I went to look at one of these today.
Now I know everyone says to keep clear of the 4Matic, however I live in the Alps, and intend to have this as my winter car so the 4matic is a must for me (my other two cars being rwd, even with decent winter tyres it can get tricky).
Overall the car is in very nice condition, but there are a couple of things that make me hesitant. It is owned by a very old chap who stopped driving about 5 years ago. I expect to find some issues relating to that, although on the test drive I didn't see anything in particular. The maintenance book shows a stamp every 10,000km (or even more frequent) at various MB garages or specialists, but stopped in 2011 at 245,000. It's now on 250,000. His son told me he drove it every now and then but I have no way of verifying this. The car's MOTs were kept up to date, and Swiss MOT's are a fair bit stricter than what I experienced in the UK so that gives me some confidence.
The two concerns I have are:
1. There was a whining noise coming from the rear when accelerating, that went up in pitch with the car's speed (not engine speed, changing gears didn't alter it). It got progressively louder as the car warmed up. It was apparent as soon as I went on throttle, even when just feathering it. Any ideas what this could be? I'm concerned that it is linked to the 4matic, the transfer going back to the front had very shiny bolts so I suspect it was worked on recently. The owner wasn't available as he can't walk, his wife and his daughter were with me but didn't know. They said to speak to his son (who's selling the car), however he's currently out of the country.
2. The gearbox doesn't seem to kick down, is this normal on these? I can make it go down to 3rd or 2nd by selecting it but when mashing the pedal in drive it stayed in 4th.
And I thought it felt a bit sluggish for such an engine, although my view might be skewed as my current brabus has a fair few ponies more. Low down it didn't feel like a 3.6, higher up it did start to pull just not as strongly as I'd expect. The chap with me thought it pulled well once it started revving, but from what I hear about the M103 it's not the kind of engine that needs revs to get going.
Other than that it was a very nice car, I couldn't see any signs of rust on it, even underneath it was extremely clean. It looks like a car that was pampered all its life until it was parked up. He's owed it since the late 90s and is the 2nd owner.
Now I know everyone says to keep clear of the 4Matic, however I live in the Alps, and intend to have this as my winter car so the 4matic is a must for me (my other two cars being rwd, even with decent winter tyres it can get tricky).
Overall the car is in very nice condition, but there are a couple of things that make me hesitant. It is owned by a very old chap who stopped driving about 5 years ago. I expect to find some issues relating to that, although on the test drive I didn't see anything in particular. The maintenance book shows a stamp every 10,000km (or even more frequent) at various MB garages or specialists, but stopped in 2011 at 245,000. It's now on 250,000. His son told me he drove it every now and then but I have no way of verifying this. The car's MOTs were kept up to date, and Swiss MOT's are a fair bit stricter than what I experienced in the UK so that gives me some confidence.
The two concerns I have are:
1. There was a whining noise coming from the rear when accelerating, that went up in pitch with the car's speed (not engine speed, changing gears didn't alter it). It got progressively louder as the car warmed up. It was apparent as soon as I went on throttle, even when just feathering it. Any ideas what this could be? I'm concerned that it is linked to the 4matic, the transfer going back to the front had very shiny bolts so I suspect it was worked on recently. The owner wasn't available as he can't walk, his wife and his daughter were with me but didn't know. They said to speak to his son (who's selling the car), however he's currently out of the country.
2. The gearbox doesn't seem to kick down, is this normal on these? I can make it go down to 3rd or 2nd by selecting it but when mashing the pedal in drive it stayed in 4th.
And I thought it felt a bit sluggish for such an engine, although my view might be skewed as my current brabus has a fair few ponies more. Low down it didn't feel like a 3.6, higher up it did start to pull just not as strongly as I'd expect. The chap with me thought it pulled well once it started revving, but from what I hear about the M103 it's not the kind of engine that needs revs to get going.
Other than that it was a very nice car, I couldn't see any signs of rust on it, even underneath it was extremely clean. It looks like a car that was pampered all its life until it was parked up. He's owed it since the late 90s and is the 2nd owner.
