - at 200 a pop for a remade one I was not happy with the toyota brand.

If I were to take the car to a shop to change wipers or replace bulbs - it would be far better to buy some real steep warranty and insurance for the vehicle or lease a new vehicle and replace every 3 years (lots of new peeps are doing that).

old car ownership (even classic american) and using a shop for every little hiccup is a shortcut way to a hole in your pocket, no matter if the badge says benz, ford, chevy or honda

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2012 BMW X5 (Beef + Granite suspension model)

1995 E300D - The original humming machine (consumed by Flood 2017)
2000 E320 - The evolution (consumed by flood 2017)