W210 and Maintence - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

circlip · #1 10-07-2006, 11:03 PM

I've owned a 1996 E300 for about 34 months. I really enjoy driving the car, but I am somewhat troubled by the amount of maintenance involved so far. The car has about 154,000 miles on it and my mileage has been relatively low, about 12,000 miles a year. Almost all of my maintenance is done by an independent Mercedes mechanic. I like my mechanic and I do consider them fair and great to deal with.

This is my first Mercedes. I listened to a lot of friends warn me that this would be an expensive car to operate. None of these people actually own or have owned Mercedes. As a result of all this "free advice", I've been tracking my repair and maintenance costs since I bought the car. I quess that I wanted to prove them wrong and I also wanted to know how this car compared to some of my previous vehicles.

My maintenance including oil changes (petro oil, every 3,000 miles) is running at $126 per month. This does not factor in cost of the vehicle, insurance, fuel, washing, etc. Most of this money has gone to repairs.

Here's my question. Is this amount high or average (or low) for this vehicle? How does it compare to the older diesels? What's the opinions of other diesel owners?

Hatterasguy · #2 10-07-2006, 11:19 PM

Thats pretty good, maybe even a bit below average. For rule of thumb figure keeping any MB in proper tune costs about $1k-$3k per year. Of course they can be driven into the ground for much less.

It seems said figure applies to pretty much any MB outside of warranty. Except the AMG models and the range toping V12's. Those of course will run a bit more by defualt. If you can get a Starmark to 100k miles by all means do so.

As for the old diesels those numbers seem to hold pretty well for a reliable daily driver. One in good cosmetic shape, that has everything working like AC, sunroof, and cruise.

Note that some people get away with less.

#3 10-07-2006, 11:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hatterasguy

As for the old diesels those numbers seem to hold pretty well for a reliable daily driver. One in good cosmetic shape, that has everything working like AC, sunroof, and cruise.

My maintenance/repair cost seem to average around $.10-.15 per mile, but some years are more expensive than others.

raMBow · #4 10-07-2006, 11:43 PM

In the next few weeks I hope to be doing the complete intake on down combo service routine... Change fuel lines, O-rings, clean out the intake, check the injectors, rotate my 2 year old Glow Plugs. I'm currently compiling a list of tools/parts for this.

It will be my first deep dive on the 210. I will save hundreds. Otherwise for me I have done nothing other than oil changes & various filters over the past couple of years.

I like the car it will "pay" for itself over the long haul, not upfront.

sailor15015 · #5 10-08-2006, 12:52 AM

I love to work on cars so it works out great for me. Mine's older so its paid off and thanks to this forum I can do most of the work myself so I save a ton compared to if I had a newer car and made payments plus higher insurance. If you can do the work yourself, by all means do. You save loads of $$$.

circlip · #6 10-08-2006, 12:53 AM

Gosh, it sounds like I'm right in the median.

Thanks for the input.

DieselAddict · #7 10-08-2006, 03:26 AM

I've had a lot of Mercedes and since I buy them used, my costs are always initially high as I try to catch up on needed/unknown maintenance, but then they level off to near nothing. As with any car and especially Mercedes, it's well worth the money and peace of mind to do your own work, at least the basics like oil changes. BTW, instead of doing 3000 mile oil changes with petro oil, you and your car would be much better served by going synthetic and extending the mileage interval to at least 5000 miles.

nhdoc · #8 10-08-2006, 08:00 AM

I agree that these cars are not cheap to keep *perfect* which is my goal. But in keeping them perfect you are actually offsetting depreciation.

I try and stay on top of everything that goes wrong...if an instrument light goes out I replace it, if the radio volume control is squirrely I repair it; in the last month I needed to replace the A/C condensor, receiver-drier and the blower regulator. Parts alone for that project were over $500, but the labor was free

Still, that's the only major repair project I have had this year...all of the other stuff is like what was previously mentioned...little stuff, not really needed to keep the car running, just to keep it perfect. Sure, I did have to do front brakes this summer which cost about $250 for parts.

So, I guess this year I am at about $1,000 just for parts keeping the '98 perfect or about $100 per month. The labor is a labor of love...I don't account for that.

My car is paid for so I don't have to make monthly payments therefore this is my only expense associated with running it (other than fuel). If I looked at it compared with the cost of driving a new MB it is a no-brainer...that would be at least $500-$600 a month.

So what's the alternative...drive a Honda accord? No, thanks.

Plus, and this is a BIG plus...if I keep it perfect it actually does not depreciate and I can always sell it for what I paid for it early in 2005.

There isn't another car on the road that you can put 10-20K miles a year on that barely depreciates with time or mileage. Most new cars depreciate at the rate of at least $.20 per mile. A new MB depreciates at probably double that or more in the first couple of years. So, think of the money you spend on repairs and maintenance as offsetting depreciation and maybe it won't be so painful. Plus you get to drive a wonderful, safe car for less than the cost of driving a Honda or Toyota.