Mercedes 300 TE > Reviews (1)

With the birth of our 4th child last year, I need a car with 6 seats. I had a budget of £6,500. The best MPV i could get for that was a 1993 Renault Espace with a smoky engine, ripped cloth seats and tatty loose fittings. Comparing parts and service prices between that and Mercedes showed very little difference and the Mercedes E Class estate drives an awful lot better.

I ended up with a more powerful model than I intended with a 240+ bhp 300TE-24valve Sportline from 1991. This car may be 12 years old now and have 150,000 miles under its belt but when it was new in 1991 it cost over £40,000. It was built well and still has no rattles or squeeks (apart from the baby seat!), cleans up beutifully and does not look its age at all.

It has proved relatively reliable, very comfortable, safe, swift and has very low depreciation now.

I did take a look at newer 7 seaterRenault Laguna Estate and Peugeot 40 Estates for the same price but the parts and servicing were more than Mercedes ! (You get discount from Mercedes dealers for a "mature" Mercedes over 8 years old). The Renault and Peugeot were not built as well either so in a few years and with the millage my Mercs now got I knew they would not have lasted as well or be as economical to keep on the road.

Insurance sounds scary at group 17 for the 24 valve but comes in at just under £500 for my wife and I (Over 35, garaged, alarmed, live in Somerset).

Regular services at my local garage are £170 ish and it flew through its last MOT.

Parts are not as bad as you imagine (Headlamp £125, Radiator £300 fitted as examples).

Space wise, there is enough room with the third row of seats folded up for my self, my wife and four children. With the third row folded away (takes less than a minutie) we have carried a washing machine in the load bay without folding the middle seats.

All in all these older Mercedes make a strong case. Millions of the saloons are still used by cab drivers across the world and the six cylinder petrol and diesel engines are smooth powerful and most importantly last for ever with good maintenence.

The hard part is finding the specification you want as people tend to keep these cars once they have bought them for a very long time.