I've posted the same information so many times I sound like a broken record.

My neighbor has been working for over 10 years at the local Mercedes dealer - Penske Mercedes in Covina, CA. He was promoted to team leader about a year ago. He knows these cars inside and out.

He has repeatedly stated in his opinion that W210 E320 and E430s are the most reliable, trouble free Mercedes ever built.

They don't have any of the common problems that W124's have: no wiring harness issues, no head gasket leaks, no throttle actuator failures, no a/c issues with leaking evaporators. And the 722.6 transmissions are bullet-proof. In fact, until recently all of the AMG cars on all of the chassis were still using the 722.6 transmission, even though the regular C, E, and S class cars have been using the 7 speed automatic transmission since 2004, or so. Even the Mercedes / McLaren SLR car uses the 722.6.

In cold weather climates that use salt on the roads, early W210's see occasional spring perch failures. My neighbor has never seen one, though, at Penske.

You also sometimes see Crank Position Sensor failures where the car fails to start after a hot re-start. The part is fairly cheap and takes about 5-10 minutes to replace (if you know exactly where it is). You can feel it with your hands, but can't see it.

I had a few pixels go out in the instrument cluster for the time display, but there is a guy here in So. Cal. who fixes them while you wait for a couple hundred dollars. There are also companies that fix them if you send them in the mail.

There was also a factory recall on crankshaft harmonic balancers from 1998-midyear 2000 models.

The comment above about looking for an E430 is a good one. There is almost no mileage penalty in getting the V8. I get about 19 in mainly city driving, about 21-22 in mixed driving, and 25-26 mpg in all freeway driving.

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Paul S.

2001 E430, Bourdeaux Red, Oyster interior.
79,200 miles.

1973 280SE 4.5, 170,000 miles. 568 Signal Red, Black MB Tex. "The Red Baron".