Hi

I am in Australia and own a 1998 W210 E55.

Yes that is definately correct, I seem to continually have problems that this year is not recognised in any kind of drop down menu for parts suppliers etc, they all seem to think 1999 was first year of E55.

I also see a number of forum posts about various topics asserting the same thing.

At one stage I came across some info that due to popularity from appearing in Men In Black movie that 1999 they moved to a more production line manufacture and made 10 times as many as in 1998. Also that 1998 was the last of the AMG "one man one car"? (as opposed ot one man, one engine).

My question is, is it potentially more collectible? I sort of daily drive it, having had it ten years and taken it from 173k km on the clock to 220k km. I live very close to work and work away sometimes, some years it's only done 5000km.

It is getting on, still a great car (so good I bought a 2001 ML55 for my daughters first car, because she wanted something she could sleep in for camping) but I might be tempted to start repairing it in a non genuine fashion, am I shooting myself in the foot or not?

It gets serviced at some indie repairers, but the original owner and some of the guys there trained with Mercedes and have always been pretty good with it.

I already replaced the radio head unit with an Alpine about ten years ago because I couldn't cope with no bluetooth and big fines here for even touching your phone while driving. But that is about it. Apart from that over the years mostly genuine or equivelent parts, as a available - ran a sunroof kit because leaking, did an engine rubber and gasket kit, new radiator, new AC compressor, so on and so on, as required.

Now the paintwork is a little tired and I contemplate to wrap it.

Any advice how much I should care how much to bother to keep it original as possible for future value?

Red book shows current value something like 10k AUD, I suspect only an enthusiast would go that high. Brand new in 1998 it cost $208k. I got the ML55 for 7k AUD, but 320k km on the clock, though you wouldn't know it really. I got a lot of faith in the M113 engine, plus the 5 speed box is the one they run in the ambulances here and good for 1000Nm, so it is like the whole thing is rediculously over-engineered.

Thanks.

 

What you should worry most about is rust problems and electronic gremlins on the w210 AMG.
Perhaps in Australia a w210 doesn't rust but in countries with colder climate like in Europe this car was known as Benz the rustbucket.

The w210 E-class was not as good as the predecessor w124 which was the best E-class ever made, taxi diesel cars all over the world made the w124 world famous, they just kept going if maintained well.
The w210 is expensive to maintain, most parts are expensive if you buy genuine OE.
I should know, I have a 1999 C-class AMG, it's very expensive to maintain with genuine parts.

The ML55 you bought for your daughter is a great 4WD, it's a US made vehicle build quality was not 100% perfect, interior feels very plasticky.
However you daughter will have a lot of fun with the AMG 4WD and could probably lose her license if speeding when it's fast and strong.

Good luck with your car

 

Don't seem to have either of those problems apart from a few small bubbles around the sunroof, when I bought the car it was leaking a little due to broken railings, which I replaced. But it's very dry where I am, most rain for the year comes in 3 months, almost nothng rest of year and zero road salt.

Can be a little expensive for repairs if not careful, but given I got it at age 14 for 20k, vs the new price of 208k, overall pretty good value. I try and get stuff from Autohauz to keep costs down, they deliver to here and usually well worth it.

Including purchase price and non-consumable repairs (consumables being tires, oil, wiper blades etc) I estimate all up maybe about a bit over AUD3k a year over the last 12. It's probably not going to get much better than that for something of that size and quality.

 

Forgot to mention, lack of cup holder can tempt some to place drinks in a place where liquid can get in into the TCU via the shifter area, avoid this at all costs.

About to be ex-wife dumped half a cup of tea in there at one stage, accidentally but carelessly.

I escaped with no consequences after the immediate ones, seems it dried out ok, but wouldn't change gears initially. But now any glitcnes and I wonder.

 

Not worth more, just the way some countries count the year of manufacture vs the manufacturers release date differently. This occurs in the UK as well.

The C and E are in a completely different class and build quality of the C's is never as good as the E's.

As far as electrical gremlins, my E55 really did not have any and I owned it for around 18 years. Rust? Nope, had none of that either. Reliability of the 210 E55? Was like owning a Honda Accord. Then again, I only took mine to around 225k miles. It did have transmission failure around 200k miles but that's the only major thing that really ever needed repair/replacement. I think that was caused by driving down a flooded street and water somehow got into the transmission. The engine was bulletproof and only needed spark plug changes every 100k miles or so and oil changes every 10k miles. I have read some were prone to rust in the bottom of the doors if driven in states that salted roads but, then again, what car isn't a rust bucket in those states.

 

Only careless people drinks beverage in their cars and accidentally spills into the tranny shifter gate.
Drinking jumbo jugs and spilling could be a disaster!
Older cars have cupholder inside the arm rest area, only keep a bottle with screw cap if you going to drink something?