1998 Mercedes-Benz E-Class

4matic Wagon

6 - Cyl.

Automatic

wdbjh82f8wx012716

Clear

Gasoline

Just inspected Sept. 2010. This car does have some rust as displayed in the pics (one spot is completely through on the front passenger fender), a few dents (one on the front fender from a former student of mine who thought it would be a good idea to jump my car on his snowboard), and is in need of a new left catalytic converter. http://www.racepages.com/products/?N=4294963367&Ntt=Mercedes+E320+Catalytic+Converter. I found the converter only for $106.00 and the converter and all the exhaust pipes for $473.00 at this site. Depends on which way you want to go. The check engine light is on because of this. If this warning is cleared, and the computer is fooled into thinking all is well, the car runs great. It always has up until the last 10 miles when the computer realized the converter should be replaced. With the problem, you will not want to drive it any great distances as the computer will not allow the car to drive at normal speed and it acts like it is missing on a cylinder. That was what the mechanic first thought it was (missing cylinder), then he cleared the computer and had me drive it some more to get a better picture with the diagnostics, and came with the unfortunate but clear conclusion that it is indeed the converter. I was going to sell the car a month or two ago anyway, but I am glad that I didn't right then as this problem would have popped up almost immediately for the new owner along with an unexpected repair bill. After the sale, I would be glad to arrange to have the repair done at the local garage for the buyer to avoid towing it. They are very good, and they are relatively inexpensive. The interior is leather, in good condition, no rips, some scuffs on the driver seat. Everything works well. I think it is worth fixing and using as a daily driver, and if were me I would have kept it and still used it as the long trip vehicle as long as I had an AAA membership. We used it as a daily commuter (25 miles one way) and our trip vehicle. My wife's family is a 12 hour drive. Mine is a 9 hour trip. My wife was getting nervous about taking the Benz on the trips because of the higher mileage, our other car is a Pontiac Vibe which is awesome too, but we would really squeeze in there with the two kids and all our crap we need to take for the family visits. So we bought a minivan. You could say that I lost the battle. The miles that are on the car are all easy miles. Either highway miles or steady cruising at around 50 mph. So the drivetrain should be in great shape. The less than ideal piece is that it is a New England car, thus the beginnings of rust on the body. The frame is fine. 28 MPG on trips, 23 MPG just driving around. Most comfortable car I've encountered. It's a good solid piece of German engineering that with one mid sized repair and some TLC on the body, should serve the next owner for years. I'd rather see it used this way than a parts car, but I suppose I must relinquish that control when I sell it, eh? I almost forgot. The driver side mirror is floppy. It's probably a ten dollar plastic piece that needs to be replaced, but I wanted to let you know. If you want to replace the whole thing, I saw replacements for around $150.00. With this age of car I would probably just drive a screw through the assembly and into the door. You may call me, but I want you to know that I work at a boarding school and I have some overnight duties and may be unresponsive by phone. Email is better.