I have put 40k miles on my 2011 E550 in the 15 months since I purchased it CPO last year(with 40k miles, and given my job my guess is that I will continue to put on 35k miles per year until my UNLIMITED MILEAGE warranty expires in November 2017. At that rate I will have a total of 165k miles on the E550 when I'm ready to move on, or take my chances owning this beautiful car beyond warranty with that many miles. I have a few questions:

1. What's the highest mileage w212 E550 on the board and how has the car held up?

2. Beyond the expensive tranny and diff fluid changes (I'm going to a local multi-generation Mercedes service center, their prices are much better than dealer and their services more comprehensive) what other big dollar maintenance items can I expect?

3. Am I crazy to entertain the idea of holding on to the car with that many miles after the warranty expires? It's such a great car, timeless design, soon to be extinct large displacement NA V8, I think it will be cool to have a long time but it scares the crap out of me.

I've already had a major airmatic failure and got the rears and pump replaced under warranty, but I'm sure there may be future issues...any thoughts greatly appreciated!

 

Can't comment on high miles as I only drive 8k a year, but I don't think you're crazy to think about keeping it. By the time your CPO expires you will have driven it for about 4 years and 125k miles yourself. So you will know the car pretty well then. It's too early to make those kinds of decisions. So long as you keep up the maintenance and stay on top of the condition of the vehicle you should have a good idea what to expect.

Airmatic seems to be the Achilles heel and you could always go with coilovers if that goes again outside of warranty. Although I am not sure if that's available for the 4matic.

 

I don't think you are crazy.....E classes are built to last. And the V8 is hardly being strained in daily driving. I plan on keeping mine beyond the extended warranty. As a point of comparison, my wife's W211 is at 96K miles and it still looks and drives like new.