In reply to DarkMonohue :
Yeah, I spotted that about the seller as well, but there are others. What, besides possibly everything, is scary about a 20 year old benz? Am I dumb enough to find out? There are a couple of Mercedes wagons from the 90's prowling around my town and I've always thought they were neat, but perhaps those older ones are more bullet proof?
In reply to Taterstein :
Beats me - I know just enough to admire W124s and W201s from afar. Maybe we'll get lucky and yupididit will pop in with some thoughts on the subject.
DarkMonohue said:Taterstein said:I'm reading up on the BMWs and Audi wagons. Thanks for to the folks chiming in. What about something like this?: https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/797311622482326/?ref=search&referral_code=null&referral_story_type=post&tracking=browse_serp%3A026ef291-a9bb-4243-a2df-9bf23cb88e91
Run away screaming from 5k Benz-o-s?
Run away screaming from that one, certainly. The seller seems not have a particularly good reputation.
Yup. It won't nickel and dime you, it will benjamin and hamilton you.
The last Merc I would consider is a W210, but they're all getting really long in the tooth. If you were to find an E-class with 100k, I would at least consider it, but that also mean that it has some deferred maintenance or just old, aged parts. The general (very general) thing with Benzes is that the C-class gives you all the Merc headaches with the bare minimum of Merc experience. The S-class and variants give you all the Merc experience, but the parts are ridiculously expensive because they're borederline bespoke specialties. The E-class was ubiquitous and parts are still pretty common and affordable, so they're a bit more serviceable.
E46? E39? E61? Did any of those come with X-drive? They are generally considered a pretty bulletproof AWD system.
Ok, thinking outside the box...
Venza, RX, or Highlander with a TRD supercharger! It'd be a great sleeper.
In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :
E46s did.
I wouldn't call them bulletproof. They had the same issue Volvos had where the splines between the transfer case and transmission (or was it transfer case and front driveshaft?) were exposed to the elements and thus would rust, the rust would wear away the splines, and then one day the splines strip. Except with a Volvo you still have front wheel drive, with a BMW you have nothing.
Edit: Caddy CTS4s would strip the splines between the transmission and transfer case, X-Drive BMWs would strip the transfer case to front driveshaft splines. I have never seen anyone fix a BMW after that, so I don't know if they have a corresponding fault between the trans and transfer case.
It's an easy enough measure to take it apart every few years and heavily lube it with moly grease... but I have seen the failure happen in six years on a BMW X3. That's not good odds.
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