Mercedes Benz W210 E 430, 75000km/5 year report

[ashran2]

Make : Mercedes Benz
Model : W210 E430 avantgarde
Colour : Metallic Diamond Green
Year : 2002
PP : 790000 SEK ( with all options except leather seats)
Engine : 4.3 lt 24V V8
Power : 280 HP
Torque : 400 N-m
Gearbox : 5 speed auto
Tyres : For summer 235/40/18 Front and 275/35/18 Rear Continental
For winter 215/60/16 all around Nokian studded tyres.

This car was bought new from Stockholm MB dealership. The first luxury car we bought after a series of sports cars and other economy cars. We went for Mercedes after looking at the lovely BMW e39 540 and the Lexus LS. The reasons being the Mercedes quality simply blew us away, the Beemer was trying to hard to be sporty and the Lexus felt a bit too soft. And in this segment you dont want a car that is sporty at least not us, cause we would not be driving it on the track, we needed something that could cruise on autobahns/expressways effortlessly and being comfortable and civilised at the same time. The Merc filled all those criteria. Its a car in which you can sit for hours and hours without getting tired.

The car has so many electronic gadgets that it takes some time getting used to it but after a while it all feels natural, everything is where it should be. I really like that there is only single stalk on the steering wheel to control the windshield wipers and the turn signal. The cruise control system has got to be the easiest to use in the whole industry. I love the inbuilt telephone system and how you can see the names and person calling in the dash.

The beautiful black piano wood and the leather steering wheel looks stunning and the ambience lighting in the night makes it such a warm and cozy cockpit. The 10 speaker Bose system sounds amazing. The orthopedic seats are amazing and give good support to back and thighs.

The engine, well like any other V8 it has lots of low end torque and power, providing decent fuel economy as well. 4.3 lt V8 suits the car perfectly providing amazing power at the same time it is very smooth and gentle, the car will do 0-100 in 6 or so seconds and is electronically limited to 250km/hr, I have however seen 260+ on the speedometer more than couple of times.

Pros:
1) Extremely comfortable and quiet without being too boring.
2) Sturdily built and feels like a tank ( although i have seen several Mercs from the same year and the quality is questionable but we have been lucky i guess)
3) Extremely reliable, no problems whatsoever in these 75000kms and 5 years absolutely none.
4) Good mileage for a V8 specially on the highway, averages 8.7lt/100kms.
5) Really like electric rear curtain and side curtains as well.
6) Very safe car, with 10 airbags.
7) Neat ESP and traction control system, needed when driving in snowy conditions up here in Scandinavia.
8) It looks very good with the avantgarde package.
9) Suspension is firm but not harsh and it is surprisingly good handling car if you want to drive like an enthusiast.
10) The transmission shifts smoothly i mean very very smoothly.
11) 30 years Rust garuntee.

Cons:
1) Mileage sucks in the city somewhere between 18-25lts/100kms and in winter around 30lts/100kms.
2) Service is expensive, We recently had service B on the car it was very expensive.
3) It uses full synthetic oil, its good for the engine but a simple oil change can cost a lot of money.
4) It eats rear tires, we have gone through 4 sets of rear tyres and 2 sets in front and these are only summer tyres, the winter studded tyres also wear out very fast we have used 3 sets of winter tyres.
5) The navigation feels very old school specially compared to todays 3d maps and the system works using CD maps so each country has its own CD.
6) The 10-cd changer is in the trunk, although it sounds amazing but it still is uncomfortable to change discs, you have to open trunk to put in Cds in the magazine.
7) The car is prone to rust although we have been spared from rust on our W210 but i have heard a lot of horror stories about this model although mercedes fixes this on goodwill but still it should not happen on such an expensive car.
8) Depreciation, cars with big engines loose their values very fast here in Europe.

Conclusion:
I would highly recommend this car to anyone although they are not in production but a good second hand example can be bargain of the decade. W210 has given us so many trouble free and comfortable journeys and i am sure many more to come will also be the same nice pleasant experience with this car.

Here are some pics.

[GTO]

I am not a fan of the W210, but gotta admit, your car looks especially nice in the first picture. Nice choice with the alloy wheels. How has the E430 held up against problems? Electricals? Whenever I am in Germany, the W210 is the pick over the W211 for taxi rides. Reason? Great backseat.

[ashran2]

Originally Posted by GTO

I am not a fan of the W210, but gotta admit, your car looks especially nice in the first picture. Nice choice with the alloy wheels. How has the E430 held up against problems? Electricals? Whenever I am in Germany, the W210 is the pick over the W211 for taxi rides. Reason? Great backseat.

Thanks GTO, the car is extremely well taken care of. Our E430 has been as reliable as a Toyota maybe better. We had only one problem with the electricals about 3 months ago when dash lights went out but they were replaced by MB service center for free of cost.

The reason might be the fact that W210 has lot less problems as compared to W211, even W211 were not spared from rust problems and then there were lot of other new electrical problems. I think that W210 has a more spacious cabin than the W211, and ofcourse W210 is much more comfortable than the W211.

[GTO]

You are lucky if you've had only one electrical problem with the W210!! Yup, the W211 is smaller and loaded with several electrical issues. Except for the way it looks, the car was definitely a step back for Mercedes.