May be buying 97 S320

[destroyer]

Hello everyone. I'm possibly purchasing a 97 S320 tomorrow if I can get a good price negotiated from the dealer. Its blue/light tan and has 63k miles on it. Other than a few touched up spots on the paint it is in showroom condition. Carfax checked out great, has had only 1 previous owner, etc. Are these things really that expensive to fix and unreliable? I'm hearing crazy things about Mercedes being unreliable nowadays. I owned an 87 300E and all it needed from new till 8 years later and 128k miles was valve stem seals and a water pump. The 87 was purchased by my dad new so I know thats all it ever needed between our ownership. Any things specifically to look for when checking it out? Any advice would be appreciated, I really like the car but if its going to be an expensive mistake I'd rather not get it. Thanks.

[talonlover]

As far as 140 cars goes the S320 is probably the best s-class to get from a repair bill point of view. Sounds like a cream puff and it's got very good mileage. The engine is very reliable, pretty much trouble free. I don't know if MB got the wiring harnesses fixed by 97 or not but I would definately check out the insulation on the wires on the engine wiring harness and make sure it's not flaking off. Take a close look at the cam cover seals and make sure they are not leaking(no big deal if they are, but if so you might get a free repair before you buy the car) Other than that make sure the services have been performed in the maintainance book and your good to go.

[destroyer]

Thanks for the tips!. I did buy it, everything checked out great save for a couple of things. The SRS light stays on continuously and the power mirror motor on passenger side is messed up. Otherwise it really is in showroom condition. The price was haggled from $17k to $14k so Im confident I made a decent purchase. The wife and kids love it, hope she doesn't give any major problems.