phreaknes

Hello
I currently own a 1997 Lincoln Mark VIII and upgraded from a 92 Galaint and before that a 1976 914. I travel to Brussels and Singapore (leaving for Brussels Thursday) a lot and they use E-Class Benz’s a lot for taxi’s and I love the ride and the styling and performance. So I’m just starting to look at 1999 - 2001 E430’s. I figured I sign up on a popular board and do a little research. So I was wondering a few things.

First I’m a stereo nut so a nice modest (quality not quantity) system will be on the bill. Are there many “gotcha’s” on the stereo replacement in these cars?
Second I prefer to do my own work on my car… change the oil, lower the stance, performance / handling Mods. Are these cars friendly to the “shadetree mechanic”?
Third what are things I should look for when buying one of these cars. Any “if it has this xyz part don’t buy it” or “check this, this and this before signing on the dotted line.”

Thanks for your time

gstigler

First of all, these are great cars and coming out of a Mark VIII you will be thrilled with the E430.

Stereo - My E420 has a BOSE system that is acceptable to me instock form. I know that many people on this board have replaced/improved those systems to fit their personal needs. I enjoy a good stereo and I have found that the stock system is great.

You should not have a problem working on an E430 with respect to oil changes, suspension mods. These are fairly straight forward. Where you might have trouble is with engine/transmission mods. Personally I think the car is excellent in stock form anyway.

Make sure that you get a car with maintainance records. You may want to have the harmonic balancer changed by MB as it is a known problem at least through 2000 model year. Don't overpay for it, there are a lot of these cars out there and you should be able to find a good one for under $20k

Dema

If you have car with navigation, then you have AUX in. It makes the car very valuable from point of view of connection iPod. I was very conservative of quality of Bose, however iPod made me proud of it.

Benz

Welcome phreaknes.

I had a 1997 E420 that I did tons of work to. The car is not very work friendly if you know whart I mean. Before working on this car yourself you need to learn about it. Specially the audio part of the mercedes. Lots of the wires are not in the same format etc.. If you are looking for a good stock audio I can tell you now the mercedes E420/E430 does not have this. The stereo is pretty much crap . Besides the stereo it's an awesome ride and when you learn how to work on the vehicle its very fun.

Good luck on your choice!

MikeyE430

I have a 2000 E430 Sport that I bought new. Also owned a 1995 E420. The newer cars are mechanically excellent, but electronically SUCK! My Bose stereo sounds like crap and I am on my 4th CD changer replaced under warranty. Light bulbs go out in the dash and headlights. M-B has dug themselves in a hole with their too-fancy, nanny electronics. Has really hurt their reliability rating.

Having said that, the car drives like a dream. I have done some modifications but am still basically happy after 33,000 miles.

They need to fix the damn electronics on the new cars.