I'm about to buy a 1995 S420, and i have several questions....

1- I would like to know the average price of this car when it was NEW
2- How much HP does it have?
3- What are the cons and pros?
4- What gasoline does it use? 91 octanes or 95?
5- How many gears does it have? 4 or 5 or 6?
6- I also want to put an onboard navigation on the S420 like the one in the picture,can this be done? and more or less how much would it cost
because right now i have a volvo 940 and its a 2.3 v4, and it only has 4 gears and when im going at 100Km the car is going at 2500 RPM, i hope the benz is not like that

 

Nothing drives like the "S" Class of the nineties! It is literly like driving your living room down the freeway. I had a '95 S420 ( ex-wife got that too!) and it was magnifcant to drive. It did have a major problem with an AC condensor leak which occurs behind the dash and the airbags. It was under warranty and got fixed but it would have cost around $4500 if I had to pay for it. That is something that you are going to want to ask the current owner about! That problem was supose to be worked out in the '96 and newer. I was told by another shop that the same buying approach used for Porsches applies to Mercedes. Get the newest year that is in your price range. The new price in 1995 was around 75k depending on options. I got around 16MPG in town and could get up to 25 on the road but that was in Texas with some very understanding State Troopers to get to the speeds to get that mileage. I seem to recall that the engine put out 275HP and you would want to put 93 octane gas. I am not sure about what it would cost to put a nav system in it but I am sure that someone does it. I loved that car and I will get another although I would look '96 and newer and probably a S500. It is a little quicker off the line but I would bet that once you are cruising along that there is not much difference between a 500 and a 420. '96 and newer also featured a 5 speed automatic verses the 4 speed in the '95 and older cars. Maintenance is not cheap and you sure want to find a shop that is reputable. They are very reliable cars but any fix starts at $500 and moves from there, including the service. The engine is bullet proof but the electronic gizmos can be troublesome and are typical "German" overly-complex. The check engine light, for example, can actually lock up the transmission if it is not tended to. You can get these cars at pretty decent prices, around a new Toyota for example but rember that you are doing work on a $75k-$85k car!