Hello All,

New member here. I found this site quite a few months back and have been reading with great interest.

This is actually a question for my brother who has owned quite a number of MBs but is not too web comfortable yet.

There are two of interest that he is looking at, the E420 and E300 Diesel (non-turbo), both 95's.

Assuming complete service history and dealer maintained (E420 is, not sure of Diesel) which is the better car (performance not the issue unless the Diesel is very slow)?

I've read about the cooling issues of the V8 and the complaints about the M603 engine. Is the 95 Diesel the same? Are there any reliability concerns for the Diesel?

As for the cooling issues for the V8, is it a problem only if the car overheats and non-maintenance or is it an issue that causes problems regardless of maintenance? I will tell him to put the Redline Water Wetter.

I think the V8 has approx 80k miles and the Diesel 120k miles. We live up in Canada (Toronto area) so will the Diesel have cold starting problems or do these newer ones solve the problem.

Would like feedback of owners or techs as to the overall reliability of these cars and maintenance costs.

Thanks in advance. (I will post this both in the Tech section as well as Featured Cars)

By the way, very informative site, glad to see a site for MB enthusisasts!


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Edwin