^true dat.

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Jim

iuecon99, as I recall Toyotas recommend timing belt replacement at 90,000 miles. It's likely that any Toyota with 100k miles that you buy will need that done, at the minimum. Ignoring the timing belt replacement could result in a major expense. Every automobile or piece of mechanical equipment requires routine maintenance. As the Fram commercial explained it "Pay me now, or pay me later".

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Fred Hoelzle

I've heard it said on this forum over the years the timing chain on an M103 will last, well, nearly forever. (I realize the M103 was phased out in the early 90's and is not the engine in OP's car. )
I agree with everything else you have posted on this thread, especially about the safety. Do you remember long time ago a guy named Texholdem, who rolled his 124C several times on a Texas highway?
When it came to rest on its roof, his family crawled out unhurt.
I still have a picture of that in my photo library somewhere.

I would argue BMW is. Around here the dealer charges $208/Hr for labor (that quote is a couple of years old and may have gone up since then). BMW's have the maximum possible plastic content under the hood (I truly believe they would use plastic pistons if they could get them to last 40K miles.) I work on my friend's 2003 530i and participate in the Bimmer forums so I speak from first hand experience. I have replaced numerous disintegrated, rotted, hardened plastic and rubber parts on that car. It leaks oil everywhere and burns it too. Had had a couple of computers go bad also. Goes fast though.

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1998 C230 330,000 miles (currently dead of second failed EIS, yours will fail too, turning you into the dealer's personal human cash machine)
1988 F150 144,000 miles (leaks all the colors of the rainbow)
Previous stars: 1981 Brava 210,000 miles, 1978 128 150,000 miles, 1977 B200 Van 175,000 miles, 1972 Vega (great, if rusty, car), 1972 Celica, 1986.5 Supra

I used to have a 87 Supra and it wasn't much more reliable than my old Fiats. I used to joke that Toyota charges $50 for the cardboard box that says Toyota on it. Funny but nearly true. I finally found a dealer in Texas that offered "club" pricing and I used that until the thing finally died.

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1998 C230 330,000 miles (currently dead of second failed EIS, yours will fail too, turning you into the dealer's personal human cash machine)
1988 F150 144,000 miles (leaks all the colors of the rainbow)
Previous stars: 1981 Brava 210,000 miles, 1978 128 150,000 miles, 1977 B200 Van 175,000 miles, 1972 Vega (great, if rusty, car), 1972 Celica, 1986.5 Supra

I may have bought my last new, or used MB, the 2006 E320 CDI that I bought used 3.5 years ago, now with 69K miles on it.

I was raised in a family where my parents bought and drove new MB diesel cars starting in 1969. That's what got me started on buying and driving a used, 8 year old 1983 MB diesel with 93K on it in 1991.

My next MB diesel car was a new 1999 E300TD sedan. Spent $42,500 plus sales tax on that car. Never again. Too much money for too little return. Drove it 100K in it's 1st 4-years of ownership. Nothing but a problem basically for years - one thing or another. Gifted it to a Brother 3.5 years ago. It had 132K on it. I repeatedly warned my Brother that it would cost $1K to $3K a year to keep it on-the-road, if he was going to drive it a lot. He keeps it as his garage queen. Seems to have ongoing issues, even when not driving it but a thousand miles a year.

I don't know - $6500 spent over the course of 3.5 years for a Mercedes that is 15+ years old doesn't seem too crazy to me, especially if you're paying labor. That works out to less than $2K/year. Did OP expect to run his car for free?

And, I'm sorry, but spending money on something like an alternator is just par for the course with a car this old...and brakes, well, that's a maintenance item that you would see regardless of marque or model year (granted, cost could vary considerably based on marque, OE vs OEM parts, & DIY or not).

I don't know anything about the late 90s Mercs, but so far I haven't read anything that screams "lemon" to me - just a guy that expects his old Mercedes to run like a new Honda.

I had a 1988 Supra from new. I saw it at the Toyota dealer on 57th and 10th in Manhattan. It was on an elevated rotating platform. It was jet black, the targa top was off. Love at first sight, I bought it on the spot. I never had a lick of trouble with it. It was one of the first cars with active suspension, the road holding was incredible. But the shock absorbers cost a fortune. Wish I had that car today.

[QUOTE=Skid Row Joe;3668896
My next MB diesel car was a new 1999 E300TD sedan. Spent $42,500 plus sales tax on that car. Never again. Too much money for too little return. Drove it 100K in it's 1st 4-years of ownership. Nothing but a problem basically for years - one thing or another. Gifted it to a Brother 3.5 years ago. It had 132K on it. I repeatedly warned my Brother that it would cost $1K to $3K a year to keep it on-the-road, if he was going to drive it a lot. He keeps it as his garage queen. Seems to have ongoing issues, even when not driving it but a thousand miles a year.[/QUOTE]

I hear ya. I bought my 99 E320 wagon for just over $50K. Fortunately, my wife talked me into paying up for the extended warranty. Fool that I was, I didn't really think I needed a warranty at all on a new Mercedes. I called a friend who had the same car to share a little gloating. He said that his car spontaneously caught fire in the driveway, and he was overjoyed when the dealer offered him his full purchase price back. I had the car for 10 years, but maybe had six years of actual use. A good part of the time, it rode on a flatbed. A good part of the time, I just let it sit outside because I preferred whatever other POS was rusting in my driveway, and because I didn't deem it worthy of a place in the garage. A good part of the time, it was at the dealer, getting some major component repaired under the extended warranty. The agony ended when my wife accidentally drove off the road and impaled it on a tree. Insurance company gave me full book, and I was done. One thing I agree with is that if you want to buy a car for the purpose of crashing into a tree, W210 is the one.

Ding , Ding, we have a winner. . .

The OP has wildly unrealistic expectations, the " I went on facebook to say how bad my 18 year old 170,000 mile car is." seals the deal.

It is not unusual at all to see these cars (98/99 E class turbodiesel) with 250k+ miles on em still going strong.

The one I have has the following issues right now:

a. steering rack leak
b. rear windows don't work

and I just finished replacing the #5 glow plug.

The wife drives about 10k miles every three months. Because of the amount of miles she racks up I believe the 98 E300 is one of the best cars she could be driving right now.

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Jim

Drifting from topic, many if not most Toyota engines are non-interference. So much so that timing belt replacement guidance is a vague 90K miles under severe conditions on the latest belts (I think Corollas have chains now). You can schedule and pay up front or wait for it to snap and pay a little more for a tow and the inconvenience. Why not? It'll only happen once and it won't cost more to repair a snapped vs intact belt.

There are advantages to 'regular' cars like specialists are more common and less 'special', larger customer base to amortize special shop equipment, less guilt using McParts store parts, etc.

To the OP, thanks for sharing your experience. Seems like it was part uninformed decision, part misrepresentation. Yup, these cars aren't for everyone. My father-in-law keeps offering me his late model Camry vs my '83 SD You might be painting MBs with a wider brush than necessary so watch that you don't end up with the Corolla the wide Toyota brush missed

Sixto
83 300SD

Sixto, thanks for the specific information about the Toyota timing belts and engines. My point was that any engine requires routine maintenance ... oil changes, ignition part replacement, etc. Automobiles have routine wear items too ... brake pads, tires, wiper blades, etc. There is no automobile that only requires gas, and is driven for several hundred thousand miles.

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Fred Hoelzle

I think you can abuse abuse today's engines with good results. It's the convenience and glitz that don't last and MB stuffs US bound cars with them. An M112 will start every time you turn the key. It's the d@mn $300 key that doesn't last hundreds of thousands of miles!

Against the grain of the thread, a rescue '98 E320 wagon followed me home last night. The PO was frustrated though not as vocal as the OP. He couldn't be if he wanted my money I won't lose sleep over the price and my expectations are far lower than the OP's. And it has two working keys. Let's see how this turns out...

Sixto
83 300SD
98 E320 wagon

Some of the key issue is supposed to be car battery related. If system voltage drops off too far, the read / write sequence is interrupted leaving you with a key that "works " but an anti theft that is out of sync with the key.

The rolling code more or less works like this:

1: key sends a code to the anti theft

2: anti theft compares this to the key code it was expecting.

3: if there is a match, car can start.

4: anti theft sends a new code to the key.