2016 MB E350 - Sell or Keep?

The Critic

The Critic

Joined
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One of my good friends drives a 2016 MB E350 Sedan. The car has 155K on it.

He purchased the car as a CPO unit at 17k miles. His CPO warranty is the 7-yr/unlimited mileage option and expires 9/2022.

Cosmetically, the car is a B-. It has some front bumper damage and the front-end is fairly worn from highway driving. Wheels have a lot of curb rash.

I have done every service on the vehicle since he purchased it, but he isn't always on time with his service visits. Luckily the vehicle sees mostly highway driving and accumulates a lot of mileage in a short period of time.

So far, the following repairs have been done under CPO warranty:
- 74K: Replaced driver side cylinder head due to a seized spark plug on Cyl #5. Also replaced sticking parking brake lever. This was a $5-6K job.
- 94K: Replaced engine and transmission mounts due to wear. This is normally a ~$1500 job.
- 147K: Replaced engine harness, ECU and intake/exhaust cam sensors due to oil intrusion into the wiring harness. I found the leak during a service visit. Also replaced engine and transmission mounts (collapsed), dipstick (due to failed o-ring) and crankcase vent valve (w/drip pan). The tech removed the engine for this repair and billed 20+ hours. In total, it was probably a $10K visit.

From a maintenance standpoint, everything is up-to-date- it needs nothing.
- Oil Changes have been done using 229.5 approved oil and OEM filter every 11-15K.
- Cabin Filter, brake fluid flush and wipers every other oil service.
- Air Filter, 722.9 Transmission Fluid w/Filter and Rear Differential Fluid done every 40-45K.
- Spark Plugs were done at 74K and 130K.
- Both 12V batteries, drive belt, rear brake pads and 4 new Michelin tires were all installed within the last few months.

KBB private party value is 13-15k. Carmax online offer is $10.7K.

He asked me if he should keep it and drive until a major repair happens or sell while it still has value and warranty remaining. Thoughts?
 
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Car is worth what it costs to replace it.

Bad news is it has needed a lot of work. Good news is that lots was done.

I don’t think I’d get rid of it until at least 9/22 or so, especially since it’s not a great market right now for buying cars. Unless a great deal dropped in his lap, or he got the itch.

The wild card is the front end. It’s not abnormal to need front end work by 150k, it’s kind of the design life of a lot of parts. It probably should have lasted better on the highway, but who knows how this person drives. A good front end repair is probably $2-3k depending upon what is involved. That’s a lot of work.

It doesn’t sound like the car is worth keeping if it’s a b- with damage, forthcoming front end work, etc. However, if it has been made reliable and is a known quantity, who knows, maybe it can go to 250-300k with just some front end work and regular PM. But is that what the owner is really looking to do?
 
JHZR2 said:
However, if it has been made reliable and is a known quantity, who knows, maybe it can go to 250-300k with just some front end work and regular PM. But is that what the owner is really looking to do?
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He drives the vehicle a lot and breakdowns are not an option.

If the car is in for service he will pay for whatever it takes to make it reliable until the next visit.

However, at heart, he hates spending money on cars.
 
The Critic said:
He drives the vehicle a lot and breakdowns are not an option.

If the car is in for service he will pay for whatever it takes to make it reliable until the next visit.

However, at heart, he hates spending money on cars.
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Then he should sell it and buy a Honda or whatever similar high reliability, simple car strikes his fancy.

Breakdowns aren’t an option for anyone. But anyone can be stranded these days because some cars don’t even come with a spare tire…
 
The Critic said:
He drives the vehicle a lot and breakdowns are not an option.

If the car is in for service he will pay for whatever it takes to make it reliable until the next visit.

However, at heart, he hates spending money on cars.
Click to expand...
This is normally the case for everyone.

Most people need their cars every single day but will postpone routine maintenance items. The funny thing about cars is if you don't schedule your maintenance, it will do it for you. Generally at the worst time possible.

Since the car has a warranty still and you looked over the car. I would definitely keep it for the length of the warranty and keep an eye out for a replacement. Everything you listed, doesn't make it an unreliable car. Just a typical car. Engine harness.... maybe somewhat normal for euro cars.
 
Most of those are known problems. I think on that engine spark plugs are supposed to be 50k so you went a little to far on it. Remember, MB started to use a multi-spark system so the plugs fire up to 4-5 times per cycle instead of once like other cars. The oil wicking on the harness is also known and just one thing to keep an eye on. But it sounds like he got his money's worth. Could probably sell it and get another one just before the warranty is up. CPO is transferable in a private party sale, but not if you trade it in. The 2016 model was the last year with a regular V6 so I'd probably wait for a CPO E400 or E450 to hit the market in June or July of 2022 and then dump it. Those are much harder to find and those had the turbo V6 instead of the 4 cylinder which became standard on the E300/E350 in 2017+. I've also done the springs/shocks/struts on my car, but I have way less mileage on my 2011 E350, but I also do lots of city miles so they got beat up.
 
You should suggest he sell it and buy a Lexus LS or an Acura full size TL since you work on alot of Japanese vehicles.

I've owned a few E's and a few newer S's, I was always afraid of the parts bill if something broke even though I would perform the labor myself. I'm much more familiar with Japanese vehicles and would much rather work on 1 of them instead of most German cars. The Germans do make some things easy, but not enough, and the parts bill makes me cringe.
 
What is the option to replace it? Is it a new car or another used one?

I've said this before, but I would always rather have my used car than someone else's.

If he has new car money I would probably say sell this one and get a new car, should be a while before he has to start spending money on a new one.
 
In before someone says to get a panther vehicle

But for real I would encourage them to own it till next year. And start to look for vehicles that they would be interested in purchasing to replace it. Then if something comes up the deal may be able to be done got some time to get it handled
 
This is the "the devil you know vs. the devil you don't know" situation. I agree with @JHZR2, front end work and struts will be the next major maintenance item, not repair coming down the road. Aftermarket front bumpers are relatively cheap for these cars if your client wants to refresh the appearance. There has been a heck of a lot of sound maintenance & repairs done to this vehicle at little or no cost to the owner. Averaging 23k miles a year with 11 months to go on a full warranty, I'd roll the bones and keep piling on the miles and enjoy the car. Easily blow by 200-250k miles based upon the maintenance schedule you have your client on. Also personally right now I would rather drive what I have vs. donating money into an overheated used car market
 
Char Baby said:
Hmm, if it were my car, I'd get rid of it as preowned prices are at a high point. Your friend may never get this much money for that MB again!
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Problem is then he has to buy another prowled car at prices that have never been higher….
 
Keep the vehicle and then sell it once the warranty expires. Hopefully supply constraints will have eased by then otherwise your friend will be paying the maximum price on a replacement vehicle.

What I find amazing is that he only got 53k miles on the second set of engine/transmission mounts vs 94k on the originals.
 
All of the above is "good". I'm with bowlofturtle and Egg_Head.
Rack up the CPO year and then some.
A 200K+ battle wagon won't sell too much faster because it has a month or three of CPO left. He would sell it himself, no?
In fact, a rough Benz mightn't fetch the high money everybody is talking about.

Thank goodness you're on the case and that he racks 'em up.
He should be thinking about what characteristics can be improved upon with the replacement car.
 
BMWTurboDzl said:
Keep the vehicle and then sell it once the warranty expires. Hopefully supply constraints will have eased by then otherwise your friend will be paying the maximum price on a replacement vehicle.

What I find amazing is that he only got 53k miles on the second set of engine/transmission mounts vs 94k on the originals.
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MB uses a lot of different rubber hardness levels and other design parameters on their mounts. The FSMs often have a list of the differences. Some vehicles have same-looking, but different mounts on each side. They also work hard to ensure sound (both noise and mechanical) isolation from the engine. This may result in a shorter lived mount. None of my MB mounts last that long before they show some level of compression and should be replaced... Granted Im talking old, heavy diesels.

Oil leaks dont help...
 
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