e class buying guide (diesel)

[richy4]

hi everyone this is my 1st post.
I am looking at buying a W210 diesel either the 270 or 320 I was wondering if there are anything to look out for? I will be going for a higher mileage car (100+) to try and keep the inital purchase cost done, but i still want a descent one.

thanks in advacne

Richard

 

[Jensen]

Watch for rust, rust and rust around the wheel arches, boot tailgate and door seals. Pull back the rubber and check around the tops of the doors.
Others will tell you more here, but the engines are fine.
I would personally go for the same engine but look at the W211 as these are apparantly galvernised.

 

[richy4]

i can't afford a w211 although I would like one.

I read somewhere ( i think auto express and 4car.com ) that the 1995-1999 model is prone to breaking down lots, is this true?

 

[mattsurf]

I bought a W210 E320CDI Estate in March - It cost £5500, as it had some rust coming through the front wings. The mileage was pretty low at 110k

The car has been inspected (by an approve MB repair shop) and the rust will cost £1000 to sort out completely (front rear wings and boot-lid) - so I get an E320CDI estate for £6500 with all rust problems sorted out

As far as reliability goes, I've changed the glow plugs (£200) and the Gearbox oil (£100), and front springs (£300) - you will almost certainly need to do all of these, you should also budget for a MAF sensor and a couple of injectors (I guess £500 - £1000).

The car runs like a dream, I get 36 - 37mpg over the past 10k miles. Although it appears to be allot of money to spend on repairs, I know that I will have a car that will go on for the next 100k miles and cost less than £8000. The W210 is a great car - it rides well, handles well, it is very refined and very quick - The diesel engine makes a lovely noise when pushed hard (strange to say that about a diesel)

I disagree that a W211 is a better choice - I would not argue that a W211 is a better car, and some are coming up for sale at £11k, (I have seen an ex-police E320 CDI estate for £9k with 170k), however, the W211 is very complex compared with a W210 and the electonics are not too reliable on early W211's. The W210 is not a bad car, and a well sorted 2001 / 02 car is likely to be a better in the long term

 

[jberks]

Aside from the rust that vaires wildly between seemingly identical cars, the 210 is a good choice. Not sure where you are but the 270 wasn't available in that model in the UK. The 320 is excellent, as is the 220.
Reliability wise, I don't think they're any worse than anything else and they take the mileage far better than most and the list from mattsurf is a good guide. Remember, it's a £35-40k car new and having done 100k or so, it's going to need a few expensive bits if you want to maintain it 'as new', but at the end, you should have a good as new £40k car for less than £9k.Bit of a bargain really!
Yes the 210 is dynamically better but having had both I'd have to say the 210 is probably the last of the Merc tanks and the 211 is slightly less old school and more 'ordinarily' built that a 210. It's also more (not a crisism - just an observation and I do still love my current E!)
I would add, chances are that the clock and temp displays won't be working properly so budget £200 to have the dash cluster fixed too.

 

[richy4]

is there a decent MB dealer distributer who would have one of these in the coventry area?

 

[mjtray]

I have a 1999 Black E320CDi Elegance 7 Seater with 57,000 miles for sale...not a spot of rust on the car and in very, very good condition. If anybody is interested let me know. many thanks

 

[Jensen]

On the subject of rust, depending on the age of the car you might not have to pay for the work to be done. Mine had some done under "goodwill gesture", but I think all cars registered after 1999 are covered for 30 years providing they have full service history. This does not have to be dealer service either.
Once you have owned the car 6 months then depending on age, as someone else can confirm, Merc will pick up the tab

 

[joem]

Could someone confirm this? My W202 is starting to rust on the tailgate but I was lead to believe that I would not have a chance with MB as although it has a full service history it is not main dealer all the way. I have owned it for way over 6 months - more like 3 years.

W202 is 2001 Y reg'd.

 

[richy4]

I have a 1999 Black E320CDi Elegance 7 Seater with 57,000 miles for sale...not a spot of rust on the car and in very, very good condition. If anybody is interested let me know. many thanks

hi mjtray how much are you looking atfor the car and have you got any pics?

 

[jberks]

Could someone confirm this? My W202 is starting to rust on the tailgate but I was lead to believe that I would not have a chance with MB as although it has a full service history it is not main dealer all the way. I have owned it for way over 6 months - more like 3 years.

W202 is 2001 Y reg'd.

Certainly worth asking the dealer. The rules seem flexible so you may be lucky.

 

[mjtray]

W210

I'm looking for offers of @ £8,250. Has 12 Months MOT, 3 Former Owners, and the Vin No is WDB2102262B036175 if you want to run a data check off the Russian site to see the spec on the car. The only down side on the car is the fact that I've got only some of the handbooks and no service history as the last owner had the car broken into on a skiing trip, whilst it was sat in one of the long term car parks at the resort. All of his CD's, Sat Nav (silly man...it was still in the car hidden under a seat) and the document wallet were stolen....some of the handbooks were found in different parts of the car park and are in a lovely shade of mud!. No actual damage was done to the car other than a broken side window.

What I can tell you is that the car was only used as the family's second car...wife used a small run around and the husband travelled by train into London every day, so in the 4 years that they owned it, it covered very little mileage. However, I was assured that it was well maintained and it certainly drives that way and went straight through the MOT with no comments. The service indicator is showing 11,000 to the next service.

If it had all of its service history, I would have been looking for @ £9,250

 

[mjtray]

By the way it has one of those daft Mercedes paint colours where they claim its green, but in reality its black and I can't even see a hint of green even in strong sun light....there are a couple of MB paints that are like this...ie; bare no relation to what they are officially called....very odd!

 

[richy4]

what russian website is that for checking the VIN?

 

[mattsurf]

what russian website is that for checking the VIN?

This one:
http://www.mbclub.ru/mb/vin/index.html?lng=eng