Hi,

I'll be in the market for a used W212 very soon and wanted some advice from owners here.

I'll be looking for an E300 in the Middle East (GCC spec). The car you all know as the E350 in North America is sold as the E300 here.

I already have a pre-facelift W212 in my home country, so I'm only looking at ads for 2014-2016 models to get the facelift.

Some questions I had since I have no experience buying used MBs:

1) Are there any issues post facelift in the 2014s such that I should avoid them and only look at 2015/2016 vehicles?

2) Is the M276 startup rattle still present on newer cars? Most threads / videos I see are for older cars (2012-2013).

3) Anything specific to look out for on the W212s, facelifted ones in particular?
Since I'm in the Middle East, the car will have driven around in 45+ degrees (113+ fahrenheit) heat for most of its life and I assume extreme temperatures may cause premature wear on some parts.

4) Is there a foolproof way of checking whether the car has been abused by the previous owner, especially if they have tried to conceal any issues?
Asking mainly for the engine here since a destroyed interior and exterior damage will be easy to spot.

5) Any annoying things you don't like about the W212 that I should keep in mind before buying?
Sometimes stuff isn't well documented online and I don't want to have buyers remorse.

Would appreciate any advice from the MB veterans on this forum.

P.S: If you see similar posts from me on BMW and Audi forums on the internet, it's because I'm still deciding between the W212, F10 5 Series and the Audi A7.

I don't know how well this works where you are, but I would only buy a used Mercedes after bringing it to a dealer, or a Mercedes specialist independent shop, and paying the US$100 or so for a full PPI (Pre Purchase Inspection). they should give you a LONG list of things they looked at and their status. The only exception to this is if its a CPO car from a Mercedes dealer, these come with a PPI, and a list of all the things they did to refresh the car to like-new. I just bought a CPO car in December, a 2016 E350 4matic wagon, and the attention to detail in those reports was quite amazing, including before and after pictures of some minor bumper scratches that they repaired by replacing the whole bumper and having the new one painted to Mercedes spec, 4 new tires, etc etc etc. this car only had 28,770 miles on it. Yes, you pay a premium for a CPO car but they come with a full bumper to bumper warranty for 1 year that you can extend for 2 more years, so its virtually like buying a new car.

Thanks for replying!

I plan to do a PPI, but only after picking a specific car. I will contact a few sellers, go and have a look at the car in person, and make sure it's worth pursuing, after that I will arrange for a PPI through the MB dealership.

My first thought was just to get a CPO E-Class, but finding an older CPO car is basically impossible in the Middle East, the dealers rarely keep anything older than 2-3 years.

yeah, a CPO has to be under like 35000 miles, and no more than 4-5 years old max, and a nearly perfect car.

agreed, that goes for almost any Mercedes, invest in the preventative, it pays for itself.

My experience with CPO says it does not have to be perfect. My car had been bumped from behind and repaired at 1 year old, and had some cosmetic issues that the dealership addressed only when I insisted rather than during the CPO process.

I still think it's worth buying CPO but lots of horror stories on MBWorld about CPO cars.

For a car to qualify as CPO in the US, has to be less than 6 years old and less than 75k. You can go on Mercedes CPO website.

https://cars.usnews.com/cars-trucks/...o-buying-guide

Also the warranty isn't bumper to bumper, it's a limited warranty. The new car warranty covers a lot more. CPO doesn't cover cosmetic items like the faded wood, that is only covered by the new car warranty. It is pretty extensive though. CPO isn't a magic bullet either, some dealers do a good job and others not so good. That probably boils down to the tech doing the process, some just blow by it figuring they'll just fix it later if the customer notices. Lots of complaints on here about CPO cars that had problems that should have been caught during the inspection.

The first time I read the CPO can have repainted panels.
Anyway, each inspection is subject to personal care of technician doing it and there are lot of bad experience with them.
Than you are planning to buy 5-6 yo car and if it was driven on salty roads - the results can be pretty bad.
I would be against buying such aged car by a person who can't DIY and who can't perform inspection personally.
Good part is that W212 are the first MB model who follows MB reliability from 1980's and they don't seem to have common issues.
Diesels did have some baby teeth with early emission systems, but now US settlement clears those as well in USA

Oh yes, CPO cars can have prior accidents. My car's Carfax indicates it was very minor and you can't tell anything happened, but it was definitely allowed.