low mi 94 E420 purchase? extended warranty?
#1
01-13-2007, 02:52 PM
low mi 94 E420 purchase? extended warranty?
These are the 2 warranties I am considering:
This one is $898, 5yr/150k mi:
1 Car Warranty Extended Warranties
This one is also $898, 5yr/100k mi:
AA Auto Warranty – Extended Warranty Plans from the top Vehicle Warranty Providers
Warranty Direct also offers a similar warranty, but it is more than $1500. I will put a lot of miles on this car. Is a warranty like this a good idea or just a waste of money?
Now for the test drive . . . low mileage vs. high mileage.
This car is beautiful. It looks like it only has 54k miles. There is a small chip in the plastic grill and a small crack in plastic (valence?) the front bumber near where the lisence plate would go and that's about it. No rust, no door dings, no chips in front/hood. Interior is just as nice, very little wear and everything working including rear sunshade and adjustable leg and lumbar support.
The car started right up and, initially, idled very well - smooth and silent. The ride, steering and brakes were good. I got on the highway and took her up to about 85mph. The car was, again, excellent - very solid, no noises, shakes or pulls. Then, I got off the highway, took a side street and got ready to go back on the highway the other way. This all happened in less than 5 min - I was on the highway only for a couple minutes. While waiting at the light, to get back on the highway the other way, the car starts idling a little rough, then it would smooth out, then it would feel a little rough, then smooth out again, etc. It seemed like it was choking- thats kinda what it sounded like. The light changed and I got back on the highway, took it easy, went about 60mph, tested and verified that the cruise works. Car felt great, ran great at speed on the highway once again. Although I wasn't really paying specific attention to this, the transmission shifted smoothly throughout all this.
I got off the highway and drove it around town. I started testing the transmission a bit more and it seemed a little slow to respond. From a stop, I pushed the pedal about 3/4 of the way down - not flooring it, but trying to encourage strong acceleration. The car sluggishly sped up for a few seconds, then, rather roughly grabbed the appropriate gear and sped the car forward quickly. I could not seem to get it to downshift correctly or at least how I thought it should. Maybe I am expecting too much out of this trans - i am used to the crawl of my '83 300SD. While cruising at about 35mph, then pushing the pedal down to encourage a strong down shift and quicker acceleration results in a similar sluggish speed up and not a smooth transition into a lower gear. Accelerating the car normally, not necessarily *****-footing it, but not pushing it very hard, it seems to shift well. It doesn't slip out of gear or crazily revv inappropriately or anything like that. But it just didn't seem to shift as smoothly as it should have, especially when trying to downshift hard or aggresively accelerate. Probably drove the car for 15-20min total.
I took the car back to the dealership and let it idle it the parking lot. It was idling a little rough, kinda choking like it was after I took it up to 85 on the highway. I turned it off and turned it back on again - it started right up, but was still not idling as it did while sitting in the lot before I drove it. Also, the ABS and ASR lights that were both on throughout the test drive, did not come back on after restarting the car.
Because of the low mileage on this car, I don't think this was the previous owner's daily driver. At least, not all year round. I can see it was well taken care of while it was being driven. I have a feeling it had bouts of sitting and not being driven for weeks, perhaps for a few months. Is this the reason it was running a little rough afterIdrove it rather hard? Could this also explain the transmission issue? What should be done to correct these issues? Or should I be more concerned about what I have described above?
Needless to say, I love this car, but I don't want to be blinded by the low mileage. The guy wants almost $9k, I am thinking a price around $7k would be more appropriate.
Please help! (sorry this post is so long . . . whoa)
This one is $898, 5yr/150k mi:
1 Car Warranty Extended Warranties
This one is also $898, 5yr/100k mi:
AA Auto Warranty – Extended Warranty Plans from the top Vehicle Warranty Providers
Warranty Direct also offers a similar warranty, but it is more than $1500. I will put a lot of miles on this car. Is a warranty like this a good idea or just a waste of money?
Now for the test drive . . . low mileage vs. high mileage.
This car is beautiful. It looks like it only has 54k miles. There is a small chip in the plastic grill and a small crack in plastic (valence?) the front bumber near where the lisence plate would go and that's about it. No rust, no door dings, no chips in front/hood. Interior is just as nice, very little wear and everything working including rear sunshade and adjustable leg and lumbar support.
The car started right up and, initially, idled very well - smooth and silent. The ride, steering and brakes were good. I got on the highway and took her up to about 85mph. The car was, again, excellent - very solid, no noises, shakes or pulls. Then, I got off the highway, took a side street and got ready to go back on the highway the other way. This all happened in less than 5 min - I was on the highway only for a couple minutes. While waiting at the light, to get back on the highway the other way, the car starts idling a little rough, then it would smooth out, then it would feel a little rough, then smooth out again, etc. It seemed like it was choking- thats kinda what it sounded like. The light changed and I got back on the highway, took it easy, went about 60mph, tested and verified that the cruise works. Car felt great, ran great at speed on the highway once again. Although I wasn't really paying specific attention to this, the transmission shifted smoothly throughout all this.
I got off the highway and drove it around town. I started testing the transmission a bit more and it seemed a little slow to respond. From a stop, I pushed the pedal about 3/4 of the way down - not flooring it, but trying to encourage strong acceleration. The car sluggishly sped up for a few seconds, then, rather roughly grabbed the appropriate gear and sped the car forward quickly. I could not seem to get it to downshift correctly or at least how I thought it should. Maybe I am expecting too much out of this trans - i am used to the crawl of my '83 300SD. While cruising at about 35mph, then pushing the pedal down to encourage a strong down shift and quicker acceleration results in a similar sluggish speed up and not a smooth transition into a lower gear. Accelerating the car normally, not necessarily *****-footing it, but not pushing it very hard, it seems to shift well. It doesn't slip out of gear or crazily revv inappropriately or anything like that. But it just didn't seem to shift as smoothly as it should have, especially when trying to downshift hard or aggresively accelerate. Probably drove the car for 15-20min total.
I took the car back to the dealership and let it idle it the parking lot. It was idling a little rough, kinda choking like it was after I took it up to 85 on the highway. I turned it off and turned it back on again - it started right up, but was still not idling as it did while sitting in the lot before I drove it. Also, the ABS and ASR lights that were both on throughout the test drive, did not come back on after restarting the car.
Because of the low mileage on this car, I don't think this was the previous owner's daily driver. At least, not all year round. I can see it was well taken care of while it was being driven. I have a feeling it had bouts of sitting and not being driven for weeks, perhaps for a few months. Is this the reason it was running a little rough afterIdrove it rather hard? Could this also explain the transmission issue? What should be done to correct these issues? Or should I be more concerned about what I have described above?
Needless to say, I love this car, but I don't want to be blinded by the low mileage. The guy wants almost $9k, I am thinking a price around $7k would be more appropriate.
Please help! (sorry this post is so long . . . whoa)
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09-07-2008 01:42 AM
