[cefiljoseph]

Originally Posted by 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.

Hi, right of the bat I want to tell you that the economics when buying a decade old German is very different from what you experience when buying a new car.

This is why I mentioned earlier that you need to set aside 10-20 percent of the car's original maintenance in such cases for future upkeep.

Now, coming to your question. The answer is yes and no. All the works done in the car were expected stuff like replacing the suspension(which includes the steering rack, controls arms, struts etc.), radiator, mounts and so on. These are components that have a life of about 15 years so we saw all this coming just that maybe not all at once or soon after the purchase. Also, one key data you're missing is that we did drive the car for 7k kms already in a short period and all this happened between this.

So yeah, these are basic things that will need replacing in ANY car past a certain vintage be it Maruti or Mercedes. My dad got the car from a colleague and the price was set accordingly to the works required. There's a reason why the car itself was sold for less than 5 when it originally costed ten times of that. Basically saying all this is factored into the market price and hence why we have to spent this significant amount later.

[dreamliner17]

Fabulous writeup!
Glad to see a practical approach to owning a luxury car! I suppose your hardwork in finding and maintaining the car has paid off well.

What is also very impressive is that only the usual wear and tear external mechanical items had to be serviced/replaced. Not a single major component inside the engine needed replacing! What about the airconditioner? The existing condenser and cooling coil working fine?

I'm curious to know your experience at the RTO for ownership transfer. Are you retaining the MH number? Did you have to do a fitness test? No issues in the RC renewal for a diesel vehicle having crossed 15 years?

[cefiljoseph]

Originally Posted by dreamliner17

Fabulous writeup!
Glad to see a practical approach to owning a luxury car! I suppose your hardwork in finding and maintaining the car has paid off well.

Hi, thank you for reading and your kind words.

Originally Posted by dreamliner17

What is also very impressive is that only the usual wear and tear external mechanical items had to be serviced/replaced. Not a single major component inside the engine needed replacing! What about the airconditioner? The existing condenser and cooling coil working fine?

Yes, that has largely been the case. With respect to AC, the AC vents are broken and will need to be replaced. First, the priority was to get the mechanicals upto spec and then attack the interior niggles. The condenser and cooling coil was replaced by the previous owner in his ownership. The flap motors aren't working properly now and will need to be replaced. However, when we tried doing that a lot of child parts started to break since it was brittle so we will need to do this once the child parts are sourced and then proceed. However, as of now this is not an issue we have to let it be.

Originally Posted by dreamliner17

I'm curious to know your experience at the RTO for ownership transfer. Are you retaining the MH number? Did you have to do a fitness test? No issues in the RC renewal for a diesel vehicle having crossed 15 years?

Yes, fitness, renewal and green tax was paid. We got agents to do it and it was an absolutely smooth and simple process. Honestly, I feel there is unnecessary scare spread around this which makes people think that their cars will be scrapped after 15 years. Just renew the registration and you are good for another five years which is a long time indeed and even after there is still option to renew it further. It should be the least of your concerns unless you are in Delhi NCR of course. After all, there are hundreds and hundreds of older cars driving around with proper documentation. Plus, when buying an older Benz, you have far bigger things things to worry about

[dreamliner17]

Was the fitness test actually performed?
Did you have to get the car inspected at the RTO by the officials?

[cefiljoseph]

Originally Posted by dreamliner17

Was the fitness test actually performed?
Did you have to get the car inspected at the RTO by the officials?

Yes, the fitness test was performed at the Vashi RTO grounds and I took it myself for the test. The inspectors inspected the car verified the VIN numbers and approved it. Got he new RC a few weeks later. It was a regular procedure. All the values are within limits be it PUC testing or the green tax. Once again, I would like to assure you that these things really shouldn't be a concern as long as the car is reasonably well kept and nothing shady has been done with it. All it takes is one day of your time at most every five years which is not at all a big deal.

[dreamliner17]

So the test was not done on the new Automated Testing Station (ATS) that are being talked about in the V-VMP program. I foresee that soon this testing will be on the ATS.

[cefiljoseph]

Originally Posted by dreamliner17

So the test was not done on the new Automated Testing Station (ATS) that are being talked about in the V-VMP program. I foresee that soon this testing will be on the ATS.

Nope, it was done manually in person

[cefiljoseph]

Ganeshan, a friend and fellow enthusiast found some 211 doodles he drew back in the day. Found it wholesome hence adding it to the review. Always love 211 memorabilia like these

[AutoB]

Hi - Great thread. I am looking to buy a 2006 W211 - same colour as this one. Almost closed the deal.

Couple of questions...
1. What has been your service schedule/cost like since you purchased the car?
2. What FE are you getting - in the city and on the highway?
3. Did you do any changes to the interior? I find that the leather seats wear off and am wondering whether to change the seats.

[cefiljoseph]

Hi, that’s great to hear

1. Service is every 10k kms. Should cost between 15-20k for the basic service and replacement of parts if any would take this number way higher. Have documented the costs with the detailed bills in the thread for your perusal.

2. FE is surprisingly good. Gives about 12 easily. Even in the worst conditions in city I don’t see it go below ten usually. In highways which it’s built for have seen numbers as high as fifteeen.

3. Yup, reupholstered the front seats with Wagenwerkz in Mumbai. Did a fantastic job matching the OEM spec.

Once again congratulations and let me know if I can help you with any questions. Do your due diligence when buying the car and set the price accordingly.

Best Wishes
Cefil

[cefiljoseph]

In December, 2023 - 211 was due for its 130k service as indicated by the service meter. I reached home for winter break and gave 211 to M Star for service. They promptly picked the car and took for service.

Apart from the regular oil and filter service there were also some other problems to be fixed.

Acceleration issues were noticed which was attributed to a disconnected intercooler pipe.

AC system fogged the front windshield when driving during morning, evening and rains. Basically rending the car unusable for most part of the day :

M star took it for service on 30th December, 2023 and gave it back on 2nd January, 2024 with these issues corrected.

They promptly updated and asked for approval in each step, sent photos through WhatsApp and delivered the car with a good wash. The service offered is as good as if not better than what dealers offer if not better.

Here's how it looks when the dashboard is removed to fix the actuator motors. Being an old car, this is a particularly hard job because it involves a lot of child parts to be removed and only an experienced team can ensure this happens without breaking stuff. The team at M Star meticulously took the time to remove everything and fix the actuator motors and more importantly fix it correctly. Was happy with this as there were no rattles or squeaks after this.





All this costed 30k after discounts.

MH 06 AN 7020 02012023.pdf

All issues were fixed until the new ones came soon

[cefiljoseph]

Post the service and having every issue solved, in the next few days, drove the 211 for more than 800 kms which is when things went south.

On 8th Jan, 2024 had when I was driving down a state highway somewhere in Thrissur, the steering suddenly jammed and the dashboard there a battery light warning.



I somehow managed to get the car to the side of the road and then informed our service advisor at M Star, Mr. Shijo about the incident.




They sent their recovery vehicle to take the car to workshop and found that it was the idler pulley that melted and gave up.




Got the pulley and the belt changed. Also changed the brake fluid because the brakes were feeling spongey and it was due the air buildup in the brake fluid tank.

Costed another 20k to fix this including the recovery charges.

MH 06 AN 7020 110124.pdf

On 11th, took the delivery of the car and on the way back, realised that the brakes were feeling spongey again. However, being late at night and having to go airpot on the way back to pick my sister, I continued and decided to give it back to M Star later.

[cefiljoseph]

On 16th I was returning back to college and before that I informed at M Star about how the brake issue wasn't fixed by filling new oil and told that it needs to be checked further.

It was around end of Jan when we gave the car back to M Star for following up. They picked up the car from home and it also took a few days to get the issue properly diagnosed.

Culprit was the brake master cylinder that gave up causing this issue. Finding one was also a bit challenging. I checked with some sources in Bombay and found an example but wasn't sure about the quality nor had any reasonable ways to have it checked properly.

It took around two weeks to source one and M Star finally found a refurbished one from Dubai and got the issue fixed and delivered the car yesterday. The master cylinder costed around 27k and the total bill came to 35k post discounts.

MH 06 AN 7020 130224.pdf

It was painful to have these niggles come one after the other and to foot the continuous bills. With everything fixed and fixed well thanks to the team at M Star, hoping to a better rest of the year.

Mr. Majo, who runs M Star has also instructed to drive the car more regularly which is the best way to keep it free of niggles. This haven't been the case due the AC fogging issue earlier. Now that it is fixed, 211 should see more road time

"The only way out is through"

[AKSarkar1]

Thanks for sharing the stories with us! It is very true that there is no such thing as a cheap Merc!

I can second the point of giving the car daily runs in order to keep it niggle free, something about German cars that just don’t like standing idle. Same has been the experience with my C Class, the car only ever gave me troubles in the lockdown period when everything was at a standstill. Post that and until today, no problems whatsoever. I have made it a point to at least start the car once in the day and give it a quick spin in the building compound, even that does the trick.

[cefiljoseph]

Originally Posted by AKSarkar1

Thanks for sharing the stories with us! It is very true that there is no such thing as a cheap Merc!

I can second the point of giving the car daily runs in order to keep it niggle free, something about German cars that just don’t like standing idle. Same has been the experience with my C Class, the car only ever gave me troubles in the lockdown period when everything was at a standstill. Post that and until today, no problems whatsoever. I have made it a point to at least start the car once in the day and give it a quick spin in the building compound, even that does the trick.

Thank you for engaging, coincidentally I used to do the same - when the car was in Mumbai, I used to do the same. Take it out and drive it within Hiranandani at least every other day if not everyday without fail. Even if it was a short run to go to gym or to buy something small, made sure the 211 hit the roads and stretched its legs. Back then the car somehow ran trouble free despite having something which was fixed later as you can see in the thread. However, it was only with the car being taken to home in Kerala and me quitting my job to go for higher studies, the car is seeing idleness also catalysed due to fogging issue which preventing taking it for the better part of the day. These days my dad is driving it more after the feedback and getting the issues fixed.