If you live in a place where they aren't rusty, how terrible are they? Are they a reasonable alternative to an e46 BMW? I like how they look, and I have driven a couple and they seem decent. I wanted a diesel but they are still pretty expensive, it seems like the gas ones are everywhere though and not that expensive.
They have no resale value at all. I saw this car mentioned on VW vortex general classifieds:
http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/cto/4780287872.html
All I know about them is that the AMG cars don't have a manual trans behind them (I'm fairly certain) and that is a deal killer for me, unless it's a diesel. I'm under the impression that they aren't as sporty as the BMW competitor.
I have tried to find a diesel(that's why I was even looking at them in the first place) but they are either $4k beaters with 300k miles, or nicer ones either with a salvage title or high miles for $7500. I started looking at how much nicer the gas ones for $4k are, but I don't know much about them. They are still really common here though.
I've got one. A '97 E320. I also have a '98 E36 M3/4/5. They are very different cars. I'm also familiar with E46 BMWs. IMHO, they are definitely not equivalent. I got my E320 7 years and 70,000 miles ago for $5K. It's probably worth a couple K less than that now, but I don't really know. I specifically got the '97 because it still had the inline 6 rather than the V6. Parts have been relatively cheap and I haven't gone through many of them, either. It helped that I could weld, though. It had a rusty front spring perch (the reason the car was so cheap in the first place). I replaced both perches ( $12? each ) and plug welded them in place. No problem since. I've also replaced rotors, pads, water pump, A/C compressor and condenser, ball joints, tie rods and shocks (Bilstein). None of the parts were outrageously expensive and for the most part the jobs were straightforward. Heaven help you if you need a dealer to turn wrenches for you, though. Frankly, the car makes an excellent freeway cruiser and is a comfortable and inexpensive way to lug around my kids. I've also autocrossed it when I was recovering from radiation and chemo and unable to tolerate my regular autocross toy. It's a riot to drive a w210 fast - you've got to be very smooth and deliver your initial inputs very early. I still managed a top 10 in PAX regionally, but it was tough to do.
Summary? For autocross/track use - not recommended. For daily driver use and freeway bombing - I give it a strong recommendation, as long as you have the skills to maintain it.
I asked a question that may add to this thread recently:
http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/what-would-you-be-afraid-of-benz-content/96479/page1/
I say some are good buys.
http://www.benzworld.org/forums/sale-wanted-trade-giveaway/2231194-fs-2002-amg-e55-w210-low.html
My dad just dumped his 98 E320 a couple months back. In general, it was a pretty good car for him for about 3 years or so, bought as a 60k mile creampuff from the nice old guy up the street. No major issues during his ownership, just common wear items that needed to be replaced and a window that came off its track, it was just getting into the old euro car nickle and dime you to death with nagging little issues phase of its life and since dad prefers to let the dealership turn the wrenches, it was time to go.
As has been said before, it is not an E46. In comparison to the E36 I had for much of the time my dad owned the Benz it is MUCH bigger, rode alot softer, and was a generally less sporty car in every way. The car also felt more solid and overbuilt than any 3 series i have ever been in (E30-E90), which I found to be endearing in its own way. They're good cars, just don't expect an E46 if thats what you are after.
Actually a couple of you guys should be comparing the Benz E-Class to a 5-series like an E34, E39, or an E60. I have never driven a 5-series or a Benz, so I can't give a direct evaluation. If I get a Benz diesel, it will be a W124 or a W202 for a cheaper buy-in.
my FIL had a 2000 for quite a few years it was a very solid driving car and quite large. definitely more 5 series size. They really can rust up here though. the front fender became detached at the bottom, and it had rust everywhere by the time he sold it. Mechanically it was very good to him.
I have heard they rust quite badly in some places, but here in California I haven't seen many rusty ones. I guess comparing them to an e46 isn't really that accurate, I meant more as far as being similar in price for one that isn't too worn out yet to drive to work for a few years. I have driven a couple and they handle well enough for me, I don't really drive fast or do autocross or track days. I would mostly just be driving 70 mph on the freeway. If I get one it will probably either be a diesel or an e320, the diesels aren't all that much more than a w124, and have a lot less potential for expensive engine failures (cracked heads, blown head gaskets, bent rods, vacuum pump falling apart and breaking the timing chain or oil pump chain, etc) idk about the rest of the car though.
In reply to Travis_K:
For that purpose, it should work pretty well. There are much worse places to spend a commute than encapsulated in the leather upholstered coccoon of a Benz. I beleive they were used widely as taxis in the homeland, also. As with anything older and Euro, expect to spend some money keeping it right and buy the best example available within your budget.
Shockingly, they're still widely used as taxis in Germany.
I am actively searching for a W210 wagon for when I move back to the states.
So I bought one, and drove it about 900 miles. Now it is sitting in my driveway and won't start, and I hopefully can get it running again, or I am going to lose several thousand dollars on it to get rid of it. Either way it is leaving as soon as possible. So I guess the answer to my question is yes its a terrible idea, buy a more reliable car like a turbo dodge or 80s Alfa instead (both of which I had and they stayed running a lot longer than 1k miles.
No start conditions are usually something pretty simple, and hardly a reason to dump a car. Does the starter engage? If not, then Bypass the neutral safety switch to see if that just failed. I recall alarm module failure would be a similar symptom.
Remember that this is a used vehicle. You could pick one up that didn't need anything, or you could get lucky and have a no start condition in your driveway. 
Its a diesel, it will crank but not start, I think its a fuel leak. But, that means pulling the intake and replacing lines at minimum, and it died Monday and I ordered new fuel lines, then picked them up today and realized you have to pull the intake, so that's another week of not driving it assuming I don't find anything else, and that's really not what I wanted. I don't think the battery is good enough to crank it long enough to get it started again after the leak is fixed either.
Travis_K wrote: So I bought one, and drove it about 900 miles. Now it is sitting in my driveway and won't start, and I hopefully can get it running again, or I am going to lose several thousand dollars on it to get rid of it. Either way it is leaving as soon as possible. So I guess the answer to my question is yes its a terrible idea, buy a more reliable car like a turbo dodge or 80s Alfa instead (both of which I had and they stayed running a lot longer than 1k miles.
Sorry to hear that Travis. Guess I will scratch that one off my list. As another poster mentioned, it's probably something simple but it's finding the damn simple thing to be able to fix it that sucks. I know I have been in a similar situation. Good luck.
Hopefully the problem is what I think it is, and it can be fixed in a weekend or two of work, and it may even cost less than $100. The bigger problem is that between buying the car and some maintenance parts I have $5k into it, and its still not going to be reliable enough for it to be my only car. If it was a $2k car I wouldn't be that annoyed, but a car that expensive needs to be more reliable. For now I'm going to go back to driving my dads Subaru until I can sell the Mercedes and find something better. The Subaru has 435k on it, and at least since when he got it at 150k has only been on a tow truck twice. And I know for sure that I can easily fix anything that breaks that wouldn't cost more than just buying another one.
How old is it? What kind of service history did it come with? Miles? I completely understand losing confidence in a recent purchase that breaks down, but you should give it another chance.
You have there one of the most reliable engines made. But, maintenance is required like everything else. It's old so things will fail periodically but I doubt catastrophic failures will happen unless it was an owners error.
Hopefully you can learn to diagnose the car and get it running again. I would love me an e300d. Did you buy an early w210 diesel or late model?
Sounds like you just need to catch up on wear items.
If you want something that you never have to turn a wrench on, buy Japanese.
Its a 98, the owner said the transmission fluid had had been changed once or twice in the 100k miles he put on it but didn't have receipts, it came with tons of records for other work that was done though. I had thought about getting a Japanese car, but they are usually expensive and pretty poorly maintained too.
Maybe this car isn't that terrible, but its going to take a long time to fix and if I'm going to drive my dads Subaru anyway, I could have kept the $5k I spent on this car in the bank.
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