hello, first post here. I am buying a new (to me) car as a commuter to replace my current 2003 Lexus es300. The choice is narrowed down to either a 2010-12 Lexus es350, a Mercedes e350 2008-2009 or e320 bluetec, same years.
I looked into BMW and jaguar as well, but wasn't a fan.
My current Lexus I've had since 2007. It has been an absolutely wonderful car. I bought it with 40k miles and I just crossed over 300,000 last month. Original engine, transmission, and just a really great car. However, 15 years and 300,000 miles have taken their toll and while it still looks ok, it's definitely a ten footer.
In considering the e class, I like the ride a little more than the Lexus, the mpg on the bluetec is great, too. My biggest concern is maintenance. On the Lexus, I can do my own oil change, and if I don't want to, I can take it to any Toyota dealer and get a $29.95 oil change and tire rotation. Replacement battery cost me under $200. Tires were $600 or so. I keep seeing things like $100 minimum oil changes, batteries that require almost a technical degree just to change, etc. I'm not a very mechanically inclined person, so I won't be doing much on my own besides the most basic things. Is buying a Mercedes out of warranty with the full knowledge that I will be paying labor charges for probably 95% of any repairs and/or maintenance a horrible idea?
I like the Mercedes more than the newer Lexus, but I also need to think logically. If it comes down to it, I've got another car to use if the car is ever down for repairs, but it's not exactly daily driver material. I need a car that I can reliably get into every morning, drive 50-200 miles in that day, bring it back home and park it until the next day. Is a Mercedes good for that, or should I just stick with a less fun to drive Lexus?

 

Also, why not consider a 2010-2012 W212? As far as gas vs. diesel goes: what is your preference? A petrol engine has lower MPG, and lesser maintenance costs IMO. A PPI would be very helpful when you find a car that you like along with the service history. I would not be afraid to purchase a used E class as a daily driver. As far as servicing it goes, find a good independent shop that is familiar with M-B. My last four rides were a W211, X204, and 2 W212's. So you can obviously see that I have no biases whatsoever! Good Luck

 

These cars can be long-lived if regular maintenance is done. That means regular changes of fluids, not just oil. Transmission, power steering, brake, etc.

There are lots of folks here who do the oil and transmission fluid changes on their own. It is not particularly complicated, and once you have done it once you will be much more confident.

You will need some equipment to do that sort of stuff, though. You will need ramps to be able to get reasonable access under the car, and as to oil you vacuum it out from the top, not drain it from the bottom.

The later year models of the W211 have been pretty good as to reliability.

Good cars, but you have to take care of them as you go. Stuff can still go wrong, of course, but regular attention really pays off. And getting a little expertise with a wrench is not a bad thing if that is what you choose to do.

 

The E-350 takes 8.5 quarts of synthetic oil. I change it myself. You can go anywhere else and get a regular oil change for probably about $60. For me, I get the oil on sale when Mobil 1 has a $12 rebate on a $25 5 quart jug at Walmart and I get 2 jugs. They usually do this twice a year. Right now I'm just loaded up on Castrol 0w40 which Autozone had on clearance at $10 for a 5 quart jug, they usually have some clearance in December. One thing to keep in mind is that the oil change interval with synthetic is 10k, your $30 oil change was probably every 3-5k. You really want to avoid the dealer and find a good indy. I just replaced front and rear brake pads and had them bleed by the indy for $70. I bought the parts.

 

The oil change on either a gas or diesel MB using approved parts can be done for around $80-90. Oil filters are around $10 and the oil is the rest of that as they take a lot of it and its not cheap (usually $7-9 a quart unless you can get it on sale for $5.99 or get the 5 quart jug for the gas cars at Walmart for around $25 you need 7-9 quarts in most Mercedes btw)
The E350 in the early years had some balance shaft issues so you would want a later 2008 build vs an early 2008 built in 07. You can look up the engine number and compare it to the guide to make sure you get a latter engine.
As for the E320 the engine is fairly solid once you fix the oil cooler leak. Some do have issues with sludge but with so many on the road and not wide spread reports I am not to concerned (I own one). I do do 7-8k mile oil change intervals instead of 10k but I would do that with a gas car as well as I keep my cars long term and the extra costs though probably unnecessary help me sleep at night. I will also say that my car at 100k did need the timing chain replaced as it had worn excessively which may have been a maintenance issue or something and seems to be a rare issue.
Besides those issues the late w211's are reliable the 722.9 in the latter cars had all its issues worked out and just need a fluid change ever 39,000 miles to stay happy. The battery in both cars is simple to change out with a basic wrench you just make sure to keep key away from car. Worst you may need to do is reset radio presets and resync windows (very simple).
Full disclosure I am selling my E320 but that is just because I got the opportunity to buy a w204 coupe with 40,000 miles for a very good price from a family member.

 

I've not seen any w212 in the range I'm looking at, unless they have 100,000 or more miles. I'd love to be able to fix stuff on my own, but my wife and I have six kids. When I get home from work, I want to spend time with them and same thing on weekends. Personal preference.

 

Understood.

Personally, I have not found regular maintenance to be prohibitively expensive. As others have said, you can do well with an independent mechanic (rather than the dealer) who knows his way around these machines.

 

While that's understandable, I can change the oil in about an hour, it takes about that long to drive to a place and wait for them to do it so it doesn't really take any extra time.

 

Oil changes im comfortable doing at home, same with brakes, etc. If I went with a bluetec, do they have the same abilities to run forever like the old 80s diesels? My parents neighbor bought a new diesel wagon back in I guess 1985. They still have it, it still looks new, even up close, and they still drive it as a daily driver.

 

While the modern Diesels are better in many ways than the older ones sadly they probably won't last the same way. The DPF will go out at some point as well as the million sensors and so on. But the gas car has tons of sensors and stuff to so no one is really any better. Obvisouly the diesel has the turbo and all the fun that comes with but if you keep the oil clean and make sure to let the turbo cool down after hard driving it should make high miles no problem.
Both the Gas and diesel should easily make 200,000 miles no problem though. So really its a crap shoot if you get a reliable gas or diesel it will be cheap and if you get a bad one it will eat you alive lol

 

Why wouldn't newer diesels not make 1 million miles?
Sure the plastic parts on top of the engine have shorter life-span than on older cars, but my 2008 E320 Bluetec do have a number of clips and grommets removed from W124 cars, as those will last.
Sounds like Jasony has long commute, so diesel is the only advisable thing.
I bought my pristine Bluetec with 160k miles for about 7 grands. Took some time to find it and 2000 miles of flying/driving, but really worth it.
BTW with extractor I can do oil change in about 15 minutes and it can be white-gloves job.
Air filters replacement was pretty tricky job, but you don't do that often.
Actually I think I bought the car with factory filters at 160k

 

Thanks for all the advice. I need to keep my *** off of Autotrader now and make a decision. Now I'm contemplating a C300 as well as a BMW 328/335. My 39th birthday is in April. I intend to be driving something new by then.

 

Of course I'm a little biased, but I think the E class is a bit better than the C class. QC was slightly better on the E class than C, lots more complaints about build quality on the C, but then again they sold a lot more of them. Also to me, the E has a lot more options available, several things are somewhat standard on an E that's an option on the C plus the C was only a few thousand cheaper than an E. For instance in the same 2008 C300, you can't get parktronic, the power trunk closer or keyless go, I have all that on my E. I also like the size of the E vs the C, but that's just a personal preference thing. To me, the bigger the car, the safer I feel.

 

i tend to agree. I also subconsciously view the C in the same way as the old 190 or even Cadillac cimmaron. I'm sure there's no comparison between the two, but in my mind it's there. I think if given the choice of a 2010 c300 or a 2009 e320 bluetec I'd take the e without question. In my 38 years, I've had several nice cars, the current Lexus, a 96 Audi A4, my ex drove an Acura TL and then a Volvo. I've never had a Mercedes, so I'm still learning a lot here.