I think you are referring to the "dime-a-dozen" sedans NOT the more difficult to find wagon. (Trust me, I've been ALL OVER the web for the last two weeks searching and there is a lot of junk wagons in the $2K - $4K range!) I did not state that in my opening post, sorry.

This is my deal - I have found a pristine 95 wagon with leather and the 'right' color combo but the AC appears to be misbehaving. The compressor kicks in, there is coolant flowing through the little sight glass but NO COLD or even cool air - just ambient temp. I am having a PPI performed at the MB dealer there tomorrow so I'll wait to get the answer. BTW - here is the car.

I THINK I have them figured out as to why they SEEM to be non-interested in negotiating much with this car. They told me NOT LESS THAN 4 - 5 times within the 90 minutes we spent there looking and talking about the car that "...there's been a LOT of interest in this car." Or "we just had a call from a guy in MA..."! It may or (more than likely) may not be the case but who's to say?! It shows extremely clean and well maintained, drives silky smooth, the leather still is CRACK FREE even on the driver's seat. It only has 74,xxx miles on it AND IT SHOWS. Now, what I THINK is they are waiting for that unsuspecting buyer who just "falls in love" with it and just "has to have it" and makes a foolish impulsive move to purchase it. Might be wrong but they just gave me the impression that they were not interested in 'dealing' on this car!

When I mentioned that I'd like to have a pre-purchase inspection on it the salesman said well that would not be a problem since they (actually 'another' business entity connected to their parent company) has performed almost all maintenance on it since it was 2 years old. Of course I said that that would not do as I wanted a totally independent and unbiased assessment of the car NOT FROM THE SAME DEALERSHIP THAT HAS IT FOR SALE! He said oh no they wouldn't pay to have it inspected! I said NO I'LL PAY FOR THAT! Oh. He got it then! SO, I am told it will be scheduled to be done first thing tomorrow morning. I will be calling the MB dealership early to 'introduce' myself to the service dept and give them a heads up on what will be happening concerning this car. DID I EVER TELL YOU THAT I HATE DEALERSHIPS FOR ANYTHING OTHER THAN THE DREADED DEALER PARTS?

Anyway, kinda got off course here a little but back to the warranties, IF I were to purchase that car for what might be a bigger price than SHOULD be paid for it, simply because of its pristine condition, and its low miles and its one owner status, it seems that a 5 year 100K warranty (~$2000) would be a good investment since I plan to keep it long term - like ten years. Please, correct my thinking (if you can!).

__________________
Dale