Get an expert to find out whether it is a ex-accident vehicle. 1997's 280 engine is a smooth V6 engine and is powerful. You don't know how the last owner used the car. Usually powerful second hand car will not have a good condition gearbox. When you test drive it don't just drive fast. Accelerate slowly and no rough shift should be noticeable.
Thanks for the tip. The car has only 46K miles and is immaculate. I ran a CarFax and it came up one owner , starting in June 97, registered as lease vehicle. It had only 20K on the car in 2/2000 at emissions test. It then shows a title issued 3/15/2001 with a lien/loan. This last report was out of Roanoke,TX . It was all FL except for that. Does it mean it was reregistered from Texas or in Texas. It had no further entries until this March when my wholesaler neighbor bought it at auction in FL with 46K on it. It appears to have been gargaged its whole life.
Drove it before I read your post so didnt do any intentional slow acceleration.
:)
It had guts and I realized after the test drive that...I didnt notice anything. I just felt totally at ease driving it. I was an old Volvo guy (had a 164E, 264 GL, 760GL) and it rode about like a Volvo. (Dont think it's the Sport Kit...dials weren't white).
Only suspicious thing is a set of new no-name tires up front and little worn Pirelli's in the rear. No noticable shake on driving at 60-80 so I'm no figuring mis-alignment.
Asking price is $12K from a neighbor who is a auto wholesaler.
Comments?
Thanks, Stan
I still have my 1989 Volvo 740 Turbo in my garage. 12K is an attractive price that I will go for it. In New Zealand the 1993 C280 with old in-line
6 engine market price is around NZD20K ~ USD13K.I recently found merc's spare parts are much cheaper than Volvo's in New Zealand.
K-beast E14
reregistered
Go to
But you can also join and ask them about it.
Looking back, I remember reading a lot of messages about head gaskets going (steel block, alum head) at higher mileage...
Of course MB's auto trannies are good, but not the best in the business...
I remember a wire harness issue with older motors also, I think 1997 is safe.
Does 1997 have FSS, if so, that means life time tranny oil (but people change it to be safe) and 10-14k oil changes (make sure synthetic oil was used).
A few google searches should help also...
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