matt21484

Over the past few years, I've been researching cars and came across the diesel MB sedans. They have nice interior, great gas mileage, and look great. I've never owned a diesel nor a Benz, but a recent search at a local MB dealer yielded a 2005 CDI for sale w/ ~85,000 miles on it. The price is in my acceptable budget at $17K, but my question is, are these truly that reliable? I know diesels generally run forever, esp w/ an iron block. I've done some googling and found that the electronics in the 05s aren't the best. I plan on going to look at the car this weekend, but is there anything specific I should ask about? brakes, belts, exhaust, glow plugs, other electronics w/ long German names? Keep in mind I know nothing about diesels & a little about gas engines.

Thanks!

Cran

Go for it, the 05-06 E320 CDI was Mercedes' last well designed diesel engine before they introduced the garbage V6.

harkgar

As an owner of a 2006 I can testify that it is a well designed car. Get all the service records. Records of oil changes (transmission and engine) and coolant changes are a must.

zemun1234

As previous owner of 2005 E320 CDI, I'd say that I got excellent mileage with only problem related to damage coil spring (covered inside warranty) ...

If I leave in warmer area, I'd be still owner ...

DESAL

I live in Florida and bought mine with 17,000 miles. It just turned 70,000 miles. Very little trouble. Excllent miles per gallon 24 around town. 30+ on highway 30 mile trip. It will get 36+ for longer trips. Factory GPS sucks.

50ae

27 constant in town and 36+ on the freeway. It's a very nice ride and my only problems have been a battery relay and the passenger seat likes to think that somebody is sitting in it for whatever reason. 82k miles so far.

Pierre Louis

Very nice car. I sold my 2005 E320 CDI at 203,000 miles to my mechanic. The electrical system started to get a bit unreliable and we wished to avoid the invevitable larger repairs of an older car. But it is still running extremely well. I'm back into sports cars with a new (last year for this version) BMW 335d Sport Package.

lkchris

No, you don't know this.

ANY engine--gasoline or diesel--that's designed to be heavy duty will "run forever." An engine that's not, won't, and that for sure includes some diesels. Mercedes, for one, is not putting extra-heavy components in these cars, as otherwise the car would weigh too much, fuel economy would suffer, and the price would be too high.

In addition, when this engine was available in the USA it could easily have been considered the most technologically advanced engine for sale here. It's NOT for sure old, tried and true iron, but rather state-of-the-art electronics and there's little reason to expect refrigerator reliability.

If this car was going to run forever, it's value would not have depreciated from $55K to $17K. Nevertheless, they're usually pretty great cars for $17K.

Coolant changes for recent Mercedes are scheduled every 150K miles, so there's likely little in the way of "records" to be found.

And, there ain't nothing "garbage" about the V6--it's an improvement in all respects.

Pierre Louis

I would like to add that by my rough calculation, compared to a gasoline E-class, my diesel saved around $10,000 in fuel cost over 200,000 miles. The value of the car is higher at resale time also. Its still a winner. The engine may last quite a long time, but lkchris is right, no knowing how long the new designs will last. Mine may have been one of the few with over 200,000 miles in the US so far and it was running great, no oil leaks, superb power, and fuel economy better than ever. The 5 speed automatic was Mercedes' heavy duty one used in the AMG and V8 cars as far as I know, so it seemed quite reliable and longlasting. I did replace the fluid twice with MB spec synthetic ATF fluid.

ImInPA

My "garbage" V6 regularly returns 42 mpg on the highway. And that is in an E350 Bluetec. Not exactly a light vehicle. While I will always love the straight 6 diesels, the new V6 diesels are very nice too. Don't let anyone tell you differently.