I just bought a friend's c320 because he was moving and I owed him a favor. I was also in the market for a spare vehicle. It has 104000 miles on it and runs very strong. When I had it smogged, it was the cleanest car the tech had ever tested. That said, it has a slight whine in the differential at around 40mph that dissipates with speed. the rear suspension seems a little skittish as well. Did I just make a serious mistake by taking on this car? i just need it to be reliable to drive 100 miles a week or so. Thanks for any input...

 

No my friend you could never make a mistake by purchasing a Benz, regardless of what year or make or however many miles on it. These are automobiles designed 2 last 4 a for lifetime. These automobiles are not designed for the manufactures maintenance expiration date. If you approach a Mercedes Benz with an American attitude of fixing things your gonna find out it's very expensive very quickly. If on the other hand you think before you loosen or tighten you investigate and gather all of your info. You will find out that these cars are more cheaper to operate and maintain than American cars. Germans always measure 3 times and cut once, while other car manufacturing cut 3 times and measure once. The German philosophy to building cars is this: Germans build a car around the power train first, hence the old saying "Form Follows Function", where everyone else uses the opposite Function Follows Form. What's the point in rebuilding something after it's been built already. Anyway I digress. Here is another tid bit for you newly MB drivers. MB holds 90% all of the safety patents in the world, if they wanted, they could charge every manufacturer for using their pattens, such as safety glass, disk brakes, ABS, Fuel Injection, seat belts, air bags, the list goes on and on. But yet they allow all of their competitors to use their pattens for free in order for everyone to have the same safety features, regardless whether they drive a Mercedes or not. Now if that does not ease ur mind I don't know what will. You don't see MB asking it's government for a bailout.

 

Thanks for the input. This is not my first Benz. I previously had a 1996 e320 that I bought new and put 170,000 miles on with only minor problems. I was only concerned that this particular model might have specific issues that make it more prone to trouble.