mercedes with high mileage

If you are planning to confront the seller, what are you hoping for since you seem to like the car? Unless you're prepare to return the car. I would have the car check by dealer to ensure mechanically it is in proper condition. Also, have the car scan by dealer to read all trouble codes that is stored in the PCM. Since this is an expensive vehicle to repair, it is may be necessary to know everything up front and dealer engine/transmission inspection will save your money and piece of mind in the long run. Once you have all the information and still want the car, than keep it otherwise it is a reason to return the car. As far as resale if you change your mind later. Well it may be diff. to get your money back.

Just a thought!

discrepencies

Your mileage info may or may not be correct. Many states such as Georgia report the mileage in excess of the limits of the odometer for any vehicle over 100K miles even though the odometer prominantly displays the correct mileage. It is a problem with the state data recording system and not the vehicle. I bought a vehicle a few years back that I knew the complete history of the vehicle of. It was registered in another state for one year and was shown as you describe when the vehicle was re-registered in GA the following year even though the odometer was known to be correct at less than 100K miles. Don't get hung up on the accuracy of the odometer of an old vehicle. If you got what you wanted at a reasonable price, then there should be no problem. Where I have a problem is buying a 3 year old with the odometer altered because I would probably be buying that vehicle for bread and butter transportation. If you are hung up on perceived quality and are taking the "Consumer Reports" approach to auto ownership, then you should be buying a late model Camry or Accord or, bite the big one and go for the new Mercedes. If you are mechanically challenged and are unwilling to either pay dearly for repairs or learn very quickly, you probably should pass this one up. Considering it's age, it most certainly will need maintenance if nothing else.

As long as it's smooth and powerful, keep it. Perfect engine compression reading determines the outcome of the car. Have the compression checked for peace of mind.

I've also notice lemons tend to come in colors of red, white, black, etc., except silver or reflective colors. This has no backing of course, see how you will.

I purchase a 250K Honda years back with similar description with no compression loss. It's been extremely reliable with no major repairs. But Hondas are usually reliable.

-- Milo

Okay, next time you're going to get a mechanic's report and perform due diligence on the records BEFORE the purchase, right? But if the car drives and looks as well as you describe, maybe you've gotten lucky.

This leaves you really with two separate issues:

• Mechanical. Sounds good initially; you might want to have a Mercedes expert give it the once-over, for planning purposes if nothing else.

• Consumer. First, verify beyond all doubt in your mind how many miles the car has. Then decide whether you feel that the car was badly misrepresented to you, and if so, what your state's laws have to say regarding odometer disclosure, cooling-off periods on used-car purchases, and other relevant matters.

If I interpret your message correctly, the car could have almost half a million miles on it! It is not unknown for these cars to go a long, long time -- if they have been conservatively driven and meticulously maintained, and perhaps if it started out as a right-hand outlier from the spread of the quality statistics. It's also very possible that significant work has been done to major systems, making them effectively younger (perhaps a lot younger) than the chassis. Thus the importance of having the car checked over by someone who really knows the marque in addition to knowing general mechanical principles.

This applies, but much less alarmingly, to a more conservative interpretation of your message -- i.e., it's supposed to be 205k but it's really 250.

You might also want to follow alt.autos.mercedes and look for mailing lists for the model, just to keep up with what its issues are and how best to handle them. It's a complicated car with a few years and miles on it (at least!), so things *will* come up, some of them just annoying and some of them significant.

Best case, you got a really nice and gracefully aging car in a fair deal. Worst case, you got ripped and need to decide what to do about that. Some of this is based on objective facts and some of it on how you feel about the whole thing.

Best of luck,

--Joe

Kept the car. Thanks to all for the very informative advice.

We've owned a 91 Alfa Romeo Spider Veloce for a couple of years starting out with much of the same anxiety but learned quickly and have been quite happy. Similarly, there's going to be a learning curve on this auto but that's the real fun, I think.

We'll probably start with heading out to our local euro specialist and we'll assess all possible repairs that would be best done by the experts. Then we move onto the stuff we'll do ourselves which will likely take through the spring since we move sort of slowly.

If we get two good years out of it, we'll be very happy. Then it can rest comfortably in the garage for special weekend trips.

Thanks again, all. Your good advice will make me listen carefully for quite awhile and, without a doubt, learn a lot!

-BJC

If you have been comfortable with the Alfa, the Benz will be a dream car for you!