[chuzz]

Hey Guys, are any of you familiar with the above mentioned car? I have a friend that just picked one up that is in excellent shape for $4,000. She found the original window sticker and it was $42,000 plus when new. She's just wondering if anyone knows about the reliability of these cars and I know very little. From what I've read, the E320 has a good reputation for being dependable, with regular maintenance, of course. This car has 197,000 miles on it, but you'd never know from looking at it inside or outside. Original owner took excellent care of it, so it appears. She's been told that it should only have premium unleaded gas run in it and asked me if that is true. I don't really know. She also is curious if she can purchase fuel from a local station that advertises "no ethanol" and run regular unleaded. Again, I told her I don't have a clue. All I could suggest is that she try about a half tank and see how the car performs and check her mileage. What say you guys that know Mercedes?

 

[valiant67]

All I can say is that when I had the 1997 Mercedes C230, it said premium fuel required rather than premium fuel recommended. While the car aged well, I got rid of it when the AC gave me problems as repairs tended to be more on the car though some parts could be inexepensive.

After looking on line in some Mercedes user goups, the current owner of my old C230 is running mid-grade rather than premium in the car. I don't think it's the ethanol that requires the use of premium but the fact the car must not have a knock sensor to retard timing if knock occurs on lower octane.

 

[chuzz]

Makes sense to me, Mark. Thanks for the reply.

 

[TWX]

That's quite the depreciation, but on the other hand, that's also a whole lot of miles for a car...

I hope it serves her well. I would be hesitant personally to spend that much on any car with that many miles on it, but admittedly I don't deal in aged luxury vehicles either.

 

[chuzz]

I agree, Tannon. I'm not a big fan of used cars that replacement parts run so high on, either.