1999 Mercedes-Benz E-Class Avantgarde from UK and Ireland - Comments

Clonking noise from suspension over speed ramps. Dealer failed to spot the noise (don't they always?)

Feels like it will last forever. Avantgarde suspension makes for a slightly hard ride. Performance still surprising after 6 months. For the money the equipment is rather mean and the aircon is feeble. A great car though - hard to believe that the new 320CDI is any better!

The clonking noise is not from your suspension. It's your mud guard scrubbing the floor. HOW COULD YOU FAULT THE MERC 300'S SUSPENSION!!!??? :)

It is easy to fault the 320E's suspension. On very smooth roads it is firm and very good. On rough city streets it is very harsh and really quite uncomfortable. Look elsewhere if you drive rough city streets!!!

I had a 1999 E300TD and it proved to be a bitter-sweet blend of sheer pleasure and acute pain. Would I buy another? No, not the E300 but contrary to the comment above I would take seriously consider an E320CDi - it feels much more powerful and much smoother / quieter than my 300 did - not that there were any complaints in that regard with the 300. While the driving feel, power, smoothness and fuel economy of the 300 could not come close to those of the 320CDi and certainly not to my father's BMW 530D SE it was still incredibly fast and capable for an ‘older technology’ diesel engine with an automatic transmission. I drove it fairly hard and returned 35 mpg on average - high 30s if I nursed it. (Compare to my Dad's 50 mpg average in the Beemer)

I loved the engine and even the Avantgarde suspension was surprisingly comfortable, even though a little harsher than the less sporting Classic and Elegance models. Loved the standard 5 spoke alloys, although one started to oxidize around 6 months for no apparent reason. Seats were firm but supportive and very comfortable on long or short drives. Bland interior still a Mercedes trademark but improving a little with the brand new E Class.

The two areas that disappointed severely were build quality and dealership experience:

Build quality - since Mercedes moved to a more mass production / mainstream marketing strategy so the build quality has dropped off notably from earlier Mercs. Even between the previous E class and the current one there is a huge difference in how well they're put together. My Dad previously drove Mercs but switched to BMW after his first ‘new’ style E Class. (a ‘97 I think). My ‘99 suffered far too many rattles, trim pieces falling off, electronic failures and false warning lights, etc and while the brakes did not actually fail they repeatedly gave warnings that ABS was not functioning. Ash trays fell out, the power moonroof rattled, etc. etc.

Dealership service - this was by far the most disappointing aspect of my ownership experience and is the primary reason that I have not ventured back to Mercedes. I love the new CDi but do not want to deal with the aloof, ignorant, inefficient rudeness of the Mercedes staff I experienced with the 300. This extends to both the buying and servicing experience. The salesman was as pleasant and accommodating as he could be when I was getting ready to buy, gave me a fair price on both the purchase and on my BMW 740 trade-in and he happily delivered the car to my home. From there it went downhill. Rapidly. Rattles evident on the vehicle acceptance drive were promised to be repaired immediately as was the missing CD player code - but could I get a call back from the salesman once my cheque had cleared - could I heck!

The service department was reasonably pleasant to deal with in a personable sense but incredibly inefficient. The number of times my car went in to have a specific repair done only to be returned unfixed, sometimes two or three times, because they had forgotten to order the parts – nothing short of incredible. More disturbing still was catching them in a lie when they claimed to have replaced two items (CD player and ash tray cover) only for me to find that the discrete markings I had made on both items prior to ‘replacement’ showed that the car was returned to me with the exact same items fitted. To be honest, this gross negligence served to amplify the build quality concerns more so than they perhaps deserved. Rattles, missing radio codes, loose trim pieces etc. could have been forgiven if they had been fixed on the first - or even second attempt - but instead they came to feel like huge issues simply because I had to deal with them so many times.

All in all, not the ownership experience I had hoped for when spending that sort of money. I have had mixed service experience with other prestige marques - Lexus, Jaguar, Cadillac, BMW, but all were streets ahead of what Mercedes UK served up.

Damn, I'd like to buy that E320CDi, or possibly the S320CDi - but just do not feel strong enough to go through the build quality and service nightmares again.

Hi, my name is Summer and I am looking at a 1994 Mercedes Benz 320E class. It is fully loaded and is very sharp and sporty looking. It drove remarkably well. I owned a 1991 190-E years ago and it was nice and rode well, but this one seems to take the cake. Has anyone out there owned or do you own one and how has the repairs been and what do you think. They are asking $13,500 and it has 73,000 miles. Please help :-)

Summer Ann.

My E200 estate clonked over bumps - most annoying.

Local independent dealer knew exactly what the cause was -replaced drop links on anti roll bar - all is quiet again - cost - about £40.00 including parts and labour.

Well worth the expense.

E320CDI Estate bought in Germany 30th March 2001,now 2 1/2 years old with 30,000 miles on the clock. Used for light domestic purposes only.

Serviced by MB garage.

Differential pinion oil seal said to be leaking - replaced -£220.05 plus 17 1/2% VAT

Also rear self-leveling shock absorbers said to be leaking they want £675.90 plus 17 1/2% VAT. MB UK have refused any 'Goodwill'.

Are there any other owners of direct imports into the UK having similar problems?.

I did not expect any problems so early in the car's life

The car is garaged the floor has been professionally sealed there has never been any evidence of oil on the garage floor am I being taken for a ride?

I own an E300 TD Auto Saloon Avantgarde. 1999 model

It is a pleasure to drive and mechanically sound, but the car has more rust than my 17 year old Mercedes 190E.

All four doors have corrosion under the rubber door seals, the boot lock surround has paint bubbling, and the near side wing is also showing signs of corrosion. This appears to be a very common problem with the E300.

Because I have not got a full Mercedes Benz service history the 30 year anti corrosion warranty is invalid even though servicing would not prevent the rust appearing.

The paint used in the late 90's was prone to damage from bird droppings as it was water based very thinly applied.

I owned an E240 avantgarde, bought it used from UK, had it for more than 2 years. The car humms at 65 kmh and more humms at 130 kmh. I took a ride in another E240 and heard the same problem. Some said that its the rear speedgear, some said the drive shaft. No solution yet even from M-B qualified mechanics... The humms continues.

We had a '99 Merc E240. We drove through a pothole the size of a small country and totalled the left front suspension. It was replaced by the insurance. Afterwards both the right and left rear suspension developed highly irritating grating noises when going over the slightest bumps! Even going around a corner with the cars weight shifting to one side it would make this sound. It could not be remedied by Mercedes nor by our private mechanic. We did replace the rear shocks with the original Sachs units at R3500 ($500) but it didn't help. The car was sold - creak and all!

The Mercedes creak when turning hard or going over road humps is usually a sign that the service engineers did not check the front ball joints and they need greasing - they are difficult to grease because the rubber covers are a tight fit.

The E300TD has a problem with the driveshafts; the ring for the brake sensors breaks off and can't be replaced, so you need a new driveshaft for £600 plus fitting. If you don't replace it, the car has no ABS BAS cruise control and just acts up as the computer does not know what is going on.