At the age of those cars I'd be afraid I was buying a new set of unknown problems on a car that is I would assume much less friendly to service and repair. Not guaranteed or anything, but you never know. Service history, PPI, etc, etc. I bet you could get a rebuilt trans shipped up from the states for $3K or little less, fwiw.

The E430 - Xenon headlights can be pricey to fix and eventually you will have to fix them. Also, not sure about cold air intake and muffler delete. I'd rather have an MB that's stock.

The W220 S-Class - It's a W220 S-Class.............'nuff said.

The E320 - By far the simplest and easiest to repair/maintain of the three choices. I own an 00' and an 01', both RWD. They suck in the snow, but other than that, they're reliable, relatively fuel efficient, and drive like a dream.

Until the spring perches collapse.

From a diagnostics perspective the W210 is by far the most difficult and expensive to work on since it doesn't comply to the same canbus standardized architecture as all other MBs that came after it.

I'd counter that early cars are more difficult. ( back to 94 ish when the 38 pin under hood connector came out ) With a star tester or a really good aftermarket tester you can access all systems just fine. And, you don't have to deal with CAN window modules failing.


There is a certain a** ho** attitude that goes along with "cold air intake" , modified exhaust on a non sporty car. If it has tinted windows in an area that isn't sunny much, license plate hiding cover and an ash tray filed with butts, . . run away. For examples of this kind of car, look at in the parking lot of a muscle head gym.

"all other MB's that came after it" are not in the universe of cars that the original poster offered as possible choices. I'm not sure how having a non-standard CAN bus (if the W210 even does) automatically qualifies it as the most expensive to work on? Seems like I could do shocks, brakes, front end work, water pumps, etc, etc without getting involved in the architecture of a the underlying CAN bus.

I've done a fair amount of wrenching on the W210 and I find it very easy to work on, things are laid out quite well and generally I find them to be easier to work on than the W124/W126/W201.

I'd also like to point out the ILUVMILS is (i believe) a dealer tech somewhere in New Jersey with decades of experience fixing these cars. His opinion/counsel in this area would carry a great deal of weight in my decision making process.

The spring perch issue is indeed an issue, lots to read about it on the web. Never had it happen to me but its worth looking out for.

Not as easily or cheaply as the later cars. W210 is its own animal. The electronics in it bare no resemblance to the cars that came before or after and it also received a lot of changes from year to year. The W163, W220 and up are all standardized. One cheap off the shelf tool that fits in your glovebox does everything through the OBD2 port.
Correct me if I'm wrong but last time I checked the W220 hit the market after after the W210.

Does the w220 have the brake by wire system like the 211?? An unfortunate thing about me is that I don't always shy away from the challenge.

Anything I'm looking at would be a 4matic at this point as I partially work on call for emergencies in the winter. Had a few situations with snow, etc and trying to get around in a rwd. I don't like fwd. A further question on the 220. Did the 722.6 tranys stop in 2003 in the 4matic, or do they go further?? Right now, I don't have any intention of getting a non 4matic car based on a few problems last winter...

Was looking yesterday, and was wondering what would be some good years in the ML to look at??

Were there any good years with the 722.9 tranny?? Or were there any updates to that tranny that would make it reliable?

I finally got ahold of the guy with the E320. I'm thinking that it's out of the running. Rust inside the fenders. It came from Montreal, which is part of Canada's rust belt. They salt the roads really heavily there. Guy that had it before him drove it from montreal to edmonton (about 3600 km) with a water pump knocking, and who knows how long it was doing that before, and if he overheated it. He also said that the cat is knocking. He said that the CEL was on and that a replacement MAP sensor fixed it. Further, the car has been in a generally parked condition since December of 15.

I was thinking about the trans. By the time customs is paid, etc, I'm looking at $5500 cad. I can get some fairly decent cars for that money...

Darn. I have a lot of customers up north, I know that can be a real pain.
Any chance you could hop across the border somewhere and pick it up maybe?
Time consuming and all that I know. I'd be happy to see what we can get for a shipping rate for you, we have a bunch of freight accounts.

I appreciate the offer. I've been thinking about that... I do have a place I can ship it to. This is a very busy time of year for me till october-november. Farming and all that. Last time I hopped across the border during the busy season, I fell asleep in customs... Officer nearly had a heart attack...

It's only a 4 hours round trip, not including customs...

I've decided that I'm not going to go after the 03 s430 or the e430 mentioned. Both because of rust issues. If I wanted rust, I'd get one of the cars that had a bit of rust for $1k, and drive it into the ground while trying to save for something better.

Is the 2004 S class known to have rust issues?? or should I look at a 2006 or 2007?

there is a big price jump between the 06 and 07.

There is a really nice s500 with amg trim for sale for a decent price. Unfortunately, the paint is dark purple.... Almost an eggplant color. I just don't get off on the color.... Wondering if it's worth contacting the owner about it. For another grand and a bit, there's a 2006 with 30000 more km on it. Is the difference worth the body quality??

I have a 97 SL320 , 97 C280 and 97 E320 < parts car , all use the same system that is easily accessed with a star clone through the 38 pin connector. The systems are mostly the same and not difficult of expensive to work on.

Please let us know what cheap CAN bus scan tool will allow version coding and access to all systems in the newer cars you speak of.

Any w210 body car I can find seems to have rust issues here... So, a question. On a 2006 e500 wagon, the SBC with a life is that this part? 03-06 Mercedes W211 E500 R230 SL500 ABS Anti Lock Brake System SBC A 0054319712 | eBay (I know the part is salvage, just looking to see what kind of part it is)

If so, is it a dealer in Indy only replacement part, or can it be DIY? Any other red flags on that year and model of car?

For the most part, the driving will be highway as it's over one hour one way to the nearest city.

In Canada, finding a W210 that doesn't have rust is going to be a difficult task. They are fantastic cars, and I've owned 5 w210 diesels and never had a major issue. But rust does them dirty. I'd stay away from W220s as well considering they rust just as bad, and if not properly maintained are money pits. There's too many electronics and costly repairs even with my own labor that steers me away from owning those.

A properly maintained early w211 with the 722.6 is a great bet. I foresee owning a E350 in my future. Great cars, but do require a scantool unless you like paying mechanics. I personally don't like paying someone for something I can do myself the right way.