Quote Originally Posted by Raza View Post
Oh, dear friend, we were a Mercedes family, since 1982. Four drivers, four Benzes. Of the last five, one was fine. Then there was mine. Then there was the 96 S320 that hand grenaded. Then there was the 2002 S500 that had electrical issues and serious rust issues (despite being garaged its whole life), and a 2011 CLS550 that has had numerous electrical problems, including a screen and backup camera that tend to only work when they feel like it. I'm completely turned off from Mercedes. When I gave my E320 to my brother and got a Passat 1.8T in 2004, I was shocked at how the little Passat had more of a quality feel and was vastly more reliable.

I wish you the best of luck with it. I have a feeling the earlier models would be less prone to some of the issues than mine was.

I didn't mean to rain on your parade, I just wanted to share my experience and give you a little heads up of potential issues.

No rain, I know there are a ton of potential issues with a 23 year old car - even more when it's German.

I've owned way too many cars in my 31 years of driving, but for MB I have owned a 2002 SLK32 AMG, 2004 SL500, 2005 ML500, 2006 E55 AMG and a 2007 E63 AMG before this 1996 E320. That's why I mentioned the later W210 years being darker for MB, not just that line, but across their entire range. Our early 2000s cars were very problematic, none were owned outside of warranty The '05+ cars were very reliable, I owned the E63 well outside warranty coverage with no issues, even with some common issues with the 6.2L V8 in that car.