Rolling the dice on W140 S500 thoughts?
 

98 Black on Gray S500 has popped up on my dealer wholesale. Everything works except the AC won't hold a charge. You guys know where I'm going with this. I also don't like the green coolant, K&N filter, and W220 wheels on it.

The Good: Lovely condition and only 76,000 miles. I think they know what's wrong so they're unloading for $3500. They're confident that all accessories work and no leaks. Life long Southern car.

Obviously being dealer to dealer this is a wholesale as is deal. Thoughts? What else should I be asking about?

Figure the worst: It's got bad evaporator(s). The dash has to come out to service the front one. As I understand it amazing shops only take 18 hours to do this. Price accordingly :) If the dash is out I would do a premeptive strike and change the heater core(s) as well.

Those have 4 corner air suspension right?

-J

I didn't think so; certainly hope not.

I thought they had rear hydraulics only.

I was right. No air ride.

Only S600s or super super optioned 500s have the 4 wheel ADS....



Sounds like you might need to replace the evaporator on it... :(


ADS isnt that bad...

Rolling the dice on a W140 sounds very..............expensive. :D

But the mileage is right for sure.

There's no right mileage on a car like that. What an embarassment to Mercedes - a flagship car like that, 13 years old, low miles, going for $3500. A 200k mile Tacoma brings more than that.

That is dealer wholesale pricing. That car in the private market would be bringing 5500-7000 easily.

And also, there is something potentially very expensive wrong, in terms of man hours. But definitely a DIY.

In a dealer's wet dream.

With the AC fixed, and properly detailed and advertised I could sell it for between 8-9K. Maybe YOU wouldn't pay that ;). But someone else will.

Don't forget to list it as having "bullet proof glass" when you get around to selling it. It seems to be good marketing as all 140's advertized locally seem to have it.

Well. You could always buy this car and spend a heap on it to get it right and keep it going or you could buy a new Japanese white good.

Which one would you prefer?

Just because the odo only shows 76K's doesn't mean that there isn't any other hidden well known W140 $$ problem ready to pop up.

76,000 kilometres rather than 76,000 miles would be much better.

Embarrassment to MB? I think not.

W140's are one of the best sedans ever made, the current Maybach rides on W140 underpinnings, that were designed over 20 years ago. Mercedes spent $1 billion dollars in the late 80's early 90's to develop them. To put that in perspective I heard GM is only spending about $140m to develop the new C7 Corvette.

They are cheap because the people who can afford to buy them now cannot afford to maintain them, they are still $100k cars. All MB's except SL's depreciate like crazy.

$3,500 is a steal for that car, an evap job shouldn't cost more than $1,800-$2k.

Still a $100k car? No, it's a $3500 car, if that. All indications are that they too are not embarrassed about this. But they used to take pride in the fact that their cars not only performed but also endured and held value. And they had many loyal customers who agreed. We're witnessing the slow decline and degradation of a once proud and valuable brand, and for me it's painful to watch.