Thinking about pulling the trigger on this 2011 C300 4-Matic (for a winter beater).

I am still not used to the idea that a MB is a "winter beater". To me, a "winter beater" is something more like an old Corolla or VW Jetta. Or maybe a 12 year old Malibu.
 
A few things..

Oil change regimen. Transmission service. Differential service. All the services that this vehicle requires should be backtracked and documented as well as possible.

Then you have to put it on a lift and look at the suspension. These 4-Matic C-Class cars can be a blast. But they require you handle problems while they're small. Quality parts from known brands are a requirement.

Finally, congratulations. It's a great car for the money so long as it's a great car.

All the best
 
carfax says, "Exceeds Mechanical Limits". Not sure what that means but the miles seem to add up when you look at the service records on the carfax. Link to Carfax: https://connect.carfax.com/dir?key=...2eOUmpoZcI6NfGj-7T7-8vTmLUmqamqrjNAlqur2Krq5E

Any clue as to what that means? Maybe a mistake on the DMVs part? Cars got 172k miles
Exceeds Mechanical Limits — A vehicle with a 5-digit odometer cannot accurately track mileage after 99,999 miles because the odometer rolls over. This title is the result of a seller certifying under the Federal Odometer Act, that the odometer reading EXCEEDS MECHANICAL LIMITS of the odometer.
 
A few things..

Oil change regimen. Transmission service. Differential service. All the services that this vehicle requires should be backtracked and documented as well as possible.

Then you have to put it on a lift and look at the suspension. These 4-Matic C-Class cars can be a blast. But they require you handle problems while they're small. Quality parts from known brands are a requirement.

Finally, congratulations. It's a great car for the money so long as it's a great car.

All the best
When the tech puts it up in the rack during the used car inspection, I'll look over the car with him
 
A few things..

Oil change regimen. Transmission service. Differential service. All the services that this vehicle requires should be backtracked and documented as well as possible.

Then you have to put it on a lift and look at the suspension. These 4-Matic C-Class cars can be a blast. But they require you handle problems while they're small. Quality parts from known brands are a requirement.

Finally, congratulations. It's a great car for the money so long as it's a great car.

All the best
I've got no clue if the trans, transfer case, or diff have ever been serviced. But, when I looked at the oil from the oil cap, it was dark as hell. Not sure when the last oil change was done but we're going to do an oil change(the tech will probably use Mobil 1 if I am not mistaken). I'm probably going to want to look at the old oil filter before the tech throws it out

Maybe I can give the vin to a Mercedes dealer and they might be able to pull up service records?
 
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Exceeds Mechanical Limits — A vehicle with a 5-digit odometer cannot accurately track mileage after 99,999 miles because the odometer rolls over. This title is the result of a seller certifying under the Federal Odometer Act, that the odometer reading EXCEEDS MECHANICAL LIMITS of the odometer.
It has a 6 digit odometer. It would have to have 1,172,000 miles.
 
It looks prretttyyyyy. For the money involved, it could be fun. At the worst, if it starts to act up, limp it for a few years while learning your way around it. If you’ve got time to learn Benz diy language, why not?

that said, mmmph… if you’re not willing or looking to “learn Benz” then it probably isn’t a wise buy. Old bimmers don’t come without learning curve either… so it’s really matter of how deep you are willing to go into this. There’s another thread with some mud terrains on @Chris142 ’s toyota Tercel, which probably is 19x as reliable and a snow leopard in the cold.
 
It has a 6 digit odometer. It would have to have 1,172,000 miles.
The Federal Odometer Act requires a seller to disclose the vehicle's mileage on the title when ownership is transferred. Congress enacted this Act to prohibit odometer tampering and to protect consumers from mileage fraud. Under this act, sellers must disclose any issues with the vehicle's odometer. These disclosures translate into the Exceed Mechanical Limits and Not Actual Mileage titles.

The above is from the CarFax report. It means, in this case, and to me, that there was an issue of some sort with the odometer, and that the mileage shown may not be the true mileage.
 
It looks prretttyyyyy. For the money involved, it could be fun. At the worst, if it starts to act up, limp it for a few years while learning your way around it. If you’ve got time to learn Benz diy language, why not?
Not a bad idea. My little brother said he'll help me. Just don't want to throw stupid amounts of money at it since I might flip it after winter
 
Doubt that. Nobody is going to believe it has over a million miles, and if somehow it does, people will pay stupid money for it.
That's true. We'll see what happens when the service does a UCI on it. I know it needs pads and rotors. The front rotors have a lip on the edge.
 
That's not going to help you down the road.
Eh, if it blows up it blows up. It's cheap. Won't really hurt my pockets. It's an AWD Mercedes for under $3k (it's that price because we took it in on trade. As an employee, I pay $500 over our cost). If it was for sale, it would probably be listed for $6500~
 
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Eh, if it blows up it blows up. It's cheap. Won't really hurt my pockets. It's an AWD Mercedes for under $3k (it's that price because we took it in on trade. As an employee, I pay $500 over our cost). If it was for sale, it would probably be listed for $6500~
Just trying to help you out. $3,500 is a lot of money to me.
 
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