lollypopsmom

Hi, We're looking at a 2001 e320 4matic wagon with 158K. It just came off a fleet lease and as far as we can see, it has been regularly service by a dealer. It was in Califonia until the owner moved to MN 6 months ago. No visible rust and runs solid.

Any opinions?

HOWSER

What are they asking?

lollypopsmom

$5877

HOWSER

If properly taken care of it sounds like a decent deal. There are many folks running around on this board with a lot more miles than that.

SLOPESTAR

my 99 4matic wagon came from MN originally, spent time in Alaska befor winding up in So Cal. It had 92000 when I purchased for 9500. I am looking at 100,000 mile service/about $1000. I paid $9500 out the door. It sounds like a good deal to me if it had regular service. I would go for it if i were you as I wish I had the face lift model in my stable...

bigben320e

Make sure to check out that history. Go for it, sounds good, my E320 has 182K on it, and still going.

Only major piece was getting a left cat replaced.

Peter Guenther

Typical "fleet leases" dont run that long, verify what the dealer tells you or run a "car facts". Being a "fleet vehicle" and then the owner moving is a funny statement. I wonder how it got to MN, it usually goes back to the dealer for disposal (auction maybe?)
Do your research, the mileage is a little high for a fleet vehicle, we traded ours at 60,000 or five years, and I can tell you my people usually treated them like rental cars.

lollypopsmom

The fleet lease ended at 86,000 and then the driver bought it. But he shows regular maintence on the car.

fosmith

Get it inspected and go over the service records. If they don't have them, go to the dealer where the car was serviced and they can pull the records up for you. My concern would be was the transmission fluid changed 'cause if it's got the original fluid, there may be a new trans in your future before too long. If that checks out and the car is otherwise ok, it sounds like a pretty good deal to me. You will have to spend some money on it but at $5K, you can afford to. I recently bought my '01 E430 for just under $9K and it has 109K miles and drives like a new car, especially after I put on new Bilstein HD shocks. I don't see any reason why I won't get another 100K miles out of her.

Fred

gqmagic

You may get lucky, but I would rather pay a little more for a car with less miles.

Look for one with less than 70k miles, I think you'll have a happier experience for the long run.

Hirnbeiss

Ditto most of the other comments. If the history is trustworthy, then it's not a bad deal. Mileage is OK if well-maintained, but there do seem to be a lot of good deals with fewer miles out there.
If I compare it to my first MB, an '85 190E with 140K for $4K in '96, this is actually a fantastic deal. She required frequent babying, but no serious $. Presumably you're used to that already with a '94 Volvo.

lollypopsmom

We made the decision and bought the car! After looking at many wagons, this seemed like the best one. At least this one did not have rust!!!

I have been having fun driving it and my kids love the rear seat!

One issue though (it does not effect the driving) is that there is a CD stuck in the player. It is the soundtrack from Walk the Line and is starting to drive me crazy! How do you get the CD out??? I tried pushing eject and inserting another CD at the same time, but it didn't work.

Help!

fosmith

If you want to get that disk out, you'll probably have to remove the player's guts from the metal case to manually release the cartridge. In any case, it sounds like you're going to have to replace the CD changer. I think they are something like $800 from Mercedes but you can get one for $200 or less on Ebay.
Fred