s211 e500's on ebay

[MikeInWimbledon]

Isn't that blue likely to be Tanzanite, rather than Cavansite? Darker, with less of a metallic sheen? (Although it might just need detailing)

Excellent 2 owner family hack at just over half the price of my S212 on 30k that's still looking for £15k...

 

[glojo]

Blimey, I'd say that yours is an unusual point of view. My pre-facelift avantgarde isn't styled like an AMG at all; besides, the entry point for an AMG is far higher that that for the E500, so I presume that we're talking about the hypothetical money tree which grows in the gardens of all car lovers?

I can only talk about the 211 series, the Avantgarde came as standard with what is termed skirts and I believe spoiler? Elegance had neither. Elegance came as standard with Comfort suspensionand the wheels I did not like but my foggy memory tells me the 500 had air suspension as standard but I stand to be corrected. Bottom line was for the 211... the Elegance was all about maximum comfort, the Avantgarde had more of a sporty look. We ordered a 211 Avantgarde because the skirts looked 'just right' although we opted for the comfort suspension. NO, the Avantgarde was NOT plastered with AMG references, no AMG mats, no AMG seats, clock or dial, it was an Avantgarde with the skirts and I think spoiler so if you say I have an unusual point of view, then so be it. Thank goodness we are not all sheep that go with the flow

Oh and I guess to highlight my 'unusual' point of view. I dislike Mercedes-Benz UK bringing out their E-class model line-up. Calling their range AMG-Line and all the derivatives from that. To me the AMG is the AMG, the top of the range vehicle in its Mercedes class.

I used to smile at Ford Escort owners who stuck RS2000 or Cosworth on their 1300cc Escorts but I guess those spotty nurds are now working at Mercedes UK and now we have the AMG-Line 2ltr diesels. Why? Why not be like some other countries and stick with Avantgarde etc

I stand by my point that if I were to buy an older E-500, it would be the real McCoy and not a badged up wannabe but that's me with my unusual stand-point NOTHING wrong with the E500 and definitely NOT calling E500 owners 'wannabes' (They would be if they plastered their pride and joy with AMG badges)

 

[E55BOF]

Bugger! Bugger Bugger Bugger!!! Why wasn't that for sale when I bought mine? Too late, alas; too late...

I'd change the wheels (for what I have on mine now), but apart from that, and the fact that it doesn't have the very late 211 COMAND with the SD card slot, it couldn't be better for my taste.

(On the positive side, I could swap the wheels over, but it would probably need much of the money I've spent on mine to be spent on it too; engine mounts, brake lines, front suspension ball joints, etc. etc. - all the usual 211 stuff).

Oh well...

 

[MikeInWimbledon]

Bugger! Bugger Bugger Bugger!!! Why wasn't that for sale when I bought mine? Too late, alas; too late...
I'd change the wheels (for what I have on mine now), but apart from that, and the fact that it doesn't have the very late 211 COMAND with the SD card slot, it couldn't be better for my taste.
(On the positive side, I could swap the wheels over, but it would probably need much of the money I've spent on mine to be spent on it too; engine mounts, brake lines, front suspension ball joints, etc. etc. - all the usual 211 stuff).

Go on, you know you want to.... Two owner car - it might have an excellent service history. Worth a conversation - he may have done all the high mileage 211 stuff himself.

Bear in mind he's put new winter tyres on it. A curious choice for Coulsdon Man. Maybe he uses it to head up North through the winter?

 

[E55BOF]

I can only talk about the 211 series, the Avantgarde came as standard with what is termed skirts and I believe spoiler? Elegance had neither.

Not so; the Elegance front bumper and sill covers - not skirts or spoilers - are different to those on the Avantgarde.

Elegance came as standard with Comfort suspensionand the wheels I did not like but my foggy memory tells me the 500 had air suspension as standard but I stand to be corrected.

Indeed you do. All 211 estates came with basic self-levelling air suspension on the rear, but I think Airmatic was a cost option on everything but the E55K, where it was standard. The standard wheels on the early Elegances were Yilduz, and they were pretty unappealing, but If you have full Airmatic on any 211, you have three suspension settings, and the Sport I and Sport II make a noticeable difference from the soft standard setting. It was the high-profile tyres on 16" wheels that made the most difference, though.

I stand by my point that if I were to buy an older E-500, it would be the real McCoy and not a badged up wannabe but that's me with my unusual stand-point NOTHING wrong with the E500 and definitely NOT calling E500 owners 'wannabes' (They would be if they plastered their pride and joy with AMG badges)

The E500 was never the 'real McCoy' AMG, so you could not buy one that was even if you wanted to...

 

[bolidemichael]

All 211 estates came with basic self-levelling air suspension on the rear, but Airmatic was a cost option on everything but the E55K, where it was standard.

My understanding is that the E500 came with full airmatic as standard... how to verify this though?

 

[E55BOF]

Go on, you know you want to.... Two owner car - it might have an excellent service history. Worth a conversation - he may have done all the high mileage 211 stuff himself. Not meaning to be rude.... but it does look like a normal 15 year old car that would benefit from a proper £400 detailing.

Bear in mind he's put new winter tyres on it. A curious choice for Coulsdon Man. Maybe he uses it to head up North through the winter?

Yes, I do want to, but I'm not sure it would make sense; my current E500 looked great but turned out to be a money pit mechanically, and while I'll get quite a lot back from the vendor - crooked small-time dealer who didn't think I could find out he was a dealer, and was stupid enough to put "no faults at all" among the lies in his ad; I'm just about to file court papers - I now have a sorted car, with bombproof M113, that drives better than any of my other S211s.

I'll sleep on it...

 

[E55BOF]

My understanding is that the E500 came with full airmatic as standard... how to verify this though?

As I read post 22, he has an E500 Avantgarde with Comfort suspension, which presumably means springs, not Airmatic. If I'm wrong, I too stand to be corrected.

 

[bolidemichael]

As I read post 22, he has an E500 Avantgarde with Comfort suspension, which presumably means springs, not Airmatic. If I'm wrong, I too stand to be corrected.

I assumed that 'comfort' referred to the least firm of the three firmness settings.

 

[E55BOF]

He also says "Elegance came as standard with Comfort suspension....We ordered a 211 Avantgarde...we opted for the comfort suspension". All 211 Airmatic cars have three damper settings afaik, though, hence my assumption that 'comfort' referred to springs.

See here: SPRINGS, SUSPENSION AND HYDRAULIC SYSTEM MERCEDES E-KLASSE [Car] [CHASSIS] (EUROPA)

for E500 parts; steel springs were plainly an option too, for the front at least.

 

[glojo]

Not so; the Elegance front bumper and sill covers - not skirts or spoilers - are different to those on the Avantgarde.

Indeed you do. All 211 estates came with basic self-levelling air suspension on the rear, but I think Airmatic was a cost option on everything but the E55K, where it was standard. The standard wheels on the early Elegances were Yilduz, and they were pretty unappealing, but If you have full Airmatic on any 211, you have three suspension settings, and the Sport I and Sport II make a noticeable difference from the soft standard setting. It was the high-profile tyres on 16" wheels that made the most difference, though.


The E500 was never the 'real McCoy' AMG, so you could not buy one that was even if you wanted to...

Hi Bof
You have me 100% confused. I say the Avantgarde came as standard with a type of skirt, I also believe it also had a different lower front.... What I called a spoiler. The Elegance like you have said just had the basic door sills?? IF... that is what you are saying then we are surely in agreement and not trying to score points?

I also in my foggy memory believe the E500 came as standard with air suspension and as per my original post, I am only referring to the 211 series.

Airmatic was an option. Mercedes-Benz Elegance came as standard with comfort suspension, not sure what the basic Avantgarde suspension was but it was way too firm for my wife so we opted to have the Elegance 'Comfort' suspension which is NOT airmatic. I am off to check the order for our new E-class and I have a feeling it comes with 'comfort' suspension. Off to check

 

[bolidemichael]

See below

 

[bolidemichael]

for E500 parts; steel springs were plainly an option too, for the front at least.

I wouldn't be certain that this is definitive. It isn't uncommon got compatible parts to be listed alongside standard parts.

 

[MikeInWimbledon]

Need to be careful with the words here.

The W211/S211 Elegance came with softer suspension settings than the Avantgarde and Sport, which not only came with "sport suspension" (i.e. a bit harder) but also had bigger wheels. Which is why the Elegance had a more limo like ride than the Avantgarde and (2006 onwards) Sport.

All W211/S211's had adjustable Airmatic suspension, which gives that adjustability between Comfort and Sports suspension settings, which "usually" were used on the softer settings around town, and harder settings at speed on the Motorway. (Although some set it to "Sport" all the time). The third elevated suspension setting, whose button sits separately on the dash, was intended, as I understand it, for elevating the car for short distances (rutted tracks, odd angles in the road etc)

None of this is the fabled ABC suspension from the S class and SL. A glorious creation that's well worth the money but which can give a few problems a decade down the line, as the owners of ALL air suspension cars know.

At least that's my understanding based on the 2004 S211, 2007 W211, and 2010 S212 that i've owned this last decade. I'm no wrench monkey, so I'll be happy to be corrected by anyone with hands on knowledge of fixing oily bits.

 

[E55BOF]

All W211/S211's had adjustable Airmatic suspension

I had a 2008 S211 with steel springs on the front, as did glojo...

 

[glojo]

Need to be careful with the words here.

The W211/S211 Elegance came with softer suspension settings than the Avantgarde and Sport, which not only came with "sport suspension" (i.e. a bit harder) but also had bigger wheels. Which is why the Elegance had a more limo like ride than the Avantgarde and (2006 onwards) Sport.

All W211/S211's had adjustable Airmatic suspension, which gives that adjustability between Comfort and Sports suspension settings, which "usually" were used on the softer settings around town, and harder settings at speed on the Motorway. (Although some set it to "Sport" all the time). The third elevated suspension setting, whose button sits separately on the dash, was intended, as I understand it, for elevating the car for short distances (rutted tracks, odd angles in the road etc)

None of this is the fabled ABC suspension from the S class and SL. A glorious creation that's well worth the money but which can give a few problems a decade down the line, as the owners of ALL air suspension cars know.

At least that's my understanding based on the 2004 S211, 2007 W211, and 2010 S212 that i've owned this last decade. I'm no wrench monkey, so I'll be happy to be corrected by anyone with hands on knowledge of fixing oily bits.

Just to clarify and best that I keep my remarks to the S211. I believe they all had self levelling rear air suspension. We could have opted for the full Airmatic suspension but we never saw the need. The boss liked the comfort.

Just been checking the manual (page 250 refers)
If you opt for the Airmatic option then there are buttons that allow you to select height... 'Normal, Raised or Lowered' There is also button pressing for 'Comfort Mode' Mike has summeed up the features quite well and reading the manual, it might be called Airmatic, but just like our vehicle, to me it looks like the front suspension is stilldampners and springs? If folks know different for the 2004 211 series then please feel free to jump in. I am guilty of believing the air suspension feature meant what it said?

Just found the answer in the manual:

Airmatic: Adaptive damping system ADS
Spring stiffness adjustment

From our car Datacard we have option 485 = Comfort Running Gear

 

[E55BOF]

That's interesting. Yes, the S211s all had rear air springs, but unless you have full Airmatic there is no means of varying the front suspension height.

The option code for full Airmatic (like my 2003 - late 2003 reg, 804 MY build) is 489, and with that there's no 'lowered' setting for the suspension, just normal and raised. The button you refer to as for 'comfort' mode is I think to select the gearbox mode (C or S); it doesn't affect the suspension. However, there are three spring stiffness adjustments, and in the stiffest (Sport II) the car drops by 15mm all round, so that is effectively a lowered mode.

Page 250 of my Owner's Manual doesn't deal with the suspension, though, so it may well be that later Airmatic cars (805 build onwards) than mine had a third, lowered, suspension height mode. ISTR that some of my others may have had, but I've had so many (seven in all) that my previous six all rather blur into one.

 

[Gbrowncls55]

Yes the blue one is indeed Tanzanite Blue and the second one which inspite of the silly ad looks to be a lot of car with good potential for the money paid looks like Melanite Black which shines a very dark green in the sun but looks black otherwise. nice colour and quite rare

 

[bolidemichael]

Yes the blue one is indeed Tanzanite Blue and the second one which inspite of the silly ad looks to be a lot of car with good potential for the money paid looks like Melanite Black which shines a very dark green in the sun but looks black otherwise. nice colour and quite rare

I think that you're looking at post #1, rather than the latest ad in post #16

 

[E55BOF]

Can't help thinking that the seller of the car in post 16 lives in Cloud Cuckoo Land or has been drinking; the Parkers valuation for that car is just under £5k. The MoT history is OK; not brilliant, but nothing too serious.

I've spoken to the owner; he says there's a full, stamped up, service history to 2017, when he got it, but he never bothered to get the book stamped up, though he has some invoices. Apart from servicing, the only thing he's had done to it was a new Airmatic pump.

I told him what it was valued at; he'd rather keep it than sell it for that, it's worth a lot more, that's only my opinion. No point arguing, so I wished him luck and left it at that.

I'm out.