If you are not planning on doing your own maintenence on your car, Dont buy it.

Head gaskets are pretty straight forward, and not very difficult to do. Every 150-200k
Its not as big an issue as people make it out to be. The valve stem guides are the real problem It will cost you about $750 to have the head re-done.

Water pump is also on the list, as well as tensioner. $400ish

The 300e will almost always be driveable. If you are looking to get it back to new driver status, figure shocks, springs, bushings (there are alot of them), and the list goes on.

If you want a/c, it will cost you a grand just in parts.
The rear subframe will cost $1500 to refresh (parts only)
The Front end will run under 1k in parts

I have already done the above repairs on my 300e, And it still does not drive well.

I ended up buying an econo box to have a piece of reliable transportation.

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Eugene

10 E63 AMG
93 300te 4matic
07 BMW X3
14 Ford F-150 Fx2