SRVblue

Hello all, newbie here. Can someone talk me out of buying a 2001 E430 4matic? Or is it as great of a car as it seems? 50k miles, silver. In pretty decent condition. I have never owned a Mercedes before but have always wanted one. The time seems to be now. I commute to work by train so I don't drive much at all Monday through Friday except to the train station. Maybe 15 miles a week. Weekends can vary like the rest of us. All total, I might put about 3-4k a year on this car. My question really is will this lack of use be bad for this car? I've had cars that really turned south when not driven enough. I appreciate any thoughts.

E55AMG99

I've got a 4 year old CLK cabrio that has 20K on the clock and it runs fine. No problems related to short and infrequent trips.

W210 is a great car.

Richard Galing

My ML is reaching it's 4th birthday and still only 13.8K on the clock and despite what I've read about issues people having w/their ML, I've never had any major problems with the expection of a dead battery twice. This vehicle is strictly a weekend vehicle...and it may not share the same platform as the W210 but my point being that my lack of use has not affect it's drivability.

Regards
Richard

gstigler

You are looking at a great car and I would encourage you to buy it. I would avoid that 4WD myself but that's just personal preference. As far as your driving habits, you can't really change where and how far you go during the week unless you lengthen the route. It sounds like the train is about 1.5 miles from you residence. When you're not riding your bike (heh heh), I would encourage you to start any car 7-10 minutes before you leave to allow the car to get up to operating temperature. Do this at least a couple times a week. These short trips that don't allow the engine to get up to operating temperature can be detrimental to the extended life of the engine. What's important is to frequently run it long enough to get the oil up to temp to vaporize any moisture in the oil.

Or, the easier thing to do is turn your 1.5 mile drive into 10 miles...after all it's a fun car to drive.

jnx

You need to get the car up to normal operating temp, and keep it there for 30 min. to get all of the moisture out of the oil. By letting the engine idle, it will not get hot enough. If you only drive on weekends, that is ok, just don't make a habit out of 5 min drives.

jago1244

i like the model. they're pretty rare. i have an 02. and i like the 4matic for wet roads , even in warm temps.
j.