I might do a PT3 video on essential maintenance once you have purchased one. 99% of the time there's a lot of items of that won't have been done unless the previous owner has been absolutely meticulous with their maintenance, usually, that's only the case if the previous owner bought this car new and there's hardly any of those about!

@@2broken2rusty That is absolutely true. It is best practice to buy the best one you can afford, unless you are already knowledgeable and familiar with these cars fixing years of neglect is not economical in most cases. Before my current one (1998 S300TD) I had a 1996 S500 which was in fairly good order and got a good offer on it which made me sell. I also have a 1995 S124 300D (OM606 as well) which is very practical but started missing the comfort on longer journeys, since I migrated from the Netherlands to Lithuania, 1000 mile trips (one way) are pretty frequent. I have searched for over a year to find a suitable replacement and ended up flying to Italy to buy my current one which was owned from new by an MB dealership and was used by the CFO. It had 168.000 km's when I bought it, with obviously full service history. Currently almost 5 years in I am close to 300.000 km's. I probably spent a little more on purchase, but with no depreciation and being able to maintain the car myself it has been the or close to the cheapest car to own and operate I have had.

Thanks for watching, yes I'd certainly budget for certain things going wrong in advance. Where you can see that there is an issue developing or it already has the issue then certainly bargain with the seller. Difficult to negotiate with a seller on issues that don't exist at the time and obviously all cars will have that unless they've already had the work done.

From experience I don't see VAG/BMW equivalents being as prone to rust. For example I have a 20 year old Golf that hasn't been cared for throughout its life yet all four arches don't even have a spot of rust and that's a £12-15k car vs a £60k+ car so you'd at least expect similar paying that sort of money. I've also had an Audi D2 but that was Aluminum so it can't be compared to that!

I'm not saying BMW's and VAG's don't rust, just from my experience Mercedes seem to be behind in this era

Here you go: www.ebay.co.uk/itm/153796572601?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=EpDee18VQrW&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=QGi2OdwmTGO&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

They are, or at least were currently available again in Europe (since end of last year), I ordered and got a new one (3 button) in February of this year although you have to find a dealer willing to do the legwork as the order goes through MB Classic center as far as I know. Word is that they will be made available for US in the next year, I can check next time I will be at my dealer, although that could take a month or 2 as we are currently all locked down.

@@Izrealeu Thank you. I contacted the classic center and never got an answer from them. Welcome for any help.

@@NorthernUtahDashcam if you write me an email to anything @izreal dot EU (I will get it through catchall) I can contact you once I know more

Yup, this is an issue which I've come across too and it's actually the reason I scrapped one of the cars. The house was burgled and the only key fob was taken and no locksmith could help us to a new one. The car was then just uneconomical to repair with some of the other issues it had, it was only an S280 so it wasn't worth spending massive amounts on it. The only way to fix it was to get a new key/locks/ECU from another car etc and it just wasn't worth it.

@@2broken2rusty Yes without at least a fob it is a hassle. If you still have a fob with transponder there are workarounds, by placing the transponder in close proximity to the lock and getting aftermarket replacements for the key made. You will not have the same functionality, but at least the car can be kept on the road. My car although one owner before me came with only the hotel/valet key and one fob, so when I heard they were being available again I ordered a second one. And yes, with a 280 it would have to be pristine to warrant such an operation.

1995/1996

@@fligodemusbablinka thanks

@@lynxgraal6626 1997 and above has side airbags and you don’t have to deal with the engine wiring harness

It's a V140 (LWB)

What do you mean sorry?

That's surprising to me but I suppose it depends where you've seen them (if it's somewhere relatively dry it wouldn't surprise me)

@2Broken2Rusty i own 3 w140s anf all 3 of them are being used frequentlym 1 of them is my daily the last 5-6 years