Mercedes-Benz built the E-Class Wagon W210 to last. But seeing it travel over 542,000 miles must be a surprise even for those who built it. Designed by Bruno Sacco himself, it may look outdated by today’s standards, but it comes with features that some car owners of today can only dream of. Now, it is on a test drive that will prove if it is junk and should be on its way to a scrap yard, or still has life left in it.
Mary Drives a 500,000 Mile Mercedes: It Smells Like When Real Estate Was Cheap!
The Check Engine light came on during the test drive. It is still the original engine under the hood of the E-Class, a power plant codenamed M112, known for its reliability. The gas-fed, four-stroke, spark-ignition V6 fires right up and seems reliable. The W210 generation was the first to get the German carmaker’s then-newly developed V6. The unit came to replace the former straight-six layout, which was on the market between 1995 and 1997.
It is an E 320, which came with 221 horsepower (224 metric horsepower) and 232 pound-feet (315 Newton meters) of torque in an all-wheel drive setup. It surely lost some along the way. When it was still in its heyday, the wagon could accelerate from 0 to 62 mph (0 to 100 kph) in 8.0 seconds on its way to a top speed of 144 mph (234 kph). Not that bad for a seven-seat wagon from the 1990s.
This car might be the 1997 Mercedes W210 with the highest mileage ever. It rolled off the production line the year the blockbuster Titanic came out and traveled 542,539 miles (873,131 kilometers).
Mary, the one who will risk her life drive the 28-year-old Mercedes for the next four days, does the math, and it turns out that the wagon could have circled the Earth 20 times. That’s a lot by any standards.
Dealership maintenance every single year
The Mercedes she has to test-drive is a two-owner vehicle. The first owner drove it until around 40,000, and the second one probably drove across the world back and forth. They both did maintenance work only at Mercedes dealerships, even though the car was far outside its warranty period.
The Fast Lane Car team bought the Benz sight unseen at an auction for $918 with taxes, called it “Betty the Benz,” and invested around $1,300 in it to make it driveable and as safe as such an old car can be. They installed a new radiator and new brake lines, and it was good to go. How good, only Mary can tell after four days with the car.
Everything works on board except for the built-in telephone. The steering wheel is sticky, the AC smells “like my grandfather’s closet,” and Mary permanently hears two sounds. One resembles that of an owl or a ghost (how do ghosts sound?) and comes from the area of the panoramic sunroof. The car is not haunted. It is just the wind, proving that the insulation might have given in over the 28 years this Benz spent on the road.
There is one more sound coming from the front of the headliner: it’s like the breath of a dying king. So, it might be haunted after all… However, the maple walnut trim on board is reminiscent of an elegance that screams ’90s.
When they bought the car, the leather seats were hidden underneath faux fur covers that protected the original upholstery from tears and splits despite the high mileage. Those seats feature power operation and heating.
Elegance from the 1990s
The Check Engine light eventually goes off. That rock-solid M112 might have fixed itself after all, or that ghost living in the headliner might have been a mechanic. When the Fast Lane Car team bought the Mercedes, there was a message on the windshield that scared them: “Engine ticks,” it read. They couldn’t hear anything abnormal, but the “Check Engine” light did not a surprise anyone.
There are a gazillion buttons on board. One is for the xenon headlight washing system. When Mary tries to turn the lights on, she gets the “Lamp defective” message on the dashboard. Another is for the single windshield wiper. The phone buttons, the radio controls, and an automatic cupholder coming out of the center console storage space are inside the old-school cabin.
The front end of the 1997 Mercedes-Benz E-Class is plagued with rust spots that have affected the Quartz Silver paint, but the rear hides a surprise: the car is equipped with the “secret” seats, unfolding from inside the trunk. Those sitting there would ride rear-facing, looking at the cars behind the Benz. They are so cramped that the German carmaker only recommended that children travel in those seats.
“It felt like a normal car all the time,” Mary concludes after around four days in the company of the good old Betty the Benz. Except for the owl and the dying king on board.
