My beloved 4Runner digested itself a couple weeks back (blown engine, cooked catalytic converter, leaky manifolds, more) and would have taken some $12,000 to get back on the road. Sold it as is.
I'm hoping the Merc goes at least a couple years without major problems. I know they're expensive to fix when they do break, so keeping my fingers crossed.
If Some is Good, and More is Better.....then Too Much, is Just Enough !! Trump 47....Making America Great Again! "May Almighty God bless the United States of America" - parabellum 7/26/20 Live Free or Die!
February 07, 2026, 10:08 PM
P250UA5
Congrats, long time MB fan here. I've had 3 [C-Class, S-Class and a pre E-Class], my grandmother had 7 between 1989 & 2017. All S-Class.
The Enemy's gate is down.
February 07, 2026, 10:14 PM
kkina
quote:
Originally posted by nhracecraft: Beware of the...
Uncommanded Driving
The conspiracy is real
Mercedes was just way ahead of everyone with the whole smart car thing.
Can I ask if you bought from private party or dealer (type of dealer?). What pre-purchase process did you go through before determining to buy or not?
Buying a used car seems like it would be simple but it's complicated for me to try to avoid buying a lemon especially w/o warranty.
"Wrong does not cease to be wrong because the majority share in it." L.Tolstoy "A government is just a body of people, usually, notably, ungoverned." Shepherd Book
February 08, 2026, 12:14 PM
kkina
Private party. I checked out the mechanicals myself before purchase. I'm not a professional mechanic, but my father was and I picked up some stuff from him.
A lot of people have a mechanic perform a Pre-Purchase Inspection (PPI) before purchasing. Not bad advice, though a hassle and an additional expense.This message has been edited. Last edited by: kkina,
I just let my 1999, yes, first year, 320 go last year...a bit shy of 200k miles
Up until the end it always ran great with regular oil changes...I had an independent shop service it...and it really wasn't anymore expensive to maintain than any other car I've owned.
The only things to be aware of are the window lift arms and the struts for the rear hatch. Another thing to keep an eye on with an older ML model is the plastic of the grill aging and cracking.
Parts are getting harder to find and plastic gets brittle if you go the junk yard route. Cracked a side mirror housing and the body shop price was over $1200 (lots of parts to take apart and replace), but I was able to get one for $80. It had a cracked mirror, so I had to swap it with the one in my existing assembly
I knew it was time to let mine go when it developed a vacuum line leak in the AC system...shop said it wasn't cost effective for them to try to trace it. Yearly refills just before summer extended its life for two years. The tipping point was when the radiator started leaking.
Traded mine to a handy man for work on the house. He installed a new radiator (said it was the same cost as a used one) and let his mom drive it...she was very happy with it
No, Daoism isn't a religion
February 08, 2026, 02:28 PM
konata88
quote:
Originally posted by kkina: Private party. I checked out the mechanicals myself before purchase. I'm not a professional mechanic, but my father was and I picked up some stuff from him.
A lot of people have a mechanic perform a Pre-Purchase Inspection (PPI) before purchasing. Not bad advice, though a hassle and an additional expense.
Thanks. Good for you. I'm not sure what to look and listen for so I doubt any self examination would be useful unless something is grossly wrong (ie - oil dripping everywhere).
I had a PPI on the only used car I've ever purchased (which was from a dealer) and the shop was known (where I go for maintenance). But it was just a checklist. Not a bad checklist but they missed stuff that I thought should have been caught and could have been used to negotiate a lower price. The items they missed were costly.
I would have still bought the vehicle as it has got good bones. Just wish I had known about some of the things that needed to be fixed (normal wear fixes that don't really affect the longevity of the car).
However, I don't know how willing dealers are to allow the cars to be subject to a PPI, especially if my preferred shop is about 1 hour away.
I feel caught in a hard place. But, it does sound like carmax has a decent reputation for better quality used cars (or at least better disclosure). Maybe just stick w/ them or a top tier mfgr dealer.... I'm a little uncomfortable w/ these private dealers.
"Wrong does not cease to be wrong because the majority share in it." L.Tolstoy "A government is just a body of people, usually, notably, ungoverned." Shepherd Book
February 08, 2026, 05:11 PM
V-Tail
quote:
Originally posted by konata88:
However, I don't know how willing dealers are to allow the cars to be subject to a PPI, especially if my preferred shop is about 1 hour away.
I bought a used Edge from a Ford dealer. Before buying, I told them that I wanted it inspected by the independent maintenance shop that I use. They had no problem with that.
The $95 premarital exam came up with a laundry list including a cracked transmission mount, leaky cooler for power steering fluid, spark plugs that had never been changed ($400 labor on this vehicle due to all the stuff that has to be removed in order to access the rear cylinder bank). A total of well over $2,500 for the items on the list.
I told Ford dealer that they either needed to reduce the sale price by that much, or do all the repairs if they wanted me to pay full price. They did the repairs and also lowered the sales price of the vehicle by $500, so the $95 that I spent for the inspection paid off very well.
