renechinea

Hi All...I have the opportunity to purchase a 2008 W211 e350 4matic wagon . The car looks, sounds and drives like it only has 40k miles. The insane part is...it has 237,000 miles!!! Yes, that's correct....237K miles. The cost is $6,500 US.
1 Owner from new!!! All highway miles!! The car looks gorgeous!!! All the seats look like they have never been used!!! The drivers seat has very slight wear only on the bottom left section. Otherwise it looks great. Everything works!!! It has the premium 2 package and all systems work!!! It drives great!!! Am I crazy to even consider this auto??? What should I expect in the near future?? Can these cars last this long?? Have all the major repairs been done? PLEASE give me a little advice....the car looks and drives sooooo great!!!! Any help would be appreciated.

N_Jay

If it has been well maintained, see if you can find out what has been done.


With those miles I would worry about the engine or trans going out, but at that price you can swap one and still be decent.


Bushings, ball-joints and such have 'probably" been done if it drives that well. (See how much history you can get)

renechinea

Thank you...anyone else??
Also, I know the Mercedes dealer that it was purchased from...will they give me info on it if I simply ask or pay for a service report??

LemonSqueezy

Whew that is mighty cheap at $6500 lol. Did the dealer do a PPI of the car?

renechinea

Did you notice the part of 237,000 miles on it? Book value is around $7500.

LemonSqueezy

Yep, that's quite a few miles. I have a family member who does 30-35k miles a year with Mercedes but he keeps record of every single thing done to the car. I'd suggest trying to get the car's history first and go from there. If it's missing a big chunk of data I would reconsider getting this car or at least consider an aftermarket warranty, if they even offer it.

AMGAffalterbach

I'm in the same camp of thought here as Lemon or N_Jay, if a car has a lot of miles but has a squeaky clean mechanical history and is currently in good condition as per a PPI, I would pick one of those above something with very low mileage for it's age since - cars are meant to be driven and have issues when they aren't. Seals dry out and you get a lot of really strange issues. Just look at cars that have been sitting there for 50+ years on garage or barn finds, none of them run. With that many miles, I would worry about the remaining life of the car but honestly I don't think it's that big of a deal if it runs and drives great. Engine hours matter more than engine miles, you can have a car that's an 07 or 08 with 50k on it that's all city driving and it may have been really abused. You can also have a car with over 100k like mine that was obviously highway mileage that is in great mechanical and aesthetic condition due to fewer hours that have been put on the engine. That's the way aircraft do it, makes more sense honestly. As for warranty, I doubt you'll find anything with that high of mileage. For $6500 you should be able to afford to put some work into it - which, by the way, on used Mercedes you do end up spending a decent amount in maintenance anyway.

RichM

I bought my 05 almost two years ago from a pharmaceutical rep to keep at my home in western Michigan. It had 198,000 miles when I bought it, and now has 212,000+ miles. She always maintained it at the dealer, and came with every service receipt. It has been very reliable, even with sitting in sub zero temps this winter waiting for someone to take her out for a drive. It is always a gamble buying high mileage cars, but if it has been well maintained these cars hold up well. As far as price, book value means nothing when it comes to cars with this type of miles. IMO, price is high. How long has this person been trying to sell it? Few people will even consider a car with these miles so there is a very limited buyer pool. If you know someone at the dealership, ask for the VMI. This will give you the detailed history of the car. Also, a CarFax is good for accident history, and if maintained at the dealer should have most of the maintenance history. As Lemon stated, if there are gaps in the maintenance history, or you can't get the history, walk away.

OnlyGerman

Get all the service records and check for major work done.. especially if the transmission was ever worked on.

MercFiveHundred

I have the same mileage on my 2003 e500. Engine runs great. I can still do around 5.5 0-60. Changed oil by FSS. Oil sample sent to black stone showed amazing results where wear particles were half of expected value. Everything except the engine, is so so. Interior is great. Plan to keep for 2 more years.

Anyways, I would never pay more than $5k for any car with over 200k miles.

noud

Dude, dont listen to this USA bull**** about valuing benz by its mileage. if car was kept in good shape ( best gas, best oil) 237K miles is only beginning! Country where i was born and grew up, mostly all taxi cabs are Mercedes, and 1000000 miles (on W202, W210, W211, W220 especially) is something regular on original engine. I would buy 500K benz in good shape than any other Korean and etc. car brand new.

You bought it cheap so give your car some treat, (fuel filter, spark plugs, wires, brake pads, rotors, brake flush, engine injector cleaning, engine mounts, tranny flush, coolant flush etc) check your cars service history first of course.

And enjoy your car

AMGAffalterbach

^+10000000

jaxfl

If you guys think that a 2008 E350 with Yes, 237K miles. is a good price at $6,500 US, then I just stole my 2006 E350, 1 owner, at $12,800 with 69,230 miles.

vettdvr

Be sure to check the reliability reports such as consumer reports or TrueDelta

My engine and transmission did not fail but pieces and parts were dropping like flies from all parts of the car that kept it going. It looked great but if you have airmatic suspension SBC braking and dual batteries there may be lots of other "bull" out there for you to have to replace. Remember the engine can still be running when you put it on a flat bed because the suspension collapsed or the brakes totally shut down.

N_Jay

IO guess it comes down to that fine line between anticipated maintenance and unexpected repair of an older car.


Many failures are more age based than mileage based, so a well maintained 2008 may be better than a '06 no matter what the miles.

2.7Tallroader

I have always looked at a car on how it is maintained and not how many miles are on the clock. I would rather get a 200,000-mile very well maintained car than one that has 60,000 miles and abused. Trying to get the abused car back into its original shape is easy but very costly. Try to continue keeping a car that is very well maintained and taken card of is very easy. If you have second thoughts on it, let me know, so I can go get it myself.

My W210 wagon had 230,000 miles on it and it wasn't for an accident, I would not have let it go.

N_Jay

Especially MB (and German cars in general), as they are designed to be maintained.
IF all the maintenance was done, and repairs as needed (and not put off) a good portion of the wear parts of a high mileage car are much newer than a lower mileage car that has had minimal maintenance and repair.

Japanese cars are designed for maximum life with minimum maintenance, so when they hit 150K to 200K, even if in generally good shape, they are typically mostly "used up".