It's mainly because they come in as PX at main dealers owing too much money, meaning the dealer has paid too much for it, they pay over the odd to secure the sale on the new car. Problem is to then retail it at a main dealer it has to be up to a certain standard and to put it all right would mean all margin is gone or your selling it at a loss. It then gets put through the trade and sold at a price reflecting its age mileage or condition, if you are lucky enough to find an independent dealer that goes to the trouble and expense, they know what they are doing with regards to purchasing the right stock for the right money. When I worked for a main dealer customers would always go over the approved used cars with a fine tooth comb and try and haggle hundreds off for every blemish. I used to tell them I have exactly the car you want and hand them a new car pricelist.
There really is not a ‘car salesman’ that can touch you. Your work, ethic, honesty, and add to that your growing numbers of subscribers, your quality videos. You’ve pretty much owned this category. What an achievement.
Yep. A car salesman profits from financing and skimping on honest repairs. You however seem to find cars and fix them at cost to benefit your customers. What's your day job?😂
None of the engine issues were due to just sitting but from an owner who made the decision not to repair the vehicle due to cost, but at the end of the day i would rather take my chances with a used high mileage w212 than most other MB other models.
Just watching the subscribers to your channel going up every week! A real tribute to the quality of what you do but also your ability to really connect with your audience and the great journey you take us on with all these cars…
The w212 is always been my favorite gen of Merc E Class, both normal and AMG variants. I remember I got this as a taxi from Singapore Changi Airport. It still feels very new since it drives so smooth and quiet, almost like a brand new car. And it has done close to 800,000 KMs.. Great car!..
10:40 you don’t buy a becker system, you buy a similar device from your preferred online vendor that enables android auto and apple car play instead of the becker navigation, so you can use it to navigate and do other stuff. It’s an amazing upgrade for this cars, especially because it integrates very well without any cables, just plug & play. 😉👍
“Field mouse, rat, hungry mechanic?” Matt, this is why we have been subscribed to you for so long. The range of cars featured and your style of presentation and editing is spot on and continues to be tweaked (slow zoom out at the beginning and different crops). Best channel of its type on the tube with a U 💪
Great video matt you don't skimp on your work and as you say someone will get a great car after your efforts hats off to you for saving a car and being so honest about your vehicles you certainly are a proper genuine trader and deserve every success that come your way 👍
You just saved me a longer post pal. Well done Matt, that is a cracking motor for someone who may have thought that they could never afford a Mercedes Benz. The happiness that the new owner will feel is priceless and I just feel that car has a good few years left in it yet thanks to you. Karma will give you a good profit on another car to make up for this one I’m sure.
I got picked up from Athens airport in one of these last week. It had 665,000 km on the clock and still felt as good as my own low mileage w212 which I bought a few years back. 1:07
Great cars. Impressive how nice a well cared for high miler can be. On previous work trips to Italy we were driven in a Merc w210 e class 270 cdi with over 400k miles on it, cruising along at 135 mph plus. 4 of my frends and I have recently bought newish E/C220d mercs with the intention of keeping them forever. I’ll let you know how we get on.
There good engines 2.1 they eat glow plugs not sure if thats changed after 2014, Same Cyprus taxi had 336,000km e220. Sad thing is most 70,000 miles owners dont bother getting the gearbox service so when a person around 120,000 gets it can be £££
After a few E220 dogs, I got a mint one, for £4k & not a penny to spend extra. Tyres are at 4mm all round. Did have a old w211 E220 estate 6 years ago & enjoyed that old girl. These are super comfy work horses & just need a little TLC & Will be getting a remapped soon.
The pre facelift W212 looks so good in 2023 when compared to Mercedes new offerings. Distinctive and aggressive. Always though it looked a bit like a Decepticon transformer. Even prefer the interior on these models to the newer offerings, as they hark back to the W124 Mercs. Another great vid, well done.
Great video, entertaining presentation, matt! I just bought this w212 exactly like this 3 weeks ago...beautiful teronite grey with 19 inch original amg rim...so happy...!
I have a W212. A 220CDI, same colour. In the three and a half years I've wned it, I have spent a couple of grand on. Worth it though. Nothing else feels like a Mercedes. I love the way it feels in the hands. Also, that design will never look old. Not in my opinion. Lovely car. Not for everyone though. It's HEAVY.
I ran a CLS a couple of years older than this E Class and had so many issues with the springs. Not even a main dealer seemed able to fit the right ones. It eventually looked like this E Class, a bit high at the back, low at the front. Fuel economy was awesome as I was always driving downhill 😂
@@erebostd Good job electric cars: Aren't heavy Have crap range Many people can't charge them at home... Here's a tip. The next time you see a charging cable across a public pavement. Stand on it and grind it in to the pavement. Damage it good. I've even disconnected a cable from a car before and pushed the cable in to the gutter.
I wasn't going to say it Matt but in the end...there comes a point in our lives that we could all do with a good "clean and buff up"...oh and the car as well, someone is going to benefit greatly from the work done on it and you will surely feel a lot happier when you invest the £38 profit in your next car 🙌 lol wish there were more honest used car salesmen well done Matt 🤩🥳
I hired one back in 2013. After usually getting Skoda's as hire cars here in Czech Republic, the Mercedes made you feel good. Not so much the difference in how it drove. More the walking up to it and getting in. Even though it wasn't mine, I just hired it for a long weekend.
somehow, I think this W212 E-class looks outstanding no matter in pre facelift or new facelift… they are Just awesome! we still keep an 2013 E350 V6 AMG Line package in white colour exterior and black Nappa leather interior, it has almost all options ticked such as Panoramic Glassroof, 9 SRS airbags, rear and side windows blinds, keyless GO, bi-xenon headlamps, 18 inch alloy wheels ( same as in the video ), distronic plus cruise ctrl, memory seats, electric steering column, heated & ventilated seats, blue heat glass all around, harmon kardon sound system, parktronic, power boot, active blind spot assist, lane departure warning and lane keep assist
Is it correct that you have to pay VAT on the differenec betweem purchase/sale ? £4500 and £6995 ? Even when you've claimed the VAT back on some of the repairs, it makes buying cheap cars needing a lot of repair hard to make proffit on. Could you cover/explain the VAT side of things in a future video? Another great video 👍
A trader friend explained this to me. If you purchase a car for £1,000 and sell it for £5,000, you have to pay VAT on the difference (i.e. £4,000) - irrespective of what you have paid to prep/fix the car. I believe the VAT paid is the margin x 1/6. It's an odd system and (imho) makes a lot of cars uneconomical to repair (at least for a trader).
"Don't know if that's standard?" Welcome to MercLand: *Nothing* is standard, other than 4 wheels, a (basic) steering wheel and statutory minimum lights.
Back in November I bought a mini convertible for the Mrs from a family member for just £400…within a week the head gasket went…I took it to a local BMW specialist…£1500 later it’s back on the road and drives like new..skimmed cylinder head, new rad, water pump, thermostat, brake discs and fresh mot…I wouldn’t have bothered without watching your videos! Thanks mate 👍🏼
What a coincidence. I was just browsing RUclips randomly and got one of your videos recommended again after not having them recommended for some reason for a few months, and a few days after our uncles 2010/11 Mercedes W212 E350 CDI 4 matic came to us for service, this video shows up lol. Great video!
When I got a c220 of the same age a few years back (same engine) I also had to do the DPF sensor, ABS sensor. Seems to be common on these, luckily have an excellent independent merc specialist who sorted all that very cheap. Other than these things it was almost perfect, lasted me 3 years and 25k miles remapped and didn’t miss a beat. Just replaced it with a 350 of the same age, the 6 cylinder gives it a whole different personality. Love that car
Well, all I can say is that I would love to buy a second hand car from you but I'm in Ireland. You are probably one of the few garages that fixes cars properly before resale.
When I worked for a dealer, any trade-in they didn't wholesale, they gave a quick wash and a vac and it went onto the lot. They didn't do any work on the car unless the buying customer pointed out an issue.
Great vid as always. I like the look of this E Class generations pre-face lift model. The split front headlights and the rear lights looked distinctive and not like other Mercs. So what does Mercedes do with the facelift,? It changes the front and rear lights to look almost exactly look like the S Class & the C Class, and lose the E Class's distinctive look! The usual Mercedes' Russian doll styling approach!
I think the face-lift of this is the best looking E ever. The dual torch LEDs still made it distinctively E Class. Also, the rear light itself wasn't different it was just the LED light signature that they changed. I still see many people thinking the W212 face lift is a new model.
@@SDav21 Same i love the facelift. Mercedes wanted to say goodbye to the '4-eyed-face' (Vieraugengesicht) that was present since the W210, and go back to a more simplistic design reminiscent of the W124.
I own a 2011 S212 220 cdi, and I absolutly love it. It drives like a locomotive, pulls nicely and feels really well built. But the costs to repair it is nothing but crazy. On mine I´ve changed motor mounts, gearbox mount, ABS sensors and now the airmatic suspension acts a bit.... low on air some mornings... But I´m gonna keep it and next car willl be a E350 cdi. And as usual , great video!!!
It’s largely because they think they can fleece the customer rather than Mercedes is expensive to maintain; if Yu think a Mercedes is expensive just wait until you drive an aging BMW.
@@AA-os1sg yes it is. I had an IS350.. it maybe related to Toyota but dont for a second think that just cos its Japanese and Toyota, that it will be cheap to run. That being said it was quite a wonderful car.. I bought mine with high kilometres and fixed her up and it was purring ….
Here’s hoping that the ad revenue and whatnot for this excellent vid compensates for the lack of profit! Superb content as usual, and good on you for saving another decent vehicle. May whoever ends up with this one truly appreciate your hard work!
Keyless? Nah, that's the IR receiver. Hold down Unlock continuously about 10cm from that receiver and all the windows will come down (and sunroof open) as you unlock. Hold down Lock to roll windows up and lock car. Or, with all windows down, start car, move off and press Recirc on climate controls continuously to roll up windows and close sunroof... also called Tunnel mode. Press Recirc again to leave Recirc position. Sweet auto, eh? One of those rare examples of where the pre-facelift looks better than the facelift. Gotta love those Winifredo Camacho lines!
We had a 2015 facelift model in the family years ago, it kept eating through O2 sensors and chucking EML lights which was annoying and costly. The Interior is dated but exterior has held up well for a 10 year old Mercedes. I would rather have a BMW 5 series over this though. Great video as always.
I run a W212 E350 and it looks just like this. Low at front and high at rear. I think it looks purposeful rather than broken. And it looks stunning in black!
I do like these - a lot - good balance between cost, comfort and generally being something nice to cover a huge chunk of distance in. Did you ever figure out why the front looks so low in comparison to the rear?
Rear suspension probably stuck in winter mode !!! It does that all the time !! The suspension on that car is a total nightmare !! Hated that car !! It looks nice !!! Thats all !!!
@@Macron87 yep !!!!!! Big time !!! When we talk about a mercedes E class, even more exclamation point !!! Cause this car gave me a ton of problems !!!!!! Sorry !!! 🤣🤣🤣
Hi Matt, that the second Merc E class that’s been a complete pain for you! I have vowed I will never buy another E class again no matter how good a bargain it looks. When they go wrong they are so expensive
I wonder if the rear springs have been changed at some point because it looks rather high at the rear imo. I think it could potentially look quite sporty if the rear was lowered too to match the front as long as it didn't ruin the ride quality. Or perhaps that heavy 2.1 diesel engine has compressed the front springs over time. A brave man to venture into a mouldy E coli-ss Benz without PPE.
Hello Again, Matt, a great tip to get rid of mold and 'kill' the mold spores, 'oil of clove' heavily diluted with 20 parts water (I found it on RUclips). I used it on a very, very moldy vehicle and three years later still no mold. Regards. RichardA.
Always nice to see a quality car brought back from the brink. I still regret giving up on my w211 when the repairs became more than it's value, it was one of the best cars I have ever owned.
I’ve had a 2012 e250 coupe for 6 years now and it’s a great car. Gets serviced at my local garage every year ( had full merc service history until 5 year r/s ago) and has had two transmission oil services. It doesn’t cost a lot to maintain ( think my biggest bill since I’ve had it was about £600) as long as you service them every year and keep on top of the little wear items( coil springs and suspension arms will go as these are heavy cars) then they will last a long long time. Mine has done 105,000 miles and I intend to keep it for the foreseeable future. I recently had a recall from merc and they replaced the passenger airbag - you might want to check that this one will also need that doing Matt. Love the Chanel and always watch your vids. A young lad called Chris from your village ( said he knows you) recently bought my wife’s Hyundai i10 and he was a nice chap as well - must be a nice village😃😂
Mate i like your channel because i have never had a decent car, i have never earnt a lot and had 3 kids so dumb as dirt really but i have always appreciated the cars that i had and i really enjoy your attitude towards the old and unloved because if you are not trying to make a profit like yourself and just need a reliable banger its good to hear where the bargains are, thankyou.
Nice car Matt. To be fair, considering the potential list of possible mechanical and electrical issues a ten year old car could've had, it's not too bad. No profit for you this time and the buyer will benefit from your investment. You've yet again saved a very nice car though which could last another ten years. By which time, like my W204 C Class it will be worthless by then due to ULEZ incompatibility 😭
Serves as a big dose of realism for the people who watch your channel thinking you make loads of easy money in the trade. At least you resurrected another car left for dead and gave it second life. It looks great. Hope the next few cars more than make up for this one.
It's a pity he didn't mention anything about low front. Left us hanging a bit there. New springs would have perhaps put him in a loss making situation.
Sad that you aren’t making any reasonable profit…..however….your integrity remains well and truly in tact. Well done for being reliable, responsible and remarkable!!!
Sorry Matt, been stung too many times with German money pits ( says he that now owns a Jag XF ) I nearly bought one of these but a E350 Sport but I diverted on the way to view and ended up with the Jag. Japanese for me from now on
Great content as always. I liked the coupe version of this era of E Class, mate of mine had one, it did just over 300,000 miles from new and barely anything went wrong. Call me cynical but I'm not convinced the modern petrol hybrids will have quite the same longevity as these older diesel mercs.
Lol the toyota petrol hybrids do 1 million miles on original engine and gearbox. Whereas my E220d is currently waiting for a Nox sensor that is on back order and im having to use my daughters car. So enjoying 'German reliability' !
@Darshit Cumdeep Gupta Comparing Toyota's reliability to other manufacturers is like comparing Heinz beans to supermarket own brand. My point was more older Mercedes vs New hybrid Mercedes.
@@neilashton9244 oh my mate had a e300 merc hybrid about 5 yrs ago and the Merc hybrid battery failed. And Merc wanted £10k. Ridiculous. Merc were decent 20 30 years ago but now they have rubbish quality. Always under Ford and the French cars for reliability and build. They are going the JLR way and treating us customers as mugs. Same with my wifes Audi Q7, 2 years old but is rattling . Not acceptable.
I have the E350 CDi Coupe AMG Line from 2011. I’ve had it 7 years and it still brings a smile to my face. It’s been an excellent car. The V6 diesel is very responsive and yet it does 47mpg.
@@Guapito1973 hi I'm looking to get a 2013-15 facelift e class coupe is there any issues with the e350d blutec or should I get e220d? Thanks and high mileage ok?
Unlucky Matt. You didn't deserve all that. Wife still rocking her 08 C class with 165k on, and it's £1000 a year, every year for something. Even on that, I still make sure she's got decent Michelins on though. Worth more than the car perhaps, but less than her life.
Well done Matt Iam proud of you doing up this Merc . Someone will get a really good car now you have made this car like new. You are very good at what you do as a car salesman and most of all you are a man of honest and integrity Well done Matt Kevin from Radcliffe Yes I would buy a car from you because I know iam getting good value for my money
Love the depth of knowledge of so many marques and variants which are always a feature of these videos. Would like to have been told why the car sat so nose-heavy or did tight (nonexistent) margins preclude getting that far?
Possible £38 profit. On the upside it is another car you have saved, but from a business point of view, was it worth it? The thing is, you're honest with your appraisals and the end results reflect that Matt. Need more people like you in this mad World.
Great content as always Matt, Recently it seems every car is a disaster for you, however you would not be in business if that was the case, and it does make great content for us. :-)
The video's been on there now for about 4 hours, as I write....I bet you've sold it already - it's awesome value and you've done such a great job, bringing a neglected car back to life...
Ever since I started watching your videos I've been wanting to greet people with "Hi guys, how's it going? Welcome back". I know others have commented similar in the past. Anyhow, great review as always Matt.
I really am a great fan of your channel Matt and I am always interested to see what you are going to come up with next. I remember when I saw the first W212 in Mercedes garage back in 2009, it was bit of a slap in the face for me because I had really taken to the W211. It has beautiful clean lines and I love that long wheel base look so it took me a while to get use it but I do like the Elegance spec however if I was going for an E class, it would be a W211 as it still doesn't look dated, and could be a future classic, and I still like this era of E clasd very much
281k subs already! I remember when you had about 40k. You’re doing well, Matt! Rightly so. 👍 I have a 350 CDI (Sport) Estate version (the S212 I understand) of that W212. Great car. I see no reason to change it - I’ll leave others to keep up with the Jones’s simian chest-beating. 😁
I agree but I remember the furore when images of those quad headlamps emerged! It’s aged well - same as the infamous Austin Allegro ‘Quartic’ steering wheel - now they’re in every car…. 🤣
@@MarthaMansbridge . The allegro, Jesus even as a kid when they were new out I hated those car, they were an abomination of a car. I think they put a square steering into them to take your mind of the rest of the car…
You got a bearing problem, mine just failed and cracked, same warning lights… was scary when it happened I was driving at about 70 and the wheel bearing blew up.
The Sport models sit very low at the front... lowered suspensions on them... I recently bought my wife a 13 plate B class B200 Sport , sat terribly low at the front . My mechanic fitted spacers on the front springs which brought it up 35mm .. Sits a lot better now...
I have to say I really appreciate your attention to maintenance and fixing the car before selling. Not many honest car dealers, or honest people for that matter, left in this world! I wish the dealer I bought my F30 320i 58k miles from did the same. So far I have had to do the following: - 4 sets of Continental Contact 5s because the car had cheap Chinese tyres (literally cheapest tyre on Asda) on the back and worn continentals on the front - Cracked alloy (came like that from the dealer) - Transmission oil change - Full service (oil, brake fluid, coolant) - Need to unfuck one of the dealer’s doing which they sealed the rear subframe and they sealed over all the nuts and bolts including the tracking bolts as well - The “full service” the dealer did, they forgot to put the washer on the oil plug back on which led to a slow oil leak that covered most of the underside - The coolant change somehow led to the car reading higher temperature at motorway speed 115°C which before would never get there so I gotta get that issue sorted as well All in so far is around £1900 and the car itself was £13,094 but at least it was on finance. I like maintaining a car properly so even if I do end up selling it, the next owner will have themselves a properly fixed car. The price to pay for keeping the car honest and in good shape. No such thing as a cheap German car but mine wasn’t even cheap to begin with🤦🏽♂️🤣
You also failed to mention that you could save YOURSELF money IF you did a vehicle history check before you bought the car, and not the other way around, the opposite to what you tell us to do.
The check didn’t show up anything untoward anyway? Plus he’s a trader so much of what he buys will be blind, with chances taken. Par for the course. Traders are sometimes “obliged” to accept cars from their regular sources - and inevitably sometimes there will be lemons.
@@HighPeakAutos High Peak Mechanics and restorations!! you have the buying skills and the buisness ones!! and when ur mechanics are on the payroll far cheaper than outsourcing!!
Alot of car for the money Matt! The sensor on the door handle is an IR sensor.....the locks are controlled by RF but the comfort open/close features (windows/sunroof etc) are done via IR to stop this being done whilst you are away from the car/from a distance as you have to aim the key at the sensor to do it. Kinda clever I guess!
This is my favorite platform from E class (w212), my dad loves E class so much, our family in Indonesia had 300ce (c124), e240 avantgarde (w211) and e300 avantgarde AMG (w212)
1:25 Just so you know there are actually halogen models with the washers too! it was an option. But all halogen models have round fog lights and DRLs in the bumper. (Although some markets in Asia didn't have the DRLs on the base models) unless someone had retrofitted the better looking LED DRLs. Also the parking lamps on bi-xenon and ILS models are a round LED light instead of a old school reflector on the halogens.
These are great cars so much better quality than the earlier model. You can add BT in the earlier 2010 model with a £20 module that plugs into the media interface in the glovebox. Mine is the 350cdi bought for under £7k with 60k on the clock FSH and it looks near new. 7 spd gearbox is much improved over the 5spd and the car is so relaxing to drive all day. Whisper quiet at illegal speeds too. I actually prefer the original angular styling to the two later restyles. Search out a good one and you won’t regret it
Matt: I hate it when cars are just left to stand
Owner: I’m dead
Hahaha decent excuse
😂😂😂
😂😂👍
😂😂⚰⚰🪦🪦⚱⚱
😂
This guy might be the only car dealer in the world who ACTUALLY fixes a car before selling it. Everyone esle just does first aid. Good man.
I did that but there was no money to be made. So I quit.
Most here in Oz are Dodgy crooks,Saying log books,records were lost etc like politicians cant be trusted.Dodgy!
It's mainly because they come in as PX at main dealers owing too much money, meaning the dealer has paid too much for it, they pay over the odd to secure the sale on the new car.
Problem is to then retail it at a main dealer it has to be up to a certain standard and to put it all right would mean all margin is gone or your selling it at a loss.
It then gets put through the trade and sold at a price reflecting its age mileage or condition, if you are lucky enough to find an independent dealer that goes to the trouble and expense, they know what they are doing with regards to purchasing the right stock for the right money.
When I worked for a main dealer customers would always go over the approved used cars with a fine tooth comb and try and haggle hundreds off for every blemish. I used to tell them I have exactly the car you want and hand them a new car pricelist.
There really is not a ‘car salesman’ that can touch you. Your work, ethic, honesty, and add to that your growing numbers of subscribers, your quality videos. You’ve pretty much owned this category. What an achievement.
Thanks! I don’t really consider myself a car salesman to be fair
Yep. A car salesman profits from financing and skimping on honest repairs. You however seem to find cars and fix them at cost to benefit your customers. What's your day job?😂
Love these videos Matt. You're really kicking arse with content. And you're a fantastic role model for getting stuff done.
Thanks!
@@backupintheday9710 it’s an auto
None of the engine issues were due to just sitting but from an owner who made the decision not to repair the vehicle due to cost, but at the end of the day i would rather take my chances with a used high mileage w212 than most other MB other models.
Just watching the subscribers to your channel going up every week! A real tribute to the quality of what you do but also your ability to really connect with your audience and the great journey you take us on with all these cars…
Wow, thank you!
The w212 is always been my favorite gen of Merc E Class, both normal and AMG variants. I remember I got this as a taxi from Singapore Changi Airport. It still feels very new since it drives so smooth and quiet, almost like a brand new car. And it has done close to 800,000 KMs.. Great car!..
10:40 you don’t buy a becker system, you buy a similar device from your preferred online vendor that enables android auto and apple car play instead of the becker navigation, so you can use it to navigate and do other stuff. It’s an amazing upgrade for this cars, especially because it integrates very well without any cables, just plug & play. 😉👍
Best looking E class! Quad headlight design, flared rear fenders (like Bentley) and the iconic classic hood ornament!
“Field mouse, rat, hungry mechanic?” Matt, this is why we have been subscribed to you for so long. The range of cars featured and your style of presentation and editing is spot on and continues to be tweaked (slow zoom out at the beginning and different crops).
Best channel of its type on the tube with a U 💪
Great video matt you don't skimp on your work and as you say someone will get a great car after your efforts hats off to you for saving a car and being so honest about your vehicles you certainly are a proper genuine trader and deserve every success that come your way 👍
Thanks 👍
You just saved me a longer post pal. Well done Matt, that is a cracking motor for someone who may have thought that they could never afford a Mercedes Benz. The happiness that the new owner will feel is priceless and I just feel that car has a good few years left in it yet thanks to you. Karma will give you a good profit on another car to make up for this one I’m sure.
clearly has as the front is still low, so they are the wrong springs
I got picked up from Athens airport in one of these last week. It had 665,000 km on the clock and still felt as good as my own low mileage w212 which I bought a few years back. 1:07
Impressive
Great cars. Impressive how nice a well cared for high miler can be. On previous work trips to Italy we were driven in a Merc w210 e class
270 cdi with over 400k miles on it, cruising along at 135 mph plus. 4 of my frends and I have recently bought newish E/C220d mercs with the intention of keeping them forever. I’ll let you know how we get on.
There good engines 2.1 they eat glow plugs not sure if thats changed after 2014, Same Cyprus taxi had 336,000km e220. Sad thing is most 70,000 miles owners dont bother getting the gearbox service so when a person around 120,000 gets it can be £££
@@alansorbie4038it's most likely not W210 but W211
I was curious if you did find anything amiss with the front springs or suspension? No profit but another one saved. 👍
After a few E220 dogs, I got a mint one, for £4k & not a penny to spend extra.
Tyres are at 4mm all round.
Did have a old w211 E220 estate 6 years ago & enjoyed that old girl.
These are super comfy work horses & just need a little TLC &
Will be getting a remapped soon.
Absolutely love this generation E class 🔥
The pre facelift W212 looks so good in 2023 when compared to Mercedes new offerings. Distinctive and aggressive. Always though it looked a bit like a Decepticon transformer. Even prefer the interior on these models to the newer offerings, as they hark back to the W124 Mercs. Another great vid, well done.
Indeed. I prefer the 2009-2013 W212 over the 14+
I bought one month ago
Great video, entertaining presentation, matt! I just bought this w212 exactly like this 3 weeks ago...beautiful teronite grey with 19 inch original amg rim...so happy...!
I have a pre face-lift 2013 and am about to purchase an estate 2015. I'm hoping to keep both but I feel the 2013 is a but high on km 260,000 now..
I have a W212. A 220CDI, same colour. In the three and a half years I've wned it, I have spent a couple of grand on. Worth it though. Nothing else feels like a Mercedes. I love the way it feels in the hands. Also, that design will never look old. Not in my opinion. Lovely car. Not for everyone though. It's HEAVY.
Most dealers would just get some lad to clean out the interior and sell it as it is. I love the care Matt takes over these motors.
I ran a CLS a couple of years older than this E Class and had so many issues with the springs. Not even a main dealer seemed able to fit the right ones. It eventually looked like this E Class, a bit high at the back, low at the front. Fuel economy was awesome as I was always driving downhill 😂
But people keep on telling me these Mercs are ultra reliable and built to last 50 years. Nothing goes wrong. Just need to do an oil change.
@@patrickbateman9197 the same people who are frightened of electric cars, because they are „not reliable“? 😉
@@erebostd
Good job electric cars:
Aren't heavy
Have crap range
Many people can't charge them at home...
Here's a tip. The next time you see a charging cable across a public pavement. Stand on it and grind it in to the pavement. Damage it good.
I've even disconnected a cable from a car before and pushed the cable in to the gutter.
@@patrickbateman9197 "spot the American" is way too easy in your case...
@@patrickbateman9197 you sound like a real whopper. 👍
I wasn't going to say it Matt but in the end...there comes a point in our lives that we could all do with a good "clean and buff up"...oh and the car as well, someone is going to benefit greatly from the work done on it and you will surely feel a lot happier when you invest the £38 profit in your next car 🙌 lol wish there were more honest used car salesmen well done Matt 🤩🥳
Bit of b.s no dealer would lose on a car!! Sold for 7.5 at least
I hired one back in 2013. After usually getting Skoda's as hire cars here in Czech Republic, the Mercedes made you feel good. Not so much the difference in how it drove. More the walking up to it and getting in. Even though it wasn't mine, I just hired it for a long weekend.
somehow, I think this W212 E-class looks outstanding no matter in pre facelift or new facelift… they are Just awesome! we still keep an 2013 E350 V6 AMG Line package in white colour exterior and black Nappa leather interior, it has almost all options ticked such as Panoramic Glassroof, 9 SRS airbags, rear and side windows blinds, keyless GO, bi-xenon headlamps, 18 inch alloy wheels ( same as in the video ), distronic plus cruise ctrl, memory seats, electric steering column, heated & ventilated seats, blue heat glass all around, harmon kardon sound system, parktronic, power boot, active blind spot assist, lane departure warning and lane keep assist
I’m almost sure I’m addicted to this channel now keep up the good work 👍🏻😀
Glad you enjoy it!
Is it correct that you have to pay VAT on the differenec betweem purchase/sale ? £4500 and £6995 ?
Even when you've claimed the VAT back on some of the repairs, it makes buying cheap cars needing a lot of repair hard to make proffit on. Could you cover/explain the VAT side of things in a future video?
Another great video 👍
A trader friend explained this to me. If you purchase a car for £1,000 and sell it for £5,000, you have to pay VAT on the difference (i.e. £4,000) - irrespective of what you have paid to prep/fix the car. I believe the VAT paid is the margin x 1/6. It's an odd system and (imho) makes a lot of cars uneconomical to repair (at least for a trader).
Why would you run a Merc and put cheap crappy tyres on it?
My thought exactly
They’re black and round… and cheap. They were probably replaced to sell the car.
My uncle uses one in Northampton as a taxi, has over 400k miles on it still runs fine, serviced every 7k miles was his reply.
"Don't know if that's standard?" Welcome to MercLand: *Nothing* is standard, other than 4 wheels, a (basic) steering wheel and statutory minimum lights.
Haha yes that’s right
Back in November I bought a mini convertible for the Mrs from a family member for just £400…within a week the head gasket went…I took it to a local BMW specialist…£1500 later it’s back on the road and drives like new..skimmed cylinder head, new rad, water pump, thermostat, brake discs and fresh mot…I wouldn’t have bothered without watching your videos! Thanks mate 👍🏼
Good to hear your thought process when you're looking at buying cars, really interesting. Thanks for uploading 👍🏼
No worries!
What a coincidence. I was just browsing RUclips randomly and got one of your videos recommended again after not having them recommended for some reason for a few months, and a few days after our uncles 2010/11 Mercedes W212 E350 CDI 4 matic came to us for service, this video shows up lol. Great video!
When I got a c220 of the same age a few years back (same engine) I also had to do the DPF sensor, ABS sensor. Seems to be common on these, luckily have an excellent independent merc specialist who sorted all that very cheap. Other than these things it was almost perfect, lasted me 3 years and 25k miles remapped and didn’t miss a beat. Just replaced it with a 350 of the same age, the 6 cylinder gives it a whole different personality. Love that car
Well, all I can say is that I would love to buy a second hand car from you but I'm in Ireland. You are probably one of the few garages that fixes cars properly before resale.
The E class is in a class of it's own.
90s build quality was stupendous.
When I worked for a dealer, any trade-in they didn't wholesale, they gave a quick wash and a vac and it went onto the lot. They didn't do any work on the car unless the buying customer pointed out an issue.
Great vid as always. I like the look of this E Class generations pre-face lift model. The split front headlights and the rear lights looked distinctive and not like other Mercs. So what does Mercedes do with the facelift,? It changes the front and rear lights to look almost exactly look like the S Class & the C Class, and lose the E Class's distinctive look! The usual Mercedes' Russian doll styling approach!
I think the face-lift of this is the best looking E ever. The dual torch LEDs still made it distinctively E Class. Also, the rear light itself wasn't different it was just the LED light signature that they changed. I still see many people thinking the W212 face lift is a new model.
@@SDav21 Same i love the facelift. Mercedes wanted to say goodbye to the '4-eyed-face' (Vieraugengesicht) that was present since the W210, and go back to a more simplistic design reminiscent of the W124.
I own a 2011 S212 220 cdi, and I absolutly love it. It drives like a locomotive, pulls nicely and feels really well built. But the costs to repair it is nothing but crazy. On mine I´ve changed motor mounts, gearbox mount, ABS sensors and now the airmatic suspension acts a bit.... low on air some mornings... But I´m gonna keep it and next car willl be a E350 cdi. And as usual , great video!!!
Speaking as a fastidious man that I am…wanted to drop a quick line of genuine admiration and appreciation. Keep up the good work mate.
Having owned an E class I can tell you, soon as any mechanic sees that badge, they know they are on treble profit time.
I actually know a lot of mechanics who drive e classes themselves, especially the W211 version
It’s largely because they think they can fleece the customer rather than Mercedes is expensive to maintain; if Yu think a Mercedes is expensive just wait until you drive an aging BMW.
@@davidorama6690 Or a Volvo, Audi... A Mercedes is cheaper to run than a similar Opel or any other middleclass car.
@@davidorama6690Is Lexus ageing also problem?
@@AA-os1sg yes it is. I had an IS350.. it maybe related to Toyota but dont for a second think that just cos its Japanese and Toyota, that it will be cheap to run. That being said it was quite a wonderful car.. I bought mine with high kilometres and fixed her up and it was purring ….
I so admire how you do everything properly. Inspirational.
Thanks. I try
Here’s hoping that the ad revenue and whatnot for this excellent vid compensates for the lack of profit! Superb content as usual, and good on you for saving another decent vehicle. May whoever ends up with this one truly appreciate your hard work!
Keyless? Nah, that's the IR receiver. Hold down Unlock continuously about 10cm from that receiver and all the windows will come down (and sunroof open) as you unlock. Hold down Lock to roll windows up and lock car. Or, with all windows down, start car, move off and press Recirc on climate controls continuously to roll up windows and close sunroof... also called Tunnel mode. Press Recirc again to leave Recirc position. Sweet auto, eh? One of those rare examples of where the pre-facelift looks better than the facelift. Gotta love those Winifredo Camacho lines!
We had a 2015 facelift model in the family years ago, it kept eating through O2 sensors and chucking EML lights which was annoying and costly. The Interior is dated but exterior has held up well for a 10 year old Mercedes. I would rather have a BMW 5 series over this though. Great video as always.
What 15 years?
@@doru10922 , he’s from the future and I’m asking for this weekends lottery numbers😂
@@roymorrison6713 let's share the win :)))
@@doru10922 typo error. Corrected.
@@snbala don't worry, it's fine
I run a W212 E350 and it looks just like this. Low at front and high at rear. I think it looks purposeful rather than broken. And it looks stunning in black!
I do like these - a lot - good balance between cost, comfort and generally being something nice to cover a huge chunk of distance in. Did you ever figure out why the front looks so low in comparison to the rear?
Rear suspension probably stuck in winter mode !!! It does that all the time !! The suspension on that car is a total nightmare !! Hated that car !! It looks nice !!! Thats all !!!
I have a w212 facelift
And the rear does sit higher
@@Zack-hn2ui you love an exclamation mark, don’t you?
@@Macron87 yep !!!!!! Big time !!! When we talk about a mercedes E class, even more exclamation point !!! Cause this car gave me a ton of problems !!!!!! Sorry !!! 🤣🤣🤣
Hi Matt, that the second Merc E class that’s been a complete pain for you!
I have vowed I will never buy another E class again no matter how good a bargain it looks. When they go wrong they are so expensive
I wonder if the rear springs have been changed at some point because it looks rather high at the rear imo. I think it could potentially look quite sporty if the rear was lowered too to match the front as long as it didn't ruin the ride quality. Or perhaps that heavy 2.1 diesel engine has compressed the front springs over time. A brave man to venture into a mouldy E coli-ss Benz without PPE.
This is why he is such a trustworthy car dealer. All the attention to detail.
Great videos. My S class (of this era) was the most expensive (to service) and fault prone care I have ever owned. Never again.
Utter shite them! All plasticy and horrible. The W222 was a much, much better car.
Hello Again, Matt, a great tip to get rid of mold and 'kill' the mold spores, 'oil of clove' heavily diluted with 20 parts water (I found it on RUclips). I used it on a very, very moldy vehicle and three years later still no mold. Regards. RichardA.
Always nice to see a quality car brought back from the brink. I still regret giving up on my w211 when the repairs became more than it's value, it was one of the best cars I have ever owned.
I’ve had a 2012 e250 coupe for 6 years now and it’s a great car. Gets serviced at my local garage every year ( had full merc service history until 5 year r/s ago) and has had two transmission oil services. It doesn’t cost a lot to maintain ( think my biggest bill since I’ve had it was about £600) as long as you service them every year and keep on top of the little wear items( coil springs and suspension arms will go as these are heavy cars) then they will last a long long time. Mine has done 105,000 miles and I intend to keep it for the foreseeable future. I recently had a recall from merc and they replaced the passenger airbag - you might want to check that this one will also need that doing Matt. Love the Chanel and always watch your vids. A young lad called Chris from your village ( said he knows you) recently bought my wife’s Hyundai i10 and he was a nice chap as well - must be a nice village😃😂
I love it when Matt uploads mercedes content
Mate i like your channel because i have never had a decent car, i have never earnt a lot and had 3 kids so dumb as dirt really but i have always appreciated the cars that i had and i really enjoy your attitude towards the old and unloved because if you are not trying to make a profit like yourself and just need a reliable banger its good to hear where the bargains are, thankyou.
Nice car Matt. To be fair, considering the potential list of possible mechanical and electrical issues a ten year old car could've had, it's not too bad. No profit for you this time and the buyer will benefit from your investment. You've yet again saved a very nice car though which could last another ten years. By which time, like my W204 C Class it will be worthless by then due to ULEZ incompatibility 😭
Serves as a big dose of realism for the people who watch your channel thinking you make loads of easy money in the trade.
At least you resurrected another car left for dead and gave it second life. It looks great.
Hope the next few cars more than make up for this one.
Quite a nice looking car. There obviously wasn't an issue with the front looking a bit low compared to the rear then.
That is interesting isn't it. Because its not right, mine doesn't look the same
It's a pity he didn't mention anything about low front. Left us hanging a bit there. New springs would have perhaps put him in a loss making situation.
Sad that you aren’t making any reasonable profit…..however….your integrity remains well and truly in tact. Well done for being reliable, responsible and remarkable!!!
Sorry Matt, been stung too many times with German money pits ( says he that now owns a Jag XF ) I nearly bought one of these but a E350 Sport but I diverted on the way to view and ended up with the Jag.
Japanese for me from now on
The best Mercedes Benz Matt. Great looking cars and doing great for their age.
Looks like it’s cigar time for me, nice one mate.
What you have? 💨 🥃
@@callummackinnon1050 I had the Alec Bradley, Black Market Robusto, very good cigar.
I like this guy. Used car dealers get a bad rap but I've had some good ones I've purchased from and you seem genuine too.
Great content as always. I liked the coupe version of this era of E Class, mate of mine had one, it did just over 300,000 miles from new and barely anything went wrong. Call me cynical but I'm not convinced the modern petrol hybrids will have quite the same longevity as these older diesel mercs.
Lol the toyota petrol hybrids do 1 million miles on original engine and gearbox. Whereas my E220d is currently waiting for a Nox sensor that is on back order and im having to use my daughters car. So enjoying 'German reliability' !
@Darshit Cumdeep Gupta Comparing Toyota's reliability to other manufacturers is like comparing Heinz beans to supermarket own brand. My point was more older Mercedes vs New hybrid Mercedes.
@@neilashton9244 oh my mate had a e300 merc hybrid about 5 yrs ago and the Merc hybrid battery failed. And Merc wanted £10k. Ridiculous. Merc were decent 20 30 years ago but now they have rubbish quality. Always under Ford and the French cars for reliability and build. They are going the JLR way and treating us customers as mugs. Same with my wifes Audi Q7, 2 years old but is rattling . Not acceptable.
I have the E350 CDi Coupe AMG Line from 2011. I’ve had it 7 years and it still brings a smile to my face. It’s been an excellent car. The V6 diesel is very responsive and yet it does 47mpg.
@@Guapito1973 hi I'm looking to get a 2013-15 facelift e class coupe is there any issues with the e350d blutec or should I get e220d? Thanks and high mileage ok?
My grandad has that exact car only his is a 2013 and has 150,000 miles on the clock. Great work, looks great.
Unlucky Matt. You didn't deserve all that. Wife still rocking her 08 C class with 165k on, and it's £1000 a year, every year for something.
Even on that, I still make sure she's got decent Michelins on though. Worth more than the car perhaps, but less than her life.
Well done Matt Iam proud of you doing up this Merc . Someone will get a really good car now you have made this car like new.
You are very good at what you do as a car salesman and most of all you are a man of honest and integrity
Well done Matt
Kevin from Radcliffe
Yes I would buy a car from you because I know iam getting good value for my money
Love the depth of knowledge of so many marques and variants which are always a feature of these videos. Would like to have been told why the car sat so nose-heavy or did tight (nonexistent) margins preclude getting that far?
Possible £38 profit. On the upside it is another car you have saved, but from a business point of view, was it worth it? The thing is, you're honest with your appraisals and the end results reflect that Matt. Need more people like you in this mad World.
Great content as always Matt, Recently it seems every car is a disaster for you, however you would not be in business if that was the case, and it does make great content for us. :-)
I do like the honesty and acceptance that he doesn't make money every time. As well as selling a sorted product.
Can’t believe you don’t go to these cars with gloves and antibac wipes !
The video's been on there now for about 4 hours, as I write....I bet you've sold it already - it's awesome value and you've done such a great job, bringing a neglected car back to life...
These were/are taxis in Paris. Nice cars.
Ever since I started watching your videos I've been wanting to greet people with "Hi guys, how's it going? Welcome back". I know others have commented similar in the past. Anyhow, great review as always Matt.
I really am a great fan of your channel Matt and I am always interested to see what you are going to come up with next. I remember when I saw the first W212 in Mercedes garage back in 2009, it was bit of a slap in the face for me because I had really taken to the W211. It has beautiful clean lines and I love that long wheel base look so it took me a while to get use it but I do like the Elegance spec however if I was going for an E class, it would be a W211 as it still doesn't look dated, and could be a future classic, and I still like this era of E clasd very much
Exactly have this model! Same Color ,same spec….. had it since brand new and still a bulletproof machine after 300000 miles
281k subs already! I remember when you had about 40k. You’re doing well, Matt! Rightly so. 👍
I have a 350 CDI (Sport) Estate version (the S212 I understand) of that W212. Great car. I see no reason to change it - I’ll leave others to keep up with the Jones’s simian chest-beating. 😁
I paused at 1:30 to just let you know I love your optimism.... Hopefully this time it will be rewarded. Pressing play.
I actually love the look of that model E class, you love good gearbox service don’t ya Matt
They’re good looking cars even after all those years
I agree but I remember the furore when images of those quad headlamps emerged! It’s aged well - same as the infamous Austin Allegro ‘Quartic’ steering wheel - now they’re in every car…. 🤣
@@MarthaMansbridge . The allegro, Jesus even as a kid when they were new out I hated those car, they were an abomination of a car. I think they put a square steering into them to take your mind of the rest of the car…
Im loving this, mine has almost all the same issues minus the mold because it’s incredibly dry here year round. Been fixing it up as the second owner.
I think this is the beauty of your channel. You can make some, indirect profit, from entertaining us with a sense of humour so similar to mine 😂😂
I appreciate that! I’m grateful for that
Does this year E. Class not have air suspension?
You got a bearing problem, mine just failed and cracked, same warning lights… was scary when it happened I was driving at about 70 and the wheel bearing blew up.
Keep up the great work Mate love the content 👍 👏 💚
Matt Hi .. Just got to say the Mercedes has Scrubbed up Brilliantly ! Nice looking Car 👍 Regards Chris
Thanks 👍
What was the problem with front end suspension Matt or was it ok anyway, great insight and a bit shocking to learn u don’t always make a profit 🤞😉
Yes, it still looks a bit low at the front after all the work was done
The Sport models sit very low at the front... lowered suspensions on them... I recently bought my wife a 13 plate B class B200 Sport , sat terribly low at the front . My mechanic fitted spacers on the front springs which brought it up 35mm .. Sits a lot better now...
I have to say I really appreciate your attention to maintenance and fixing the car before selling. Not many honest car dealers, or honest people for that matter, left in this world!
I wish the dealer I bought my F30 320i 58k miles from did the same. So far I have had to do the following:
- 4 sets of Continental Contact 5s because the car had cheap Chinese tyres (literally cheapest tyre on Asda) on the back and worn continentals on the front
- Cracked alloy (came like that from the dealer)
- Transmission oil change
- Full service (oil, brake fluid, coolant)
- Need to unfuck one of the dealer’s doing which they sealed the rear subframe and they sealed over all the nuts and bolts including the tracking bolts as well
- The “full service” the dealer did, they forgot to put the washer on the oil plug back on which led to a slow oil leak that covered most of the underside
- The coolant change somehow led to the car reading higher temperature at motorway speed 115°C which before would never get there so I gotta get that issue sorted as well
All in so far is around £1900 and the car itself was £13,094 but at least it was on finance. I like maintaining a car properly so even if I do end up selling it, the next owner will have themselves a properly fixed car. The price to pay for keeping the car honest and in good shape. No such thing as a cheap German car but mine wasn’t even cheap to begin with🤦🏽♂️🤣
I have a W212 E500, as well as a W211 E500. My 212 had own owner who was meticulous. Car still drives like it's brand new.
You also failed to mention that you could save YOURSELF money IF you did a vehicle history check before you bought the car, and not the other way around, the opposite to what you tell us to do.
I do it for my own entertainment and yours but I would always recommend doing one beforehand
The check didn’t show up anything untoward anyway? Plus he’s a trader so much of what he buys will be blind, with chances taken. Par for the course. Traders are sometimes “obliged” to accept cars from their regular sources - and inevitably sometimes there will be lemons.
To be honset, i think id go broke doing your work cause id just get a kick out of restoring the cars
the amount you spend at ur mechanics you want to employ a mechanic and run ur own workshop! money to be made in two streams then lol
I know but I don’t think I have the energy for that
@@HighPeakAutos High Peak Mechanics and restorations!! you have the buying skills and the buisness ones!! and when ur mechanics are on the payroll far cheaper than outsourcing!!
Could be a really great video stream buisnes also! all us car mad sods love seeing a wreck made good!!
Pre (exterior) facelift W212, the last great Mercedeses.
Fed up with car vertical checks on so many channels
Alot of car for the money Matt!
The sensor on the door handle is an IR sensor.....the locks are controlled by RF but the comfort open/close features (windows/sunroof etc) are done via IR to stop this being done whilst you are away from the car/from a distance as you have to aim the key at the sensor to do it. Kinda clever I guess!
9:12 Kamala Harris
The woman is a spaz
This is my favorite platform from E class (w212), my dad loves E class so much, our family in Indonesia had 300ce (c124), e240 avantgarde (w211) and e300 avantgarde AMG (w212)
I always remembered someone advising me this; "If you can't afford to buy it new, you cannot afford to buy it used". Never failed me, this advice.
Reminds me a bit of the face-lifted MK3 Skoda Octavia, the way the headlamps are split. Glad you could give the old bus a new lease of life.
1:25 Just so you know there are actually halogen models with the washers too! it was an option. But all halogen models have round fog lights and DRLs in the bumper. (Although some markets in Asia didn't have the DRLs on the base models) unless someone had retrofitted the better looking LED DRLs. Also the parking lamps on bi-xenon and ILS models are a round LED light instead of a old school reflector on the halogens.
time to get yourself an in house mechanical genius and knock out that grand plus vat bill
Prefer the hoodie to the car tbh fairplay not putting the seatbelt on haha
These are great cars so much better quality than the earlier model. You can add BT in the earlier 2010 model with a £20 module that plugs into the media interface in the glovebox. Mine is the 350cdi bought for under £7k with 60k on the clock FSH and it looks near new. 7 spd gearbox is much improved over the 5spd and the car is so relaxing to drive all day. Whisper quiet at illegal speeds too. I actually prefer the original angular styling to the two later restyles. Search out a good one and you won’t regret it