My first Mercedes

[PaulJS]

Hi Guys n Gals,

I'm new to this forum, and new to MB. I'm well excited, i'm pickin up my first ever Merc tomorrow morning (Sat 1 Apr) and i can't wait. Its an E Class 320CDI Avant Estate on an 04 plate. We need an estate as there was an extra addition to the family just before christmas, 3 kids now, so we need more space. We need a bigger house aswell!

I test drove the Merc a couple three weeks ago and i was sold. Thats the car for me. I then had the uphill task of convincing the wife that this was the only way to go. Some how, i managed to persuade her to say yes! How good is that. The price was right, loads of extra toys on it for me to play with. The only stumbling block for her was the fact it had done 66,000 miles in 2 years. I told her not worry, its a Merc and it would be worth the gamble. Hope i'm right.

Anyway, stroll on tomorrow..... looks at watch and starts to count down the hours

 

[johnnycapone]

Hi Paul and welcome to the forum.
Congratulations on the new addition to the family, " oh and well done with the new bambino". LOL. Hope you are happy with the motor, any questions there are many helpful people on this forum so just ask. But is April the 1st the ideal day to pick it up??????????
Regards
John

 

[Blobcat]

Hi & Welcome,

Hope your E320cdi is as nice as mine has been. 66K in 2 years means its probably had a nice life of long journeys. When was it last serviced and did they fit new front disc's and pads? Pads tend to last 30-35K & Discs around 60-65K

 

[PaulJS]

hi guys,

Well, its actually due a service, according to the assyt thingy it says it needs a 'D' service. So thats the first thing i've go to do, is get it serviced. Are the brake dics mega bucks. I should have checked this out first. So thats my first mistake. Hope i haven't made too many more.

The guy who owned it travelled between 2 head offices, one in the UK and one in Switzerland, so the miles were racked up across Europe.

The car has got 12 months warranty left on it, and i was going to get it serviced at my local MB Independant garage, that won't void the warranty will it?

Cheers, PaulJS

 

[jberks]

Hi Paul,
Welcome to the fold and congrats on the new additions!
Hope you get as much pleasure from your new E as I have from mine. 5 months and 11,000 miles in and it still makes me grin.
66k in 2 years is nothing to these motors if they have proper history and they are pretty much idling on the motorway, which is all yours will have done, anyway. Probably no more wear on it than a 15k town car.

They are starting to recommend a gearbox oil change around that mileage though. May be worth considering at the next service.

 

[PaulJS]

Thanks jberks,

So, on my list of things to do for next week, get it serviced, get the brake discs checked and gearbox oil checked.

Blimey, the Mrs is gonna love this.

 

[Blobcat]

Front pads and discs for my W210 was around £250 in 2004.
Just had a quote yesterday for ATF replacement - £210, Dealership didn't have the ATF in as they very rarely replace it. It was sealed for life, however they have been finding that the life of the box has started to drop into warranty time. They are starting to look at recommending ATF replacement so they don't have to start forking out for new gearboxes.
'D' is a diagnostic service, a plug in and the ASSYST then decides how much to empty your wallet by.
Jberks has quite a lot of experience of using indies during the warranty period, I'm sure he will give you the info.

 

[PaulJS]

Thanks Blobcat,

I'm starting to get a little bit scared of this service now, especially the bit about emptying my wallet.

I can just hear the wife now, "i told you, didn't i tell you....",

 

[jberks]

No rush on the gearbox, officially they are sealed for life, its just a sensible preventative measure really as some have let go around 100k, though thats probably a much harder 100k than yours has done. Discuss it with your mechanic.
Brake discs may well be perfectly ok. Probably not really been used any more than any other 2 year old motor. I replaced the discs on my old E class around 60k but that had spent 5 years running (and stopping) around town. With pads and labour I think it was around a couple of hundred. We are all getting used to this now as they banned asbestos in the pads apparently and this is causing the discs to wear out.
As far as the warranty is concerned - I hope not. Just had my D service done at the indie (£300) and I have 18 months MB plus another 12 months 'extra' warranty to go!
Seriously, if they are a proper MB specialist you should be ok. EU Block exemption and all that.

 

[PaulJS]

Thanks again,

Fingers crossed nothing too major shows up on the D service. Just out of interest, looking through the forum, i've noticed that people tend to use a W model number when talking about there cars, can someone tell me what W model number my car is? 2004 E Class Estate

Thanks again.

 

[Blobcat]

W = saloon
T = estate

Yours will be a T211

Although the estates also go by 'S' designation so S211 would also be correct

 

[citroennut]

hi paul,
from what is said on this forum i seem to be quite lucky with my dealer, an a service £233 and b service £348 which inc. an air mass sensor at £201 (which it eats - 2 in 3yrs) though i think that was my BOGOF service! any other dealers done these? due another b in 500 miles no BOGOF this time ho hum
simon

 

[jberks]

a service £233

Thats fairly normal - just an oil change really.

b service £348 which inc. an air mass sensor at £201 (which it eats - 2 in 3yrs)

Thats a freebie!
A B books in around £450, An AMS (MAS or MAF - all the same thing) are normally £250 for the part + £90 for diagnosis and fitting - sound familiar? I've never heard of a bogof deal, especially "pay for the chaper one and get the more expensive free" - good deal if you can get it, might even tempt me back to the dealer!

BTW - the MAF should have lasted longer than that. I replaced the one in my 240 only once in the 5 years I had it. More frequent failures are either faulty units or something is killing them.

 

[the zacster]

Hi Paul

Welcome to the forum and congrats all round on the new additions. The far-more-informed members will correct me if I'm wrong, but I think yours is a T211 (E class estate from mid-2002 onwards; but the saloon is a W211 so if you have general enquiries in the forum, you're as well off to search for W211).

Car sounds excellent - 66k is nothing on a car like that; somebody has effectively run the car in for you... and paid you a ton (i.e. taken the depreciation hit) for doing so as well - result! Happy driving!

David

 

[PaulJS]

Its all mine!

i'm now the proud owner of my first Mercedes.

What a weekend, i picked the car up about 11am on Saturday and i've been smiling ever since. i love this car. its better than i thought it would be. I don't know what it is, i can't put my finger on it, but there is something different about driving a merc. The wife has started to put her best clothes on when we go out in it, i'm not complaining, she looks well good in it. Even the kids have said "its a cool car, Dad".

I've got it booked in first its D service this Thursday at my local MB independent, so hopefully i won't have to decalre myself bankrupt in the first week of ownership. I'll let you know how i get on with that.

I decided to read the owners handbook last night, blimey, thats the thickest handbook i've ever seen. There's so many features that i would of missed if i hadn't read it, has anyone else read there handbook? I then got the command manual out to learn how to use the sat nav, but sadly, its in German . I guess i'll have to try and work it out by trail and error.

Stroll on home time so i can get out there and take the mega long route home