Hi,

My father is going to trade in his trusty 99 MB C-280. He is looking to purchasing a used 2003/2004 S430 or S500. The vintage of the car would probable be 2003 or 2004 with about 40-50K miles. With the new S-class out now, I am sure that the market is saturated with the W220 S-Class Mercedes and can pick up a used one as a good deal. He is going to retire pretty soon, so I would assume this will perhaps be one of the last cars he will purchase.

A couple of questions:
1) Given this is a flagship MB I assume that it's rather troublefree.
2) In terms of options is there anything we should keep an eye out for? I assume most of these come loaded with Navigation and everything
3) Any general advice given the S-class

Thanks,
George

 

'03 on up are supposed to be the most trouble free. In '03 the did a slight restyle with new headlights and tailights. '04 carried these on an added DVD navigation ('03 and earlier used CD's and needed 10 to cover the entire US and Canada) which requires only the one DVD. They also added a 7 speed trans to replace the 5 speed in '03 and earlier. Some time after '03 they increased the standard tire to 17". I have an '03 and thoroughly enjoy it, however, if I knew then what I know now, I would defintely go for '04 or newer.

 

Besides the easy of loading, is there any other changes to the Navigation system. Do all the S430/S500 come with the Navigation as standard? I hear that the MB Navigation is quiet simple (fundemental) compared to other brands

This seems like a pretty significant changes also regarding performance.

There is much talk about the automatic rasing/lowering suspension system. This system also seems to be the root of a lot of earlier production problems
1) Is the system on the 03 and 04 models less troublesome then on the earlier models
2) Does the automatic adjustment suspension come only on the S500 or higher models?

Thanks,

George