Derek,

If you're at all handy with a wrench and know the difference between a ratchet and a rat-tail you should be able to do most of the typical maintenance yourself with the help of this forum, a good dose of common sense and a good CD or DVD Service Manual. If you take the car to an MB dealer be prepared to pay upwards of $100/hr for service work and remember that the service writer is paid a percentage of all the work he gets you to agree to, so you know where his incentive lies. Make them explain to you and justify any additional repairs they recommend, then run it by this forum if you have any doubts.

Call your local dealer's service department and ask the price, with a breakdown of parts and labor, of a 90k mi. service and having the brake pads and rotors replaced. Then do the same with an independent MB or European car service shop and compare the difference. Then get a list of the parts they tell you that they install and price them here from the FastLane link at the top of the page and see if it makes you want to do any of your own work.

Btw, as an example replacing brake pads and rotors is quite easy for the DIY'er and, for the front, will run you about $202.94 in parts (1 set pads=$73.50, 2 brake rotors @ $62.45 each and 2 pad wear sensors @ $2.27 ea. If your rotors still have enough material that they can be turned on a brake lathe the $62.45 drops to about $10-$20 per disk. They can usually be turned once, maybe twice before they have to be replaced. Most shops will replace them every time, regardless of wear.

Ask in the Good MB Shops Forum for some reputable service techs in your area, both dealers and independents.

Ask in this forum for any known or typical problems with this year and model. I believe that one problem that the E320 suffered from in this year was a deteriorating engine wiring harness. Use the search function and look for "wiring harness" or "crumbling insulation". Specifically, read this post regarding the harness problem.

Ask the current owner to get a listing from the dealer that serviced the car what regular service work as well as what warranty work was done. Get photocopies of the service receipts if possible.

Ask the dealer what it would cost to have them evaluate the car from stem to stern lookig for existing problems or imminent repairs. Ask them to pay particular attention to the condition of the rubber bushings in the rear suspension and subframe.

This car utilizes a rubber-isolated subframe and a multi-link rear suspension with 4 subframe mounts and about 16 metal-rubber bushings in the suspension (2 each in 4 links on each side). When these are in good shape it provides a very stable, supple ride with excellent handling. As these begin to wear and deteriorate they introduce a looseness and sloppiness into the car's handling that can become quite disconcerting when it gets excessive. Unfortunately, though, the bushings can't be replaced separetely, you have to replace each of the control arms. Generally they don't all wear at the same rate and if any of them need to be replaced it will most likely be only a couple of them. When they wear it also affects the ability of the rear wheels to be properly aligned and can cause premature tire wear. If the previous owner had the car serviced regularly and followed the advice of good service tech these items would have been taken care of as they occurred, so just another reason to see the service records.

As questions come up, post them here and get reliable answers and perhaps more questions to ask.

Hope this helps

Gary