I am looking for an older (pre-2010) used E-class sedan. I would prefer not to have either airmatic suspension nor sensotronic brakes. What models/years should I be looking at? Thanks in advance.

You also want to avoid the balance shaft issue. So you're looking at 2007+. SBC brakes were gone in 2007. You also want the E350, the E550 had the airmatic. You're also looking at the sedan, the wagons had airmatic in the rear suspension. The balance shaft issue was fixed sometime in 9/2006 so a 2007 with a manufacturer date of 10/2006 or later should be ok, but you should run the vin decoder to make sure the engine number is outside the problem range. The vin decoders will also tell you what options the car really has, many times the dealers don't really mention the factory options and just mention the standard stuff like the sunroof, memory seats etc which were pretty much standard on all of them. The best year is considered to be the 2009, they upgraded the navigation/comand that year. Good options to have would be the P2 package which would be the bi-xenon and keyless go. P1 is usually pretty standard.

Thanks a bunch for the info. I really like 2000-2002 E320's but they are hard to find with reasonable mileage. I guess I need to focus on an E350 years 2007-2010. I've found a 2008 E350 with 85K miles on it. It is out of range for the balance shaft issue. The only problem he says it has is an SRS light. Says it could be $100 or $2000 fix. He's pretty firm at $11,800.

I would keep looking, there's several threads on here about SRS issues and I think you're looking at the 2k plus range. If it were $100, he should have just gotten it fixed. 2010 was a new model so that's a W212, the facelifted W211 was 2006-2009, but you avoid the 2006 for SBC and balance shaft reasons.

I've read it could be something as minor as a seatbelt buckle. I haven't ruled it out yet since a pre-purchase inspection should give me an idea of how much the repair would be.

Thanks for all the info. I passed on the car after all. The PPI showed pages and pages of codes and half of the instrument cluster was out. The cluster was fine when I test drove it a week ago. This is South Carolina so I'm wondering if all of the rain/flooding we had has something to do with the cluster going out.

w211 with no SBC and no airmatic would = 2009 e350. 2009 has the newer infotainment system which rolled over to the w212 2010+ e class. All the kinks have been pretty much worked out in 09. If you considered that 08, just find an 09 instead, you'll enjoy it much more.