otaku

Always wanted a mercedes sadly can't afford new but actually would kind of prefer an older model anyway. Local car for sale a 300E 4matic bodywork and interior are great but the car has 300,000 miles on it with no rebuilds as far as I know. The car has no history with it. Has been looked at by a mechanic and I have access to a very good mercedes mechanic asking price is 1200 USD should I go for it? What sort of repairs and costs am I looking at down the road? Will the engine need a rebuild and if so what would the costs be?

Thanks

YNVDIZW124

1. don't buy a 4matic.
2. don't buy a car with 300,000 miles on it
3. Pay a little more so you can spend a little less on repairs if any...

When I bought my car it had all the service records on it, it even had the original financing contract.

ps2cho

300,000? I would definitely stay far far away unless it has impeccable records. You can find 300E's for that price with half that mileage. Also the 4matic worries me at 300k too...

Don't get me wrong -- Engines are awesome and last forever, but at 300k it could become an absolute money pit very quickly...especially if the engine + tranny have not had any rebuilds at all.

epowers777

Dont buy it for that price. But if you have to get it look at the 4 matic carefully. Make sure no boots are cracked on your half shafts. Check for leaks on the front diff and transfer case.If theres leaks run away. More and likely the oil leaked out and never been refilled. Check for discoloration on the metal for over heating.

neanderthal

It really cannot be explained more simply than this.

The only caveat I would add is you might buy the car at that milage if you know for certain that its been driven 200 freeway miles a day for the last ten years. So if its a neighbours car and they commute a 100 miles each way and have been at that job for 10 years, then go ahead. Freeway miles are very easy on cars.

gorillajin

No history records? Don't buy it. I learned it in hard way

ps2cho

^ well its not that you can't buy a car without history, you just must be prepared for it and be very logical about it. IE: I got my 260E for $500 without records, but it had 85k on the clock. It barely ran, but seeing as I have done a lot of work and have spare parts available in my "parts box" I hoped that I could cure the problems without spending a whole lot of money -- And I did! Car runs strong now. I feel half lucky and half prepared. I'm sure it won't last as long as my wagon will just because I can tell the previous owner did not service the car much at all based on the visual condition of the engine, but it runs fine right now so for the $1300 total I've put into the car, to me it's worth it. Now that maintenance will be back up to the condition that it should be at, hopefully I can extend the life this almost-junkyard-ready car.

gorillajin

I wish I could spend $1300 and run my MB lol. I will never complain about it for $1300!!!!
Like ps2cho said, if you are prepared to spend some $$$, get a car that has no maintenance history, but make sure you do research about the car before you buy it. I bought mine as a project car, but it looks like I have to spend more than $1700 to run her..ouch. I didn't research about w124 enough before I bought it.
Lesson learned.

ps2cho

Well, I meant $1300 inc the purchase of the car! I consider myself lucky. Although its not done yet. I still have an A/C leak...so that may end up being a bit costly. The thing is though I do all the work myself and thats what will make this car cheap. The fact that I have 2 cars makes me able to do all the work myself because I am in no rush to get it done and I can take my time and research. It took me about 2 weeks to figure out the grounding issue on my windows, but it was possible because I had the time to figure it out!

Trust me I'm no master mechanic...

gorillajin

I wish I can do the HG job myself, but since I have no person to help me to do this job, either I sell my car or take it to a shop. $$$$ ouch