Stander

Hey guys, I'm new here.

I live in Canada. I am in the market for a used Mercedes-Benz under $10,000 CAD. I found a 1989 500 SEC for $9,000. It has only 86,000KM on it, is in seemingly good condition, has PWR windows and locks, A/C, etc (though I am fairly ignorant as to these things). Is this a reasonable price?

Is the 500 SEC a decent car, I have heard that it is one of the best driving cars produced by MB.

Any comments/suggestions would be helpful.

Cheers

egxpimp

Make sure its well documented and regular maint has been done. Things to look out for are:

Timing chain must be change at 100k miles
Power steering leaks usually, so check for those
Water pumps go out around 150k
Transmission, make sure its well service

besides that i dont think i have ever had problems with my car. Pretty dependalbe car, its fast and smooth. I use to speed alot if you read some of my previous post but over the last 2 weeks i have been enjoying the benz with cruise control at 73 mph (8 miles over the speed limit-most we can do here in cali) and im so surprise of how smooth the car is. I use to drive my car 100mph avg daily. We have had our car in the family for over 17 years.

Stander

Yeah, so you like the performance eh? V8 5.0. It looks so demure, but it's a friggin bomb under that hood. Fairly narrow car too, pwr seats because their isn't the space for adjusters on the sides...

egxpimp

Good power for 20 year old car. My friends are shocked when they see the power it has for its age

Stander

What about the price? Is it reasonable, or too good to be true? Thanks.

cdplayer

I found my 84 500 SEC online in Seattle. I live 700 miles south. The owner faxed me volumes of receipt copies kept on the car from the previous two owners. I am the fourth owner. I paid $7100 US. The car was babied. I verified most of the maintenance with a Carfax report using the VIN #. Feeling comfortable with that I bought the car without seeing it real time. Just photos. I secured the car with a deposit and flew up the following weekend. Drove it home that very same day. Well, it took 14 hours and 2 1/2 tanks of gas. But what really amazed me about the car it had 230,000 miles on it. Got me home without any trouble. I made notes on the little things that would need my attention as time would allow. A couple of interior light bulbs were out. One fog lamp was out. (Turned out to just be unplugged.) etc. That was seven months ago.
I have since replaced the origonal water pump. Was making a howl. Not leaking though. New blower motor and resistor group. And I just replaced a leaking steering box. The pump was fine however. I love this car.
Do verify maintenance best you can. Word of mouth really is not good enough. Good luck.