Thinking about this W211????

[moog999]

Hi chaps.

I was intending to chop in my 2006 ford galaxy, 2.0 tdci as I'm just plain sick of it, and the clutch is starting to give trouble. It's been excellent at shuttling my 3 kids around to be fair but it's just so characterless it hurts, and anew clutch/dmf etc is circa £700!

Will it be a case of out of the frying pan into the fire or is that era of merc pretty strong? The 7 seat option is an essential item and unfortunately like rocking horse ****.

I went to see this specific car today
Mercedes-Benz E Class 3.5 E350 Avantgarde 7G-Tronic 5dr

My thoughts on it were as follows:-

It was "alright". It hadn't been prepped for sale yet so a bit grubby inside and some kerbing on the alloys that was going to be sorted. Also various bits of trim about the place that I assume could be fixed back into place. No signs of rust and the paint seemed pretty good considering the age.

All 4 tyres had good tread but were random chinese jobbies, all different makes ranging from "Achilles" to "Sun-Li", they all showed signs of cracking within the treads too so probably been on there for years. The headlight lenses were cloudy too, oh and that left foot rest thing is a bit of an oversight, there isn't one.

On the plus side the engine and gearbox were creamy smooth and it drove really nicely indeed. One of the MPG readouts said 13.5mpg which was a bit alarming - I suspect it's been reset then just sat idling or moved about a few metres here and there. The salesman, who was typical, said it had just had a big service that cost circa £600, but the only evidence of such was their own stamp in the book, hmm.

All the electric gubbins worked but the sat nav looks all but prehistoric now and not much use (unless you can update it???) it didn't seem to be any Aux in either, I really want means of plugging my phone in s, or steraming via bluetooth so I can access DAB via that route.

Anyway. We agreed he was going to get it prepped for sale and I'm going to go back with the kids for a test fit, assuming someone else doesn't bag it in the mean time.

Any thoughts on the price? I bet the dealer picked it up for peanuts. Is it practical with 3 kids (3, 5 & 8) and a small dog? Will it explode in a large plume of pound notes? Is 30mpg just a dream if you drive around town mainly with the odd long run out?

Thanks for looking.

 

[AMGeed]

Welcome to the forum

Without any pics its impossible to give much opinion on the car, but I would say check check and check again everything electrical is working.

Heated seats cost a fortune to repair if they are faulty for example.
The aux socket may possibly be inside the glovebox..........mine is.

Get hold of the service book and see if the ATF has been changed. IIRC its due at 75k miles on a 7g box.
I believe you may have rear airmatic suspension? There will be a button to raise and lower the suspension by the gearshift. If there is, check the car sits level and raises and lowers on the button. You don't want leaking air suspension.

There isn't a leftfootrest but there should be a foot operated handbrake on the left.



The tyres being irregular ditchfinders would'nt fill me with confidence and if you are paying close to asking price I'd want a decent set included. Think of the kids

If its decent, it should be a great load lugger for your kids and dog. Hope it turns out to be good one.

As far as price goes, check what else is for sale with similar mileage /age. Don't be palmed off with a next to useless warranty that covers next to nothing either.

 

[Londonscottish]

Hi chaps.

I was intending to chop in my 2006 ford galaxy, 2.0 tdci as I'm just plain sick of it, and the clutch is starting to give trouble. It's been excellent at shuttling my 3 kids around to be fair but it's just so characterless it hurts, and anew clutch/dmf etc is circa £700!

Will it be a case of out of the frying pan into the fire or is that era of merc pretty strong? The 7 seat option is an essential item and unfortunately like rocking horse ****.

I went to see this specific car today
Mercedes-Benz E Class 3.5 E350 Avantgarde 7G-Tronic 5dr



My thoughts on it were as follows:-

It was "alright". It hadn't been prepped for sale yet so a bit grubby inside and some kerbing on the alloys that was going to be sorted. Also various bits of trim about the place that I assume could be fixed back into place. No signs of rust and the paint seemed pretty good considering the age.

All 4 tyres had good tread but were random chinese jobbies, all different makes ranging from "Achilles" to "Sun-Li", they all showed signs of cracking within the treads too so probably been on there for years. The headlight lenses were cloudy too, oh and that left foot rest thing is a bit of an oversight, there isn't one.

On the plus side the engine and gearbox were creamy smooth and it drove really nicely indeed. One of the MPG readouts said 13.5mpg which was a bit alarming - I suspect it's been reset then just sat idling or moved about a few metres here and there. The salesman, who was typical, said it had just had a big service that cost circa £600, but the only evidence of such was their own stamp in the book, hmm.

All the electric gubbins worked but the sat nav looks all but prehistoric now and not much use (unless you can update it???) it didn't seem to be any Aux in either, I really want means of plugging my phone in s, or steraming via bluetooth so I can access DAB via that route.

Anyway. We agreed he was going to get it prepped for sale and I'm going to go back with the kids for a test fit, assuming someone else doesn't bag it in the mean time.

Any thoughts on the price? I bet the dealer picked it up for peanuts. Is it practical with 3 kids (3, 5 & 8) and a small dog? Will it explode in a large plume of pound notes? Is 30mpg just a dream if you drive around town mainly with the odd long run out?

Thanks for looking.

Not sure it's worth £6k - if it was totally immaculate, had been cherished and the the miles were right and they chucked some proper tyres on it I'd think £5k max is nearer the mark.

Having said that it's an estate in a good colour and it's PETROL! Less to go wrong and rare as hens teeth. Also the 7 seater option is v handy. Had one and my two kids loved it (12 and 10 when I sold it).

There should be an aux input in the glovebox. Or at least there was in mine.

Paint should be good they were galvanised

Headlamps can be polished.

You might get 35 mpg on a run, a bit more of you're going gently. Average I'd expect to be nearer 25.

Lack of footrest (?), broken trim, miss matched ling longs all a worry though.

Hmmm...

 

[alecmascot]

Check out the M272 engine sticky for issues with the balancer shaft....
Mercedes Benz balance shaft engine issues. How to check by VIN. M272/273 - MB Medic

 

[merc85]

If i had my time again with a s211 id still choose the I6 Derv, Awesome Power and mpg after my little tweaks not to mention ultra reliable.

Cracking cars the s211's

 

[moog999]

Thanks for the useful replies. Sounds like I got my W/S mixed up for a start!

My plan is to sleep on it and see if the guy gets back to me with an offer to check it out again with the family in tow.

I'd probably buy it as long as it came with 4 new, decent, tyres and the cost to change with my current car was where I feel it should be. Oh and it wasn't in danger of the engine ****ting it's pants, wouldn't that have happened by now?

Oh another thing. It only had one key and is the SBC pump fatally flawed in this model year?

 

[merc85]

Nothing wrong with SBC just a expensive system to maintain,

 

[MikeInWimbledon]

2nd key / service history / MoT history

Budget £250 (sic) to get yourself a second key. It will cost you much, much more than that if you lose your one key.

It's great that it's a one owner car, but what was the pattern of servicing? There's an enormous difference between MB dealer / MB specialist / bloke at the end of the road.

Look up the MoT history, using the number plate. As a one owner car its less likely to have had a haircut, but it may well have had lots of MoT nasties, suggesting that the owner was economising on maintenance.
https://www.check-mot.service.gov.uk

It "sounds" like a nice car, and it's a bit rare, but not unique, so use a bit of caution.

A good car won't cost you anything for a year, but a normal, badly maintained car with hidden problems could easily cost you a few grand (sic) in your first year.

This was a £40k car new. Far better quality than your Ford, but which also means it will cost more to maintain if anything goes wrong.

S211's are very reliable and easily good for a quarter of a million miles, but only if they're maintained.

 

[Codger49]

I would avoid what looks to be a poorly looked after 2005 S211 350. Is the mileage genuine - have you checked the MOT History website?

The balance shaft issue would be a circa £2.5k fix and would not necessarily have happened yet if it has been driven gently. If seller can show you an invoice for its repair then the engine would be quite OK, the're nice engines apart from that issue.

SBC works well, but the pumps have a finite life and will need replacing at some time. I think there are posts on the forum with members fix costs, seem to recall circa £800, but could stand to be corrected.

For some unknown, and probably totally unfounded basis, West Yorkshire seems to figure highly in the dubious Mercedes stakes. Did you check the CEL light (and all other warning lights) illuminated when ignition first switched on? Not unheard of for bulbs to be removed from the instrument cluster to hide warnings?

PS I would expect around 23-24 mpg in urban use. It would need motorway or gentle, straight rural roads to get up to 30 mpg.

 

[moog999]

Thanks for the useful replies folks.
Although it's a cheap car it certainly could turn out to be a very costly exercise.

The alternative is upping the budget to around the £15-16k mark but finding a 7 seat 350cdi is somewhat challenging .

 

[Fady]

As said - would be nice to see a picture. However imho doesn't sound particularly well looked after. Even from the basic perspective, if I was looking at a car of that ilk, it would need to have a lot going for it for me to be able to see past the use of a mismatch of budget tyres.

 

[moog999]

I agree. Cheap, **** tyres that are different makes on each corner is a glaring omission. Shame as I thought it was a lovely thing and has more character than the 212.

At the moment I'm halfway commited to getting the clutch, dmf and other such gubbins replaced on my galaxy. I can then lie in wait and pounce on the right E class when it comes along.

I might buy it yet though as I'm an idiot when it comes to a nice car, I still have the scars from that BMW 540i I shouldn't have bought a few years ago. I think this car could be made great with a bit of tlc. And money.

This forum is now bookmarked obviously. It's a goldmine isn't it?

 

[Monkeylegend]

This forum is now bookmarked obviously. It's a goldmine isn't it?

Told you it was :bannana:

 

[AMGeed]

The alternative is upping the budget to around the £15-16k mark but finding a 7 seat 350cdi is somewhat challenging .

That is a big difference to shelling out £6k on the one you have looked at.

Check out Jays site at Mercland. He is a forum member and doesn't sell rubbish. There may be something that catches your eye.

Used Cars

 

[moog999]

Told you it was :bannana:

 

[moog999]

Pictures are on the ad now if you're interested.

Still tempted!!

If I could get 4 new tyres, money off for a second key and a good trade in price I'd be tempted.

 

[moog999]

Wife has even given me permission!!

 

[Londonscottish]

Pictures are on the ad now if you're interested.

Still tempted!!

If I could get 4 new tyres, money off for a second key and a good trade in price I'd be tempted.

Looks good in that colour and I quite like the rims. Condition looks OK in the pics. Looks like it's got memory pack & leccie tailgate.

Even on a low mileage of 80,000 (assuming it's genuine and it as a full s/h to back it up) I still think it's priced a bit high. But if you can get a decent set of tyres fitted and another key out of them that's £750k-ish.

But have you seen a proper s/h? The claim that they've just done a "full service" didn't seem to be backed by any paperwork.
Mismatched, cracked Ling Longs still set off lots of alarm bells for me. People that skimp on tyres could skimp on all sorts of other important things......

 

[moog999]

All I saw last week we're stamps in the book, which means naff all. There did seem to be a lot of documentation stuffed into the one of the storage bins but I didn't get that far along to start digging around.

I'll probably give him a ring and see if there is some bills to back up the book and broach the subject of tyres etc and take it from there.

 

[Londonscottish]

All I saw last week we're stamps in the book, which means naff all. There did seem to be a lot of documentation stuffed into the one of the storage bins but I didn't get that far along to start digging around.

I'll probably give him a ring and see if there is some bills to back up the book and broach the subject of tyres etc and take it from there.

Makes sense. I can see why you're tempted. If it's pukka it's a very good car.