Hello,

I was new to the Forum some months ago when I bought my first Mercedes, but for some reason didn't do an intro. Better late than never.

After my youngest son totaled our Subaru late last year I found myself looking for that "kids are grown, time to get a car just for us" car. I was kicking around a few make/model options but wasn't finding what I wanted. One boring Saturday afternoon we dropped by a small dealership with a good reputation in Vancouver, WA. I saw a silver Mercedes and took it for a test drive. We liked it but were on the fence. After that the salesman told us to take the car for two hours and make a decision. We came back and bought the car.

It's a 2000 E320 V-6. Silver with grey interior, sunroof, no owner mods. We bought the car with 80,708 miles on it and it's as clean as a car can be inside and out. The car still had the shipping plastic covering the carpet under the front floor mats. (I took it off because I was tired of the mats sliding when I got in.) We paid $9,200 for the car, which I believe is a bit high, but the car was so clean and the mileage so low I just haven't let that bother me.

We're the 3rd owner. I was able to get a great deal of history with the help of a friend who's a Service Mgr. at Mercedes of Portland, and via a shop business card from Burback Motors in the glove box. I called Burback Motors and gave them my VIN and after a few days they called me back. The first words out of the woman's mouth were, "oh, you got a great car." The previous owners rarely drove the car and it was always garaged with the bulk of the service done by Burback Motors. The only reason they sold the car was they never drove it. I dropped by Burback one day and she gave me the service history on the car for everything they did.

I did three immediate repairs after I bought the car: new wiper blade, replaced a damaged front passenger door speaker cover (ebay) and replaced a broken antenna cover (Amazon version, not the Dealer one). Total spent: $50. I've gone on to replace the hood lifts, do an oil change, install an aftermarket stereo (left the Bose speakers & amp in), snapped in a new plastic front bumper grill (next to fog lamp on passenger side), replaced broken fog lamp lens (pass. side), replaced the HVAC blower motor (FCP Euro), new sun sensor (dealer) and replaced the water pump and T-stat (dealer).

We've put about 5k on the odometer and absolutely love the car. It's a joy just running to the grocery store for milk. We had our first real freeway time in it last weekend and with 5 people in the car (Easter at mom's house) it was comfortable for everyone and cruising home at 80 mph it had beautiful road manners. Love this car.

This Forum has been very helpful – thanks to one and all.