DesertDawg

Hello... First-time poster here - hope some of the fine folks on the forum can help me with deciding on a vehicle purchase.

I'm looking at an '05 E320 with just over 54k miles on it. The car runs & drives fine, Carfax & Autocheck both raise no real red flags (one accident reported in '05 - minor damage). First owner in CA was a corporate lessee from Dec '04 through Feb '09, and put 29,999 miles on it during that time. 2nd owner was in TX (West TX, so it's not a Houston flood car - plus it shows no indications of water damage when I went to check it out), and only put an average of just over 2,900 miles per year on it, so I'm thinking during that time it may have been a third vehicle for a household, or maybe a grocery-getter for a stay-at-home mom, or perhaps owned by a retiree, etc.

MB website shows no open recalls, and one recall for installation of ground wires - which was completed. Cosmetically, the vehicle looks great both inside & out - a couple of little rock chips out in front, no curb rash on the wheels, windshield has been replaced by the current dealer... aftermarket windshield, but it does have the rain sensor. Engine sounds fine both idling & when being driven, car handles fine, brakes work properly under both normal & hard braking, tires even look pretty recent with plenty of tread left. Essentially, everything works as it should, both mechanically & electrically, unless I missed something. Dealer also changed the oil & the car passed a recent state inspection. This dealer has a pretty decent reputation, so I'm not too concerned in that regard - they're a used-car shop, but they tend to stay away from trashy vehicles. They're asking $8,995, but are willing to go to $8,400, which is slightly above high retail on both NADA & KBB, but is not a deal-breaker to me in & of itself, since it's not that huge of a difference, dollar-wise.

So my big question is simply: Is there anything I should be on the lookout for with this car or this particular generation of this car? I've had a C-Class in the past & was pretty happy with it, but that was bought new, and obviously used can be a different story. I have looked around the forum before posting, but didn't come across any threads that threw up any major red flags.

Your thoughts? Thank you in advance!

kajtek1

What state and what inspection the car passed?
Looks like you did good homework so far and 320 gasoline engine proved itself to be one of the best MB ever made (beside diesels obviously) but on 13 years old car lot of things could happen regardless low mileage.
Don't hesitate to do good PPI or even spend $300 at different dealer on it.
For that price the car better be pristine.
The car will have SBC brakes, so educate yourself about them and if it has airmatic, that is another high-priced maintenance system

DesertDawg

Thanks, Kajtek - Accoding to the VIN decoder I found, this car does not have the Airmatic system (which sounds like it could be a good thing, based on what you mentioned). The state it passed the recent inspection in was TX.

As far as pristine goes, from a cosmetic point of view, if you had shown me this car & told me it was a year old, I might actually believe it.

cetialpha5

I prefer the face lift and no SBC so I tend to like 2007+. Some early 2007 models still had the balance shaft problem that 2006 models did. Only reason not to like the 2005 was the older 3.2L engine instead of the 3.5 in the 2006-2009. Plus it had SBC. At that mileage, it probably hasn't been updated yet and the fuel tank issue exists with all 2003-2009 models. That has a 15 year warranty though so the older the car, the sooner it will run it. I see some 2008-2009 models in the 10-12k range but mileage is usually a bit higher. Later models also tended to have more options and you're more likely to have things like bluetooth and the ipod cable along with options like keyless go, pano roof, parktronic etc.

2MERKS

A+ on your homework! Knowing is half the battle. If you think the deal is gud, make the deal. PPI money well spent! GL.
2MERKS