Hi All

I came across what I think is a decent MB for the price. However I am not all that familiar with the car.

What are some problem areas and is this car very expense to maintain?

I don't do alot of driving maybe 8k per year. Also I am not physically able to do any maintenance on the car..

Here are some details about the car.

93- 300SE

two owner vehicle.. maintenance records for the last 30k miles.

The car has been garaged, no rust that I can see.
The car has 114k on the clock.
The car looks to be well maintained, interior is perfect.
All electrical and air working fine.
The folks are asking $5500.00

I am at a age where I want a big solid well made reliable car.
I have always had a company car over the years mostly honda.
Now looking to purchase, but not break the bank. LOL

Any information or advice would be much appreciated.
Thanks to all.

Pokergod

 

Hi All

Any help with this please?

pokergod

 

I would forget any W140 made before 1997 myself. Post 1997 you get the 5 speed autobox, a wiring loom that doesn't degrade, and other problems ironed out. My 97 S500 is still going strong, but each service is around £800 to £1000 GBP (and that is every 10k miles). It is probably one of the most expensive cars around to service, no new genuine MB parts for the W140 are cheap! In fairness if well maintained they are very reliable.

Why are there no service records before 84k miles, that is the question I would ask!!!! There should be a service book that is stamped each time it has a service, is it there, if so it should have stamps every c10k miles from new in addition to one at 5k miles when new, that is the service record for the car. If that book is missing I would ask questions, if you had £60k+ to spend on a new W140 you didn't tend to care about servicing costs and got it done, it is 2nd and 3rd owners that often skimp and save. Is 84k miles when the 2nd owner bought it? If there is no service record, how are you sure it has done 114k miles, it does sound low? Having said that a well looked after W140 will go past 200k miles without issue.

Also, why a 300, I thought the 300 engine was not reliable at all in the long run compared to all the other options? Go for the 3.2l or 5.0l petrol engines. The 3.2l straight six is very smooth and not too bad when it comes to petrol consumption. The 5.0l is great fun and is reliable too.

What work has been done recently, quite a bit can need doing around the 100k mile point. How is the steering box looking, is it leaking much? Much oil on the oil drip pan? Is it an auto (out of interest has anyone every seen the manual option??) - if so is the gear change very smooth. When was the gearbox oil last changed? Who has it been serviced by, a well known independent or main dealer? If neither, I again would walk away. Though I don't like to take risks.

Was the car a 1993 model, or registered in 1993 and physically built in 1992. If built in 1992, then I think I am right in saying the airbags "should" have been changed after 15 years, has this been done (it is very expensive), that would show the car has been looked after well. Starting in 1993 new plastic in bags was used, meaning they do not need to be replaced after 15 years.

As a closing point, 5.5k USD is around £3.5k GBP, I feel that is a too much for a 1993 model, remember it is 17 years old.

 

Stay away from 140s. If you can't fix them yourself, it wil bankrupt you. A nice late model 126 with a 6 cylinder engine will keep you happy. Not too expensive to maintain, almost any mechanically minded individual can fix just about anything, so, no need for the stealership, and the parts are generally inexpensive for OEM parts on internet pasts sites.

Like boem's car, though I don't know him nor have seen his car.

And right now, they are fairly inexpensive.

 

Hi All

Thanks for the replys.

pokergod