Xk42

Found a e350 near me for 7k from a private seller. The car lived most of its life in Florida. Wife only got her license this year and I should've got a beater car before she did thousands of damages to my car and treats it like a dumpster. I still want a good and safe car for her as drivers around our area is insanely bad and aggressive post pandemic. (Live next to one of the best high school in the region, pretty much car accidents every week. Cars rolling over in a 25mph zones and students crashing their parents 100k cars)

Is 200k miles way too high? I missed out on a 2011 140k miles the other day. I'm just a little shocked that the current owner had it for 1 year and put in 30k miles.

chassis

200k miles is high. Do you have DIY skills? You will need them with any vehicle with 200k miles, regardless of brand and regardless of how well it was taken care of, or not.

Any mid-size or larger vehicle is safe from a collision point of view, bearing in mind that all vehicles on the road must meet Federal safety requirements. Bigger vehicle = safer in a collision.

Insanely bad and aggressive drivers are in most areas, pandemic notwithstanding. In my experience the mid-Atlantic region drivers (Phila-CNJ-DC) are quite good. There are always exceptions, I am painting with a broad brush. LA, Chicago and Detroit are the worst I have experienced. Florida is bad, but those other three cities are worse.

Xk42

I'm good with DIY skills in terms of electronics and computer hardware. Not on cars, I just follow youtube on basic repairs like replacing o2 sensors and upgrading screen to android. Actually this reminds me, one of my good neighbor is a mechanic. He owns several Mercedes, volvo and lexus. I should ask him if he wants a hand so I could pickup some new skills.

You guessed it, LA. I'm a seasoned driver that hold multiple driving license from different countries. LA is by far the worse drivers I've encountered. On a good week, I would have 1-2 close calls. On a bad day I had 3 close calls. Mostly from people not stopping on red light or turning right on red. They expect cars on green light or going straight to brake for them. Heck they even ignore yield signs. Last month I was driving behind a pickup towing a trailer. Saw a SUV driving up super fast behind me and wanted to do a last second getting off the ramp. He obviously didn't see the trailer and thought I was not following the pickup close enough. He cut me off and slammed into the trailer at high speed and rolled his car a few times.

kajtek1

When I own diesel, at 150,000 miles it is new car.

Shuo Wang

At 200K, the engine might be fine, with probably a few leaks here and there. But you'd want to make sure other wear parts are taken care of, like shocks, engine/trans mounts, control arm bushings, belt tensioner, thermostat, water pump, etc. If not they would cost a considerable amount of money to fix even if you DIY.

cetialpha5

At 7k, I guess it's cheap enough. Lots of it is probably maintenance though, I've already replaced my springs/struts/shocks and many items mentioned above. The 2012 isn't that bad though, has the newer M276 engine which is good for 302hp and it doesn't have some of the issues that the M272 did in the 2010-2011 years. Basically I would think that the suspension would probably be worn out if various parts haven't been updated.

DFWdude

The diesel may not be old, but everything else about the car is standard W212 running gear.
I wouldn't buy a 10 year-old car with 200,000 miles of any make.

Quint22

Depends on the vehicle. My 2014 ram cummins is doing great with 165k miles and regular maintrnance. Granted much easier to work on then the benz.
agree with diesels its usually all the other stuff that goes bad, suspension/weather seals/transmission/diffs/bearings ya name it.

BenzV12

I don't want to mislead you, but I would not buy a car with an unknown history either unless you don't mind spending money some items aside from regular maintenance stuff

kajtek1

We all have our own point of view, but I am in contact with several buyers of my cars and most of them passed 300k miles just fine.
I value the paint on those cars the most and in hot weather that seldom last in good condition more than 10 years.
The present W212 at 8 years of age (4 years under my roof) is pristine and I keep it in cooled garage, parking in the shade whenever I can, so I hope the paint will last 20 years.
The only thing that wear out beside normal wearables are sway bar links booths. I had the same on other W212, so seem the boots come from bad supplier.
Oh, the AMG, Czech-made rims were garbage as well, but I keep Lorinser monoblocks, who are well over 20 yo.
Over the years I bought couple of cars, who were neglected and I say that if you want to buy neglected car, MB is the brand who can take it.
I always do blowby and acceleration test, so never had bad engine. Small stuff like oil leaks, or failed modules are easy for good DIYer.
Once you bring the car to fully working condition, you will enjoy good base for few following years.

DFWdude

Perhaps I should clarify... It's not that the car cannot be made to run beyond 200K miles. The problem is that any repairs will cost more than the car is worth. My 21 year old C320 (158.000 miles) appraises for a whopping $400. Control arms alone cost more than that just for the parts.

OP is considering paying $7000 for a 10 year-old W212. Drive it 5 years (and another 60,000 miles), and it will be worth $400, too. If it's the only car one has, and any repairs must be suffered through, then fine. But I usually don't throw good money after bad, even for a Mercedes.

Fliplegend

If it was a 90's Mercedes, I would likely agree with you. Back then, they were built to last.

Xk42

I fully agree. The car does have full service records from Mercedes but the current owner had it for a year and only seem to do valvoline oil changes.

If I run it thru caravna/shift whatever online trade there is. It's valuing this 200k W212 between $500-1300. I would say this is more of a project/fun car as I have other cars. I'm probably just going to drive it till it becomes uneconomical to repair.

Fliplegend

Have you test driven it by chance? I've purchased a car that Carfax shows "structural damage" but it drove great and after 40K miles of daily driving in 4 years, it still drove like the first day I bought it.

DFWdude

You wrote that the seller wants $7,000 for this car. I thought this was way high. If it is NADA valued at just $500-$1300, then you should buy it for little more than that as a "parts car," unless you want to grossly overpay for it. Otherwise, your "project/fun" car will be just a very expensive money pit, as any significant repair will cost you a mint in parts, even if you are handy with repairs yourself. Just buying the MB-related scan and diagnostic tools will cost you $500-$1000.

I'm at the same point with my C320, which I gave to my live-in daughter in 2018. Once her son gets his license (by years end), it will be fingers crossed awaiting the first accident. Anything other than a light fender bender will junk the car, as any significant repair will cost $5K or more. Both my daughter and grandson will be without a ride, and I have no more hand-me-down vehicles to give away.

Hell, if you want to spend $7,000 on a $1,300 MB, my daughter will sell you her C320 for $7,000. It has only 158,000 miles. With $7K she could then buy an old Civic. Edit: And this car has a clean, 2 owner title (not salvage) LOL

KEY08

Is it a project car now and not a safe car for the wife? People don't generally buy Mercedes cars for a "project". Some of them, however indeed become a project, which I am sure this one qualifies as. At $7,000 it is an economically dumb *** project.

Baltistyle

You’re not a landcruiser guy huh? We drive them well beyond these low mileage talks. 200k is only 20% of the life of the engine. My 250k mile example is immaculate rust free and every option, button and surface is working at 100%. That car is built for a 25 year life in Africa or Saudi’s Arabia without major component repair needed. In US that could mean a fifty year life without much needed…really…. On topic I own a w212.

Someone that gets this car to 200k likely took care of most things to get there, but every part is at replacement age in most instances so you must do you sue dilegence. A 100k mile example should be ten grand..but may have the same costs to repair if nobody did anything in those miles.

good luck on your search

Xk42

As far as I'm told, my mechanic said the Mercedes sedan would be far safer than my Japanese SUV in terms of rolling over and stronger steel structure in an accident. $7k is expensive? I think it really depends on the local market as here in SoCal, it was sold within a day.

DFWdude

Quit dicking around with these overpriced, high-mileage cars...

Here's a car that's 4 years newer with only a fraction of the miles, and impeccable title...

2016 E350 with only 39,000 miles, at only $28,000... https://www.texascarsdirect.com/used...&Model=E-Class

This dealer specializes in Mercedes off-lease returns sold at auction from Mercedes-Benz Financial. No negotiating, buyers fly in from around the country. Legit title, etc. I bought my 2016 there in 2018. This car will be gone within a day or two, as well.

kajtek1

Luck is always big factor in whatever we do, but I've been always buying used MB with high mileage. I am gifted DIY, so never had to spend big money on repairs, beside NOx sensor on W212, who required SCN coding and I had to pay the ransom.
With forum help and some homework, I am finding suppliers of OE parts, who sell them as low as 1/3 what local dealer would charge me.
So most of my high-mileage MB generated on average $20-30 annual repair costs. Including those neglected cars, who I bough cheap enough to turn profit reselling them 2 years later.

cetialpha5

https://www.nadaguides.com/Cars/2012...350-AWD/Values

Those values don't really mean anything. Without knowing the vin, Nadaguide says around $8.5k at full retail so 7k is a small discount. That $500-$1300 price basically means they don't want to deal with a high mileage car as they can be hard to sell. After a certain amount of mileage, Nadaguide stops discounting the price, if you put in 190k, it's the same price as 200k but we know that a 200k car isn't worth as much as a 190k car. I'd rather pay an extra 3k for a car with 50k less miles.

That's 4x the price with 1/5 of the miles.

Fliplegend

I'd also be weary of any cars coming out of Texas and Florida these days.

DFWdude

All the cars they sell have complete CARFAX info that would note any water damage.

Actually, TexasCarsDirect would not buy a flood damaged car at an MB Financial lease-return auction (from anywhere). I also doubt that Mercedes-Benz Financial would put a flood-damaged car in their dealer auctions. I could be wrong, but...

DFWdude

Correction... 4x the price with 20% of the mileage (compared with 200,000 miles) HUGE difference.

cetialpha5

Good catch but I kinda stopped paying attention after 4x. I think most people in the market for a car will probably only look to spend maybe 50-100% more max, not 4x/400%.