As I've mentioned before, I owned a '99 E320 4matic wagon from new. It was my third Benz, as I've also owned a '79 300CD and an '87 300TDT. I picked up an '87 190DT in 2002, to replace the 300CD which was finally killed by the WTC. The '99 wasn't the worst car I've ever owned, but it was the worst Benz. It was trouble before I even took ownership. I had bought it because a friend of mine bought a new E320 and I really liked it. When I bought mine, I called him and told him I had bought a car just like his. "You mean the Lexus?" "No, the E320". "That POS went back to Mercedes two weeks ago...it spontaneously combusted in the driveway, and I forced them to take it back." Then shortly after it was delivered, I received an invitation to join the class action for engine sludging. And then I began to have my own bad experiences.

I had the wagon for 12 years, so it's not like it didn't work at all. But it was always trouble. If not treated just so, it bit. Maybe a window riser would crap out. Maybe the CPS would die and leave you on the roadside. Maybe the cats would start sounding like castanets. First warm day each year, the A/C was sure to fail. And then there were the defective lamp warnings. Always something. Ten years ago, you could go online and find dozens of sites like "myE320sucks.com", but they seem to have dried up as the cars disappeared from the road or went to more tolerant owners.

If you really want to own this car, move to a warm climate, keep the car in the garage, avoid bad weather, get a AAA towing package, use a lot of wax. It may be that there were good examples and bad examples. It may be that the survivors have been painfully sorted out by determined owners. But I've always believed that the real character of a car is baked in. With the 210, Mercedes set out to get better margins on it's mid range cars, and they succeeded at the expense of everything else that they were known for. It's a clear step down in quality from the 124, and in comparison to the 123, it's just a caricature.