Hi everyone
My fiancee and I are in the market for a used suv as a daily driver for me and to use for our dogs. We have budgeted $40k and after doing a quick search on autotrader.com I soon realized that I could easily pick up an early 2000's G500. So with that I wanted to get some feedback from the community on the car; reliability and any issues to look out for when purchasing a G wagon.

 

Hi there,

I have owned several G-wagons, and I am in full support of anyone who would like to buy one. However it is great that you are interested to know more, I can tell you now, the more you drive it, the more I would expect to spend on maintenance. It purely comes down to luck I believe with the issues you may come upon while owning one. You may come upon a few issues, or more whiling owning it. However before purchase I would recommend an inspection from the Mercedes Benz dealership (including diagnostic), I could go through a whole list of things to looks for but the dealer would do a better inspection than you would if I describe them all. The one major issue to look out for is if there has been electrical issues, if so, run! Second I would look for any rust, stay away from cars which are located in snow falling areas, I would carfax the car and see where it was sold and see if it stayed in places which are dry, like California, if the car has lived in CA the whole time, that is great new. Third, on carfax, make sure there are no crashes on file, even if they say it was minor, don't cause the resale for when you want to sell later will be less. Fourth I would check the under body, look for leaks especially those are the shafts which connect, it's not a big deal to fix, but dealerships charge a lot, then look at the axles, mainly the front, it looks like a ball and there is a sweeper seal that keeps it clean, make sure it is, cause it cost $900 to replace for each joint, and if its misaligned then the car is toast so I would avoid it, Mercedes doesn't carry the tools to align it in the US. Other than that look for cosmetic damage. Paint chips. Test all the windows!! and sunroof! make sure they seem strong! if at any point it sounds weak or as it may give out, avoid it! Cost me $1,500 to fix one window. I think a G500 would be great, but I would just not be surprised if you spend a lot on upkeep if you drive it a lot, and stay up to date with maintenance, as I said its mostly luck, you may not have any problems or you might. But for sure take it to the dealer and inspect it and run a diagnostic to find out everything, make sure its in perfect health, I know dealership may cost a lot to check those things, but it will be worth it if you about to close on a car and to be 100% sure nothing is wrong, cause even changing one seal can cost a pretty penny. Also before I leave you with this, beware, G wagons are rough, not the most smooth car, it guzzles gas, and you may experience odd sounds rattling or wind noise but mostly normal, and again you may not experience that, oh and test drive it! Don't get a 2002 they have problems, 2003 was a better year, the newer you go, the better. G500's were made up till 2008, if you want xeon lights, you will have to get a 2006, if not its fine, its cheaper to fix if you have a none xeon headlight. Hope this helps you.

 

Thank you for your reply Victor. I went to the my local Audi dealership in Houston and I am looking at this G wagon for sale: http://www.momentumaudi.net/used/Mer...677120e8e5.htm The sales guys Tony from Audi Central gave us the car to drive until Monday evening to see how we like it. Here are a few things right off the bat that I noticed, this car was bought in the Northeast and it seems the previous owner drove between Houston and the Northeast quite a few times. When I lifted that hood there is surface rust where the hood meets the latch. I also looked through the carfax and seems there were a few items a warranty claim made against the car. I am having Swiss Garage perform a PPI on the car. I would appreciate it if you anyone could look through the Carfax [Link: http://www.carfax.com/VehicleHistory...E13X141535]and give me their thoughts on it.

Thanks, Ali

 

Hey there
sorry for the late response, I would have to see the rust, if its little surface rust that can be removed with steel cotton then its not a big deal, my main concern would be rust forming in the tight or small areas of the car and of course undercarriage. Also, it is very common for corrosion to occur under the side mirrors, so I would check that out. I looked at the carfax, and it has the same issue as mine which there is a Mileage Inconsistency on the record, which can be reversed only possibly by the dealership at fault for making the error, I tired to reverse mine but had no luck. I mean its not a big big deal but it will discourage people in the future from buying it when you want to sell it. The price is around the right price range but if youre patient you may get lucky later with a better deal but theres always no guarantee, if anything you can negotiate a lower price for reasons such as the mileage or rust. I mean I am sure you could get it lower than there asking price. I bet they have been having a rough time trying to get it off the lot. I hope my info is helpful, also I saw it started its life in NY, so snow if again would worry me for rust unless there really isnt any. but just keep in mind the corrosion I mentioned as well cause I know its common. Let me know if you got any questions I can help with.

 

hey there,

I had a moment to check something out, if you're interested, go to mercedes benz cpo website, do a nationwide search, I saw a mercedes cpo G500 2003 with 67k miles, its grey, but the mileage is better, its listed at $38k which is $4k higher than the one you showed me, but for 16k miles less, I think its pretty good, and I believe they would be willing to flex the price lower as any dealership would to sell. check it out, might be worth looking at