2003 MB E320 reliability?

My wife still has a 2005 MBE320 that she uses as her daily driver and only car. She never or very seldom drives one of mine.

The car has been reliable but it is expensive to repair especially at a dealer. We have had to replace all brakes last year and my wife does not ride the the brake or any other bad habits. There are two batteries in the car both of which we replaced twice.

We have not been happy with the dealership they have given my wife wrong and expensive advice twice. As an example we were told the rear end is seeping oil and needs to be replaced. We believed them but we decided to buy a new car instead. The 2005 car has a special tool you need to erase the "needs oil" light when you change oil. We had trouble finding a none dealer who could do that for us

By chance I told one of my mechanics about it and he told me to do nothing they leak like that from the factory. That was 3 years ago and the car drives fine with no oil spots on the garage floor. This and a few other things have made my wife decide to buy another brand of car which we are in the process of doing now.

On the positive side the car for a family car is a very good driver. I own alot of cars including exotics and when I have to drive the car which is seldom I am always impressed with the handling of the vehicle. The car does not rattle or make any noises it is not supposed to do. It is quick for a six cylinder altho it is no Ferrari.

The gas mileage is very good 25 around town and 30 mpg on a trip. I think they are classy looking. The exterior paint has held up well but all of our cars are garaged, The interior still looks close to new.

Probably an expensive car to drive as they age. In Germany when I travelled there people would buy these cars like a house i.e. keep snd drive them them for 20 years because they are good for that long.

Jood luck

Lee

 

we have a 2004 E320 since new and love the car. also bought new a 1998 EClass until we bought the 2004. love them both.

 

I owned a 2003 E500 for a couple of years. I bought it used in 2008. It's is a good car that's fun to drive with the V8. I test drove the E320 but felt the power was lacking.

Only thing that I believe may cause an issue is the braking system. The SBC system failed on my car. Luckily it was still under the 10 year warranty by MB. Not all parts of the system are covered though and it could get very costly to repair if something goes wrong.

Not sure if your E320 has air ride suspension but it recently went out on the E500 (my Father-in-law bought it from me) and I believe it was about $1800 to repair.


They are good cars but will require a stady flow of cash to maintain properly.