What Year Used S-Class is Reliable to Buy??

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- Figaro
  
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posted
14 years ago

Fri, Jun 12, 2009 9:44 AM

Given the horror stories I've heard about MB's reliability (or lack thereof), and knowing my new acquisition might be long out of warranty, I would like to hear your collective wisdom before jumping into purchase of a 2001 or later S-Class. Any particular year that is relatively problem-free? What are the common bugs & fixes for these cars?

Thanks, Alfred

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- Tiger
  
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posted
14 years ago

Fri, Jun 12, 2009 2:12 PM

Usually this is how it goes... if the production of the body style runs like

7 years... it is in your best interest to buy from mid year to last year.

So say E class W210 runs from 1996 to 2002... then it is best to buy 2000 to

2002. However in 2000, there was an issue of running extended oil drain interval with regular dino oil... so for W210... I'd prefer 2001 and 2002 for the V-6 engine... If you like the inline engine, then go for 98-99 I believe... same for diesel...98-99.

Now, you are talking about S class... I don't know much about them so using the general guideline as above and do research online about any particular problem... and have the car inspected by MB dealer or specialist BEFORE you buy it if possible.

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- pheonix1t
  
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posted
14 years ago

Mon, Jun 22, 2009 4:03 AM

Hi Alfred, this is fascinating to me. Even though you are aware these cars are famous for being unreliable you still want one? Please explain why? this just makes no sense to me...

A lexus (famous for being reliable AND luxurious) is no good for you? What's your budget? For a used S class MB you'll probably have to double your budget - one half for purchase of mb and the other half for repairs to mb to make it road worthy (for a little while).

I have a friend who purchased S class (2001 500). car cost him about

17k, repairs to make car road worthy were a bit over 12k. This was about 1 year ago. Now he's got passenger door which doesn't work with electric door lock or vacuum assist. Price to fix this door is about 1k. He's disgusted with all the money he's had to pay for this thing so now it sits in a garage. He drives another car!! He considers he spent too much $$ on this car to sell it, so he sits on it hoping it will go up in value some day.... this was an AMG 55. PIECE OF GARBAGE!!! funny thing is I warned him NOT to get this car. So much for trying to do the right thing.

Oskar