I have an E350 Cabriolet.

I used to date a girl that had a 560 SEL, probably around that vintage. Seemed a fairly reliable beast. Got her to whatever locale was conducive to us getting us together at any rate.

Two of my Brother in laws have had old mercs. No idea what model - cars aren't part of my obsessions. A to B that sort of approach.

But both had myriad small problems and expensive to get work done - at least here in Oz  - wouldn't start - mysterious problems - stuck on highway - mysterious problems - days in workshop - mysterious problems - specialist parts - price of a new suit....... Blah blah. Solved by conning someone else to buy car.

Good luck.

Just buy a Saab!

re the Mercs - the problems they had are in the context of cars these days - in that time our two cars - both of which are second hand - and not fancy did more Ks and never - I mean never - had us stranded anywhere. Nor have our cars in those 5 years every had anything other than normal servicing and replacement parts.

Check the electrical stuff like seats, windows, sun roof, gauges, etc.  That stuff isn't imperative to driving the car, but a bad window motor or some of the other plush little electrical doodads can be problematic and expensive to fix in these old mercedeseses, so I've heard.

Who knows what's in the glove box of this thing.  Owned by the same old lady for twenty-odd years?  Could be anything.

The butler/manservant/septuagenarian love slave said all the service work was done at one dealership, so I could get the VIN and check with them.

We don't have sedans in the UK anymore.

You just can't get the staff.

The e190 had a belt. I never got round to even considering swapping it. It had been changed at around 120k and I bought it at about 140k miles. The car was absolutely solid mechanically but built for the autobahn and not for flying around Irish country roads.

In the UK it's fairly common to see a little sticker on the windshield saying 'timing belt changed' and the date it was changed written underneath.  Not sure that's common practice by mechanics outside the UK.

You need to get hold of the service book, make sure that the oil changes have been done on time, this is the most important thing regarding the longevity of chains.

If the car has been serviced at a main dealers they should have inspected/changed the chain as part of the service schedule. Again check the service book.

If the chain is getting shot at, you'll hear it.

For piece of mind, if you decide to buy the car, get a local mechanic to give it a full service and inspect/replace the timing chains as necessary.

As said, if properly serviced and maintained a motor that size should out last the car.