Faults:

There was a leak in the wiper washer tank, due to dry rubbers. Very easy to fix.

General Comments:

Very nice car, which I bought from a Citroen-dealer. This dealer bought the car from an older man who only used it to go to church on Sundays, and sometimes to visit some family. Unbelievable, but in 14 years the car has made only 65000 kilometres (40.000 miles)! So it was no surprise the car drives like new... Well, I always say: it is possible to drive a new Mercedes for only 3,500 Euros (approx $4,000).

The only disadvantage is that the car has no air conditioning, power windows and armrest in the middle for the driver.

But the heating is very good, and separated for the left and right part of the cabin.

Faults:

Seats started to wear, leather is cracking on driver's site.

Electric Hirschmann antenna replaced 2x because it got stuck.

Windscreen wiper not very effective at high 200 km/h speeds.

General Comments:

This is THE ultimate Mercedes Benz you can buy. The 500E was developed in conjuction with Porsche back in 1991. It has only been built for 4 years, with the top line E 500 Limited at the end of 1994. These cars costed about 110000 euros when they were new. About 50000 euro more than an 400E W124.

I used to own a Mercedes R129 SL from 1989, but it had a lot on the odometer, so I traded it for this car. It has the same engine as my SL, although the fuel management system is different. The gearbox also comes from the SL.

The outside looks very plain. It has wide fenders, headlight washers, a sunroof, 16 inch alloy 8 hole Mercedes wheels and metallic paint. So it looks a like a normal Munich cab.

But on the inside it is luxury al the way. Power seats with memory, leather Recaro sport seats front and rear. Wood trim and boxes, armrest. Automatic Climate Control, Becker Mexico CD etc etc.

I bought this car in Germany in late 2002, because they are cheaper there, in Holland a 500E in good condition is impossible to find.

Driving a 500E is like nothing else, when pushing the throttle you won't get away, you will only have smoke and heavy vibrations throughout the car, so much torque does this car have. 90% of the torque is already below 1500 RPM, so that is a lot for a non-diesel.

At the motorway and Autobahns, this car is the absolute master. You can easily cruise 200 in utmost comfort. Soon after that you hit the limiter at 250, but I never drive that fast.

It uses a lot of premium unleaded, don't expect this 5.0 V8 to be economical. Service is also very expensive, as parts are very scarce.

Insurance is very very very expensive for such a car.

Still I really love this car, it looks very old and sedate, but only the true specialist will recognise an 500E.

I drove a E55 A M G w210 series, but those look to camp and you can really see that those cars can and go very fast, the 500E has the classic Mercedes look with Porsche adjustments.

Faults:

The driver's seat is seriously worn. The front screen very sensitive for hits by stones.

General Comments:

Very comfortable, but not a fast car. The only thing replaced so far (beyond normal maintenance) is the end-part of the exhaust-pipe due to a hit on a traffic-ramp.

The car is very sensitive to different tire brands.

Faults:

I have had troubles with the power sunroof, the covers on the inside got loose so I had to replace them.

In the beginning when I got the car I got it serviced at a Dutch Mercedes garage, but they are horrible, expensive and you have to wait much too long. Now I go to a German garage, they're much better.

General Comments:

Nice car, looks good, solidly built, too bad they were all a little cheap on the extra's back then in Europe, but overall a good car to drive.