Having a long term ownership in the S430 I found it to be a wonderful ride. Two areas that the buyer should examine
- Airmatic system. Make sure its up to snuff as repairs can get into the thousands on a neglected system. You can read about the N51 system in a search. I qualified shop can put the system through it paces - my local Indy refers to this as the "rodeo". If you see it happening you will understand the term.
- MB had most of this worked out before 2003 but plastic parts, seals, buttons had a deterioration problem. Look at steering wheel buttons, mirror gaskets, etc. Its tends to be an eyesore that cleaning wont resolve and they don't give away the small part$.

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BENZ THERE DONE THAThttp://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/...c/progress.gif
15 VW Passat TDI
00 E420
98 E300 DT
97 E420 Donor Car - NEED PARTS? PM ME!
97 S500
97 E300D
86 Holden Jackaroo Turbo D
86 300SDL
(o\|/o)

The "rodeo" routine is only for Active Body Control equipped cars, not Air-Matic........It's true that Air-Matic cars can be expensive to repair but it's nothing compared to ABC, believe me. I wouldn't buy an ABC equipped MB without pricing in a worst-case scenario.

My choice would be the E320..........

Why would you pick the E320 over the others?

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All it takes for evil to prevail is for good men to stand by and do nothing.

Too many people tip toe through life, never attempting or doing anything great, hoping to make it safely to death... Bob Proctor

'95 S320 LWB
'87 300SDL
'04 E500 wagon 4matic

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.

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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.

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.

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CENSORED due to not family friendly words

"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.

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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?

__________________
All it takes for evil to prevail is for good men to stand by and do nothing.

Too many people tip toe through life, never attempting or doing anything great, hoping to make it safely to death... Bob Proctor

'95 S320 LWB
'87 300SDL
'04 E500 wagon 4matic

Seeing as this will be a daily driver an a lot of not so nice conditions, I'm not terribly worried about cosmetics. I don't want holy rust, but seals not looking nice will be the least of my concern if they function properly.

__________________
All it takes for evil to prevail is for good men to stand by and do nothing.

Too many people tip toe through life, never attempting or doing anything great, hoping to make it safely to death... Bob Proctor

'95 S320 LWB
'87 300SDL
'04 E500 wagon 4matic