How bad an idea would a 15 year old one be? I'm kinda looking for a fast comfortable cruiser and these keep popping up on my search results. Seems like $10k gets one in decent shape with less than 200k miles. Are they a big money pit? Any major issues they are prone to? I don't do a lot of miles so fuel economy and general running costs aren't that important but I don't want to be constantly fixing things.
What year? I have a 2012 first of the 2nd jen cars. Like any german car preventive maintenance and frequent oil changes are your friend. I am getting close to 200K with out any real significant issues.
I do oil changes every 3K miles because of twin turbos. Much cheaper than replacing turbos. My engine looks like new inside.
The air ride suspension will be the biggest thing to be aware of. If you have a car that has not had it replaced or you don't know when it was plan on it. In my car the rear shocks are a single make only dealer part at $800 each. And this does not include the airbags. They are separate. The fronts are a all in one air bag and strut assembly. If I remember they are $400 each or so for Arnot made units (factory just not MB branded)
Cam position sensors are a thing to replace. Easy to get at and it will toss codes telling you to replace them. Cheep easy thing to fix.
Lower A Arms are a known thing. Not a lot of $$$ replace every 80K or so.
Belts and hoses every 30K or 2 years. Again as preventive thing.
Brakes (pads & roters) seem to last about 50K. These can be pricy but my car came with the AMG brake package
Trans cooler lines are also a known thing. The lower is cheep and it is the one that usually is the issue. The upper one is very expensive and getting at it is a real PITA. Forchinitly the upper is not known for being a problem.
There is a secondary battery up under the dash on the left side of the steering column that seems to need replacement every five years or so. Replacing it is easy if you have small hands. The battery is $80 or so.
Rear proximity radar sensors are crap. They get road salt and crap sprayed on them and they fail. The internals turn to rust and the case expands and pops open. It will also cause the pins in the harness to rust out so it requires a new rear harness. Sensors I got used for $250 each and the harness from the dealer was $140. Filled the connectors with silicon grease and sealed the sensor with silicon bathroom sealant and it fixed the issue.
They will eat soft summer performance tires. Like I was not getting 10K miles out of them. The TC still allows some tire slip under hard acceleration and your tires will not last. While those tires are lots of fun you are much better with a harder performance all-season tire. I use Contentials which will last 30-40K. The tires are staggered size so no rotating front to rear.
Put a set of blizzacs on it and the 4Matic system makes the car all but unstoppable in snow/ice/wet
Now all that said these cars are fantastic drivers. I use mine as my DD during the week. You can drive 8 hours and get out and be fine. They are superb at minimizing driver fatigue.
Overall I am very pleased with my car. I have had it 6 years now and put about 120-130K on it and I will definitely be getting another when I wear this one out. However, the way things are going I suspect that will not be for another 100-150K.
Thanks for the detailed response, sounds like they're pretty solid then. I'd most likely get a first generation but if I found a second generation at the right price that would work too. I'm in So Cal so road salt isn't an issue luckily. Sounds like the traction control isn't as intrusive as it was on my E39 540 so that's definitely a plus.
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