1998 Mercedes-Benz E-Class E430 review from North America

* After a snowstorm, getting stuck in the snow, the ASR/BAS warning lights came on for no reason.

* A few months after buying my car, the "Lamp Defective" warning came on.

* The A/C sometimes does not blow cold, but that's not much of a problem for me as I don't even use the A/C a lot (maybe 10% of the time).

Very fast car, 0-60mph in 6.2 seconds. I've done at least 100mph numerous times, and it felt that I was going far slower than that. Nice V-8 engine.

And it handles great as well, and it's a solid car. Avoid the ones made after the merger, as their quality nosedived--the newer Mercedes are money pits.

Great fuel economy on the highway (I drive my car mostly on the highway), I typically get 26-28mpg over the past few months (no A/C of course). When I moved back from Washington DC, I managed to get 24mpg, and this is with fairly high speeds (up to 80mph), stop-and-go traffic, and with my car crammed to the hilt with stuff. However, it guzzles expensive premium fuel in town. But it has better gas mileage than my previous car, which only had a V-6.

I still haven't changed the oil, which is great as I drove the car for 15000 miles so far. I still have another 2000 miles remaining before an oil change! However, it uses 8.5 qts of expensive synthetic oil.

The sticker price when new is about $55K, I got mine for $10K. Great second-hand bargain!