E-Class (W211) 2003-2009

Is it a Deal or Dud?

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Old May 8, 2019 | 05:03 PM
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01 E55
Is it a Deal or Dud?

I'm about to walk away from buying an 04 car E320. It's a base model, 2 owner, It has been dealer maintained, no accidents, or damage reported on the car fax, and has 49K miles on it. However, over the last 8 or so years, it's been essentially sitting. The paint is "ok", there's a few dings, and scratches, the interior is looking a bit tired, and the wheels have some manner of slight oxidation around the center caps. It's pretty much a non optioned out car.. It does have a cd changer, but that's about it as far as options over base I think. It does have nav, and HK speakers, but I *think* that's standard.

The Price? $6500.

Go through or walk away?
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Old May 8, 2019 | 05:08 PM
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C320
A car thats been sitting for 8 years hasn't been maintained for 8 years. Everything rubber and plastic in the suspension, cooling system, ignition wires, tires etc is going to be perished. Same with fluids and who knows what else. Also the leaking fuel tank hasn't been fixed and being an 04 its a toss up if the 15 year warranty still applies. I would rather buy a 149k mile 04 for $3000 and budget another $3500 for repairs as needed. The M112 engine can easily go 300k miles in fact there are a few examples on this forum. Maintenance is far more important than mileage.

walk away
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Old May 8, 2019 | 05:10 PM
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1922 Ford Model T / no OBD
Well operating car of this age is worth 1/2 the asking price.
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Old May 9, 2019 | 02:17 PM
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Originally Posted by 90lxracer
I'm about to walk away from buying an 04 car E320. It's a base model, 2 owner, It has been dealer maintained, no accidents, or damage reported on the car fax, and has 49K miles on it. However, over the last 8 or so years, it's been essentially sitting. The paint is "ok", there's a few dings, and scratches, the interior is looking a bit tired, and the wheels have some manner of slight oxidation around the center caps. It's pretty much a non optioned out car.. It does have a cd changer, but that's about it as far as options over base I think. It does have nav, and HK speakers, but I *think* that's standard.

The Price? $6500.

Go through or walk away?
$6500? Are you nuts? Like others have mentioned that car is worth half that price at best. In order to do a valid market comparison, look on cars.com for cars with similar mileage, year, condition, sale by private owner, etc. Here is a search I did with e320s in 2004 with greater than 100K miles. Note that many are not private sellers, so dealers are going to charge higher prices. Bottom line that price for the car you mention is terrible: https://www.cars.com/for-sale/search...Vehicles=false
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Old May 9, 2019 | 05:08 PM
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Originally Posted by tjts1
A car thats been sitting for 8 years hasn't been maintained for 8 years. Everything rubber and plastic in the suspension, cooling system, ignition wires, tires etc is going to be perished. Same with fluids and who knows what else. Also the leaking fuel tank hasn't been fixed and being an 04 its a toss up if the 15 year warranty still applies. I would rather buy a 149k mile 04 for $3000 and budget another $3500 for repairs as needed. The M112 engine can easily go 300k miles in fact there are a few examples on this forum. Maintenance is far more important than mileage.

walk away
Bye bye Felicia!
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Old May 10, 2019 | 07:44 AM
  #6  
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01 E55
Yeah... I walked. I'm now looking at a couple W210's that seem interesting.
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Old May 10, 2019 | 07:46 AM
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01 E55
Originally Posted by LexBrett2
$6500? Are you nuts? Like others have mentioned that car is worth half that price at best. In order to do a valid market comparison, look on cars.com for cars with similar mileage, year, condition, sale by private owner, etc. Here is a search I did with e320s in 2004 with greater than 100K miles. Note that many are not private sellers, so dealers are going to charge higher prices. Bottom line that price for the car you mention is terrible: https://www.cars.com/for-sale/search...Vehicles=false

I don't think you read the milage on the one I posted correctly. The one I was looking at had 49,000 on it. So the bottom of your search 100K was double the mileage on this car.
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Old May 11, 2019 | 04:13 PM
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2001 E320 Wagon, 2006 LBZ Silverado, 2007 E63 (sold), 2001 E55 (sold)
Originally Posted by 90lxracer
I don't think you read the milage on the one I posted correctly. The one I was looking at had 49,000 on it. So the bottom of your search 100K was double the mileage on this car.
That car has not been well maintained if it's been sitting for the last 8 years. Doesn't matter if it has low mileage, lots of issues will show up due to sitting.
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