Mercedes

[diaperedteenager]

well i saw a used Mercedes 420 SEL for sale today with 141K on it. The guy wants 2.7k for it. Anyone ever had experience with these cars?

[bobbyjeff]

They are nice, but unless you are a mechanic I would vote no. Mercedes parts are not cheap, and they can be a pain in the ass to work on. I used to have a 400E with the same 4.2L as in the 420 SEL, and there was always something that needed to be fixed. That being said it was one of the more comfortable and easy going cars I've ever owned.

[Johnathon]

Not a good car for a 17 year old kid.

Parts are going to be expensive and it will be hard to work on .

[ballucanb]

Those things are a royal PIA, stay away, get a car you could afford to repair if it should need work and for what your paying the car is going to need work.

[DHLA40]

Yes, a 420, 500 gray market car, and 560 are expensive to maintain, and sometimes difficult to repair. Timing chains were a weak point. A broken one will bend valves, and require the heads to be overhauled. Front ball joints, tie rod ends, and idler arm bushings usually become worn at 100k miles, and a brake job always requires replacing the rotors because of the full metallic brake pads. Mercedes parts prices tend to fluctuate. An example is a tie rod assembly might cost $40 bucks one year, and $75 the next. Mercedes will lower the parts price to match aftermarket prices for a while, then go back to their original jobber, or list prices until inventories build back up. I don't know why they do this, but they do.

If you're looking for a W126 Mercedes, try to find a 300SD. The engine is as reliable as sunrise in the morning, and is very fuel efficient for 3800 lb car. It's a popular platform for biodiesel, or for a full grease-car conversion. I have run one on used automatic transmission fluid before, but I don't reccomend doing that.

[lmsicklol]

Originally Posted by Johnathon

Not a good car for a 17 year old kid.

Parts are going to be expensive and it will be hard to work on .

Short simple and true. Go for an Integggggra

[Johnathon]

Originally Posted by lmsicklol

Short simple and true. Go for an Integggggra

NOOOOOO we don't want to turn this kid into a ricer lol.

[Asher]

Originally Posted by DHLA40S

Yes, a 420, 500 gray market car, and 560 are expensive to maintain, and sometimes difficult to repair.

Psh... no joke there (coming from a 560 SL owner here...). If it weren't for a friend of mine and his dad helping pay for some parts when I was fixing it up, it would be a very difficult car to keep (still is difficult with insurance, etc., but not as much as it could be).

Even though they are fantastic cars, I would not advice getting one just for cost reasons alone. They really can be a pain in the ass to maintain (as everyone else has noted before me). If you still want to get one, feel free to; get that 420 SEL. Just know that it will cost a bit of money to maintain it; if you're alright with that, then go for it.

[Jon93]

Don't even go for it.

You're gonna pay out the ass for parts, labor (Old german cars require special tools that require experience) and the insurance would kill you. Just avoid it at all costs.