[microaubin]

What a beautiful and well written review. My morning reading time well spent. There is something of a timeless elegance about the undakannan Benz. ( undakannan means Round Eye in malayalam)

As you rightly said , with age i am also attracted towards the star. I was closely following the GLC launch, but the high pricing and lack of a few features have me confused of whether to let go of my almost 10 year old A4 which is in super top shape or to still keep loving it!!

[ashishk29]

The E280 is probably my most favourite Merc through the last 2 decades or so.

The dual barrel headlamps, the way the whole thing is shaped is just perfect.

Congratulations on owning a star. happy miles!

[Kkumar]

A well articulated and beautifully written review. Congratulations on your childhood dream coming true. All the best for a memorable ownership experience and keep on munching miles.

[Tvk1991]

What you have bought is a future classic. It's a wise decision to have a budget of 10-20% of the car's original price to use for the mild restoration work.

In the future I might go on the same route in buying a 640d/530D/X5 seeing the current prices of the new cars.

Thank you for sharing the detailed invoices of the service done.
Please share us regular updates on the ownership journey.

[ashish2135]

Wow! Your car looks lovely. The W211 os one of the most iconic Mercs in my opinion, mainly due to the headlamps!

It takes courage to buy a used luxury german car but a lot more courage, time and resources to maintain it and keep it shining the way you have kept your Star!

The interior seems to be very plush, do share more pictures of the interiors!
Wishing you a lot of happy miles with it.

[Jeroen]

Thanks for sharing your story about the W211. Nice to read about your "discovery" story and how you made your final choice.

Of course, it is about owning a car, but I always find the path to finding a car is enjoyable too.

I have always liked the W211 and I have been looking at a few high mileage examples. I came pretty close to buying one, a gorgeous-looking metallic blue, very well-kept. But a smoker's car. You never get rid of that smell.

As a W123 owner, I have to respond to one of your comments.

We didn't want to give into any artifical hype that was created around these cars.

I am not sure what an artificial hype is. Even so, a W123 is a very different car, from a different era than a W211. Although there is no doubt in my mind that overall the W211 is a much better car than the W123, there are some things that do make the W123 stand out. Not just amongst its contemporaries, but even compared to some more modern cars.

The W123 is a true engineer's car. I believe it has been designed and produced with far more attention to ease of maintainability and durability. It is one of the few cars where real thought was given to how to take things apart and put them back again. How to make the car last.

Whether that means anything or is relevant, is of course, very personal.

It also shows that you will still find lots of W123 almost anywhere in the world being used as a daily runner, or as in my case, a classic hobby car. (I still drive it an average of 7500 km annually!)

All of this with relatively very little and very simple maintenance. On what can still be considered a high-class/segment car with almost all modern conveniences. (ABS, Power Steering, AC, Cruise Control, Power windows, electronic ignition etc etc.).

There are a few classic cars that are still around in large numbers. Think Citroen 2CV, Fiat 500, or VW Beetle. But none of them have the luxury, and comfort of the W123 and all of them would have required a lot more in maintenance to keep them road-worthy. And you don't want to be driving your 2CV, Beetle or Fiat 500 for 7500 km every year. It would be very uncomfortable.

The W123's biggest enemy is rust, as with all cars from that era. The W211 is likely to do much better.

Enjoy your gorgeous car and keep us updated on its maintenance and the likely few niggles you are going to encounter.

Jeroen

[cefiljoseph]

Originally Posted by androdev

Congratulations to your parents because whatever money they'd spent on your education was worth it - you write good stuff :-)

Thank you so much for your kind word androdev!! Means a lot to me coming from you. I did show this comment to my parents and they were like yeah it better be since both Ashoka and Plaksha have high fees

Once again, thank you for taking the time to read the entire thing and glad to know you liked it.

Originally Posted by Jeroen

Thanks for sharing your story about the W211. Nice to read about your "discovery" story and how you made your final choice.

Of course, it is about owning a car, but I always find the path to finding a car is enjoyable too.

Thank you for your kind words. I agree with you that the journey is very enjoyable and rewarding. Often the reason why we are attached to cars and we love them.

Originally Posted by Jeroen

As a W123 owner, I have to respond to one of your comments.

I am not sure what an artificial hype is. Even so, a W123 is a very different car, from a different era than a W211. Although there is no doubt in my mind that overall the W211 is a much better car than the W123, there are some things that do make the W123 stand out. Not just amongst its contemporaries, but even compared to some more modern cars.

I'm not contenting about any of the things you told. In fact, I love the W123 and was kind of my first preference too. However, our problem was that we couldnt justify it's current price. Maybe for 2-3 lakhs it's a good car. However, in a situation where a W211 is cheaper than a W123, it didn't make sense for us to get the W123. I understand that this isn't a perfect comparison since W123 only increases in value from here for the foreseeable future and W211 will need a lot to be spent on maintanance. Nonetheless, maybe it's my background in equity markets that makes me think on the lines "what I buy is important but at what price is buy is even more important" kind of a thought which made me pass on W123. Maybe if it was my own money I would have got one. Let's see.

[Aeromaxtran]

Read through the whole post which is not something I usually do. Kept me engaged throughout. Considering buying an older Mercedes for the first time.

Thanks.

[Simple_User]

Excellent summary of what car ownership is all about. Cherishing old titans while cheering on for the future.
Someday hope to have a star on the family too.
Congratulations bro, wishing you many miles of happiness ahead.

[TheFonz]

Your post has inspired me to go down the same path. Do mention the forums and websites you referenced for research as it will help other like minded folk, me included.

Thanks again for taking the time to share your experience in such a way that us readers felt we were part of the journey

[evil_grin]

Originally Posted by cefiljoseph

I wanted to share the continuing journey of how we bought and are owning a Mercedes W211 E280 CDI E-Klasse

Thank you for sharing this riveting story! When I was upgrading from my Honda City, I was really tempted to go for a 6-10 year old luxury car given the huge bang for buck they offered. But the fear of recurring expensive part replacements is what kept me away.

Thanks for showing how someone with a big risk appetite and the right FNG can buy an old E class for less than i20 money. Please continue to share expenses and experiences with your beauty.

[GTE]

With the w211 there used to be an sbc failure many years ago. I wonder if this issue has been resolved.

[ajmat]

The second gen W211 was a return to the proper E class. Over 3000 changes were made over the original W211. If you park both next to each other, you will see how much better put together it is.

[BombayDragon]

Thank you CefilJoseph for writing such a detailed review on the maintenance required for your car.

Given that the car required approximately 5 lakhs in additional maintenance cost post purchase, I was wondering if the pre purchase inspection done prior to purchasing the car identified all these prospective maintenance items.

I am asking because I am considering a similar purchase but I am not sure if the service centers which perform this type of pre purchase inspection are competent enough to identify these kind of upcoming issues and hence was interested in knowing about your experience with the pre - purchase inspection.

Thanks again and congratulations on your new car.

[chembilath]

Wonderfull review @cefiljoseph. And that's an awesome buy
An uncle of mine had recently bought a pre-owned W211 E280, original KL registration, which had run just 60k kms and I happened to drive it on multiple occasions. The car doesn't feel like it is 1.5 decades old, it still amazes you be it performance or rear seat comfort and the way it car pulls after 100kmph leaves the new gen cars to shame.
I have driven the W212 E350, W212 E250 and the W213 E class, have to say the W211 E280 and to an extent W212 350 ticks all the boxes.

Also, I have to highlight M star motors, especially Majo who is the owner and a Mercedes AMG trained person. He has been managing all the premium cars in our family and extended family garages post warranty, not just Mercs, even supercars.