As everyone knows, Mercedes-Benz was whipsawed in the 1990’s first by Lexus, then BMW’s growing luxury bona fides, and finally Audi emerging from the shadows and taking ever more market share.
1990 LS 400
Even though I am late to the Lexus owners’ club, I’ll be the first to admit the first LS was a game changer. It was a near universally admired car, and struck a balance between looks, reliability, poise, and desirability that few cars have matched before or since. Indeed, later versions of the LS seem to have lost the formula somewhat, though that may also have as much to do with changing consumer tastes. I still do a double take when I see an older LS, they still just seem so “right” to me.
W140, 1992-1999 MY
And that’s where my idea for a title comes in. Mercedes was handed a basket of lemons in the 1990’s. In my opinion, their engineering prowess was under attack. Other cars were getting the luxury job done as well, more reliably, for less money. The W140 was simply too large for most “normal” people. Hard to park, hard to see out of, expensive for what it was. A dream to ride in, no doubt, but as an everyday car to go to work, or the grocery store, or what have you it was almost a cartoon car, a caricature of a Mercedes. So Mercedes gave in to the market demands and gave us a lighter, “cheaper”, more nimble S-Class. It had cost cutting and compromises, but sold more copies than the W140 and was really a better car to live with day to day.
By late 2007, we had been back into the city for a while, in an old house on a tree-lined street of old houses. And older neighbors too; the couples on each side of us are in their mid 80’s now. We are slowly morphing into neighborhood “old timers” ourselves, as our kids have become teens and one has left for college, with the second going next fall as well.
Not the actual neighbor or car, but pretty close
Not long after we moved in, I noticed a stately older lady in the neighborhood. I often saw her walking, and also often saw her behind the wheel of her black on black S500. It turned out she was the mother of the realtor who sold us our house. She was a widow, and also had a wonderful W124 convertible. The W124 was “her” car, and it now sits in her son’s garage around the corner from us. The S500 was her late husband’s car, who passed when it was almost new.
I saw it often, but it was always within a mile or two of our house. Usually at the grocery store, or our little neighborhood shopping district outside the women’s boutique or wine shop. I always admired it, despite the pretty widespread criticism of the W220 body I was reading about at the time.
The general criticism of the W220 was that it was cheap, poorly engineered, and rushed to market. It was 90% baked from a company that had never brought anything to market that wasn’t fully baked. GM had used buyers as beta testers for years, but Mercedes not so much. The W220 was not intended to come to market until 2001 or so, but Mercedes started building them for Europe in August, 1998 in an attempt to stem the inroads being made by the competition.
W220, 2004-2006 facelift
The 2004 refresh seemed to quell a lot of the negative talk. The 2004-06 versions brought refreshed lights, bumpers, and wheels to the party. But more importantly, it addressed weaknesses with the audio, navigation, and air suspension systems.
Lexus ES, 2007-2012 body
About this time in 2007, I noticed Ms. Realtor Mom in a new 2007 Lexus ES, oddly enough. It was a good looking car too, though of course not as much as an LS. Little did I know I would be trodding the same S-Class to ES path later. Perhaps subconsciously she gave me the idea. In any event, I wondered what had happened to the S500 and figured, regretfully, she had traded it in.
1968 Olds Toronado, “parked last 35 years”
Fast forward a few months later, and it appears on the front row of the local mom and pop used car lot. And I literally mean, mom and pop. It was run by an elderly couple who had been there in the same place since the 1950’s. They were formerly a new car franchise dealer, and sold out to a larger dealer the next town over. They had kept busy selling creampuff used cars and running a busy service operation in the ensuing years. They still have some funky old stuff for sale that they have owned for years; this Olds is on the lot right now.
Turns out her ES was not new, but was a barely used one the mom and pop establishment found for her at auction. They had taken the S500 in on trade, driven it as their personal car for a few months, and now were selling it.
It was an early W220, built July 1999, so it was just over eight years old and had just turned 40,000 miles. They said it had no issues at all and they wanted $24,000.00. I talked them down to $20,000.00 and we made the deal. That seemed like a lot to me for an eight year old car, but knowing the history of it as I did, I felt it was a sound choice. It certainly was drop dead gorgeous, what Mercedes calls “Obsidian” which is a metallic black, with black leather and burl walnut.
$20,000.00 in 2007 is about $23,000.00 today. And the private party value for a similar S-Class (eight years old, 40,000 miles) today is about $25,000.00 so I did OK, a little under private party for a car I knew had not been abused. I drove the car for seven years and about another 100,000 miles, to about 140,000 total.
My experience? Overall quite positive. The 24 valve (3 valve per cylinder) V8 (and V6 sibling) had single overhead cams, and an unusual multipiece valve cover arrangement. These pieces were sealed with RTV and were a common leak point. My engine was sure enough pretty grubby looking even at such low miles, and these covers were the culprit. I removed the valve covers, and cleaned the pieces with a wire brush and engine cleaner. After reassembly with new RTV, I am proud to say they never leaked again.
To remove the valve covers, one had to remove the ignition coils, which were screwed to the valve covers. One coil had two leads, as each cylinder had two spark plugs, or 16 total. After removing and labeling all that, I figured I might as well do the plugs too, since the factory recommendation was 5 years or 100,000 miles, whichever comes first. I ordered a special multijointed spark plug socket recommended for this engine off eBay. Despite the tight quarters, the socket made it quite easy.
The A/C “EC” light stayed on not long after that, and the compressor clearly wasn’t engaging. Pushing the “EC” switch didn’t change anything, so we took a trip to the dealer. It was diagnosed as low refrigerant, and the car turns “econ” on to prevent compressor damage in that situation. They topped off the refrigerant and could find no leaks. It worked fine after that and never leaked down again.
The car was too old to have satellite radio built in, or Bluetooth for your phone. It did have a funky phone dock in the center console, I think mine was set up for a Motorola of some sort. Then, when docked, you could use the screen and dash keypad to make an answer calls. I had an early iPhone and never made use of this feature.
I did add a Sirius receiver like this, which fit perfectly in a coin tray just ahead of the gear shift. It was wired via RCA jacks to an FM modulator, which then plugged into the antenna jack on the head unit (and the antenna plugged into the modulator, so AM/FM still worked). I powered the Sirius and the modulator by splicing into the cigarette lighter wiring. There was plenty of room around the radio, behind the dash, to hide all this.
W220 factory 2000-2003 16 inch wheels
W221 factory 2007-2009 18 inch wheels
I didn’t like the 16 inch wheels the car came with. I replaced them with used 18 inch wheels from a W221, 2008 S550. While I liked the looks of the new wheels much better, and handling improved, the ride quality worsened more than I expected and I regretted doing it overall. But they really looked sharp on the older body. Perfect blend of curves and angles.
The car did have navigation, but it was pretty crude. A single CD was inserted which held 2 or 3 states of data. From the papers that came with the car, a buyer could apparently choose a couple of CD’s to start, and then you had to buy more. I therefore had data for a limited area and it was pretty useless, truth be told.
There’s a number of companies and websites now selling adapter plates for the wood trimmed area, to allow you to mount a new double DIN receiver if you’re feeling adventurous. This is a European site talking about the S320 version we didn’t get here, but it’s a W220 dash too. I think everything downstream of the head unit is fiber optic, so you’d probably have to redo everything else too.
The car stalled in a McDonald’s drive through and would crank, but not catch or run. I got some employees to come out and push it out of the way to a parking space. While I sat there debating what to do (and feeling quite embarrassed), it started up fine after a few tries, and drove home like a new one. I web-diagnosed this as a failing crankshaft position sensor, which I bought for $30 or so online and replaced myself. It never happened again, so maybe that was it.
Everything else about the car was great. Good gas mileage, super comfortable of course, no meaningful mechanical problems until the end. That came in the form of failing front air springs. I really lucked out in this regard, as the early models had a more trouble-prone design that was changed by 2002 or so. The leaking springs make the air compressor work overtime, so it dies and then you have a big repair bill: front air springs, a compressor, and related valves and fittings that should be changed out at the same time.
My car lasted longer than most in this department. My compressor never died, and my struts never completely failed. Maybe I just headed for the exit at the right time, when I could see the writing on the wall. The first clue was when the car appeared to sit ever so slightly lower on the passenger side when parked. I got a tape measure and measured between the top of the tire and the fender lip….yep, about a half inch lower on that side. Then, it started leaking down overnight and by morning, the front end of the car was on the bump stops. When you started the car, it would rise up right away and stay there all day, but it wasn’t going to repair itself.
There are companies that make replacement kits to get rid of the air system altogether. And there are more and more aftermarket sources for remanufactured air springs at a big savings. I looked into all the options, but $4,000.00 or so parts and labor looked like the cheapest option for all new parts, and I would still be left with a 14 year old car with 140,000 miles on it. It seemed like a good time to part ways prior to the car needing half its value on a good day poured into it.
If you can find a W220 that has had the front struts replaced, and been well cared for, it would be a nice ride and I wouldn’t be afraid of it. I saw a 2001 S430 in my area recently for about $5,000.00 with under 100,000 miles, two owners, showroom clean inside and out, new tires and new struts. It sure was tempting for a weekend driver, but there’s no room at the inn so to speak.
So, what replaced the S500? Well, a very similar car. One that I bought “accidentally” and which caused my wife to ban me from eBay for whole cars, anyway. But it turned out to be a good car, kind of like a stray mutt that turns into a great pet. And at over 200,000 miles, it’s still here and going strong.
My BIL owned a Mercedes-Benz in the late 90’s which he had bought when he became dissatisfied with his Infiniti J30. To “celebrate” the pending arrival of the newest S-class, Mercedes-Benz of North America held a party at their dealerships with a raffle of sorts the Grand Prize being a new S-class sedan. My sister had accompanied him to the party and received a ticket for the car. Though she didn’t own a Mercedes-Benz, having recently bought a new Mustang, she won the new S-class.
After a lot of discussion and thought about whether they should immediately sell the new car, my BIL decided they would pay the “consequences” of driving the car for a year before selling it.
My sister’s S-class was silver with what was the standard V8 at introduction, a 4.2 liter, I think.
Even though it was known by my BIL and sister that I was a huge car nut, I was never even offered a ride in the car. But then, no one else in my family was either, except (I guess) my parents….neither of them being all that impressed by the car.
I was never impressed by these. I find the exterior styling an improvement over the corpulent W140 and they have good brakes, but that’s about it. I saw someone struggle with one of these and was thoroughly unimpressed: It lacked the bank vault solidity of older Mercedes (the 20-year-old 190E a friend had felt more stout), had no sense of occasion, and broke constantly. Purchased new, dealer-maintained, but always going wrong and offering very little other than the badge to compensate. It made a strong argument for Lexus ES350, to be perfectly frank, or for that matter a Camry XLE.
Oh, it had the COMAND navigation system, which provided an amusing diversion: It delivered instructions in a clipped, irritable female voice, and if you didn’t follow its commands, the delay while the system recalculated the route (it was CD-ROM-based and slow by modern standards) perfectly recreated the pause of a human navigator doing some kind of mental count-to-10 exercise to resist murdering you.
Kind of a shame this generation of S-class wasn’t better. The coupes look so much nicer than the porky previous ones.
I’m with you 100% on the 1st gen LS 400 – everything is just right – later models just seemed to be trying too hard….
As a life long MB owner, I have never understood going from a Benz to a Lexus, unless you never really liked the Mercedes to begin with.
And the W220 was like a North Korean copy of a Lexus. Thank god it was the only one.
Good point; I like both brands, but for different reasons. My first choice, money no object, would hands down be a new or 1-2 year old S-Class, but not until I get these three kids through college. I find the C-Class too small, I didn’t want an SUV, and the 2014 or so E-Classes that would have been in my budget just have never done much for me, appearance wise.
Umm, where IS this Mom and Pop used car lot? I wouldn’t mind finding a lot with cream puffs and a owner who won’t screw me over.
This is very well written by someone who, like me, has a passion for Mercedes but understands them technically much better than I do. Thanks.
I have been aware of that cusp in Mercedes cars. After W124, W126 and R129, the Mercedes cars became something different. Still comfortable and stylish but too complicated and, for a German vehicle, often fragile.
The suspension issues alone are enough to make me balk. Even some of the earlier cars have these issues – hydraulics in the rear that are not as durable as one might wish. After the cusp though the electronics make these cars, to me, undesirable. The earlier, simpler cars were the best of the breed and these later cars, while pretty, just seem to be a different brand of car. Though I love the very rich history of Mercedes-Benz I have zero passion at all for any cars after the cusp.
The insight in this article is appreciated by this reader; I enjoy this writer.
The W220 looks as compromised as the reputation suggests, melty and a bit of a nonentity. The much picked-upon W140 has far more of the arrogant “f** you, I’m damn expensive and I’m worth it” that is surely a requirement of large Mercedes. It looks serious. The successor looks as if it might compromise.
One thing not mentioned in the post is what the car was like to drive. I drove a W210 E-class, the reputationally crappy four headlight model (and indeed, it had issues at 6 yrs old) – but was very nice. Doubtless this W220 was even better again.
It drove quite nicely, though I would have to say it’s my least favorite Mercedes from behind the wheel, of the ones I owned. But that’s a very subjective thing. If I had to describe the problem, it was that it felt less “hefty” or “solid” than the W126 or W140. I have read a W126 being described as being milled from a single piece of steel, and it was that solid feel that the W220 lacked in my opinion. But did it ride and handle well? Yes, it did. Not bad, just different.
It’s not bad at all, since you were not spending money on body shops for rust repair religiously every year.
The W140 always reminded me of the ’58-’60 Lincoln, ultimate expression of its time, bigger and bigger, designed to crush the competition regardless of practicality. Both cars met their design goals, but the market was less enthusiastic than the manufacturer in both cases. The successor to both was more attractive, more pragmatic and more successful.
Nice find! This series of S-Class (to me) suffers mainly by dint of following the W140 and preceding the W220. Both ended up as better expressions of MB’s ethos but had neither existed (or if both were weaker) then this one likely would have been better regarded. It’s sort of the Audi of Mercedes’s if that makes sense. Not a horrible car by any stretch but probably not all that it could be.
The shape is pretty, but less of a commanding presence than the others too. However it likely drives and rides very well and is well engineered with some systems suffering from “early developer” issues.
Someone mentioned the COMAND system above. Sadly, it doesn’t sound too different than the system in my 2011 GL450 with the somewhat curt “Frau Kommandant” issuing navigation instructions and taking too long to react to changes. You can almost hear her issuing a sigh. Mssrs. Shafer and Cavanaugh experienced it firsthand this summer. I.e. not a lot of progress over a large time span.
The Arnott air suspension replacement parts are indeed a LOT less expensive than the factory parts and seemingly well-built with excellent manufacturer support. There are a couple of different systems that MB used, I believe the S-Class used a vastly more complex system than my vehicle does, however it is a definite failure paint (as it is also on Audi Allroad, modern Jeep Cherokees, and many other vehicles that use similar systems.) Besides maintaining a level ride height and featuring the ability to alter the overall ride height (lower at high speed, higher as needed) there isn’t much other benefit vs the cost and eventual aggravation.
However, this is once again one of those cars of which ownership would be significantly less attractive without the internet for purposes of diagnosis, repair guides, and parts availability. Somewhere, someone has had the same issue and likely written about it. If one is handy and so inclined, ownership does not have to be a budget-breaker as it would be if dependent on others. However, at some point not everyone wants to be under their car looking at or replacing items, especially if they can afford something that doesn’t require the same.
Hey, seven years is a long time to own a car, you definitely got the bulk of the “good miles” while spending very little money. And then got out when it was time. That’s a success in my book.
I think I know what the next COAL is, mainly due to coincidentally having run across your handle in a different forum some time ago… 🙂 I’m looking forward to reading about it.
My navigation systems recalculate fairly quickly or at least can sort out how to get back on the route that it thinks you should be on. However, if you have a different route than it would take, it may take a while before it will change its mind (the way to avoid this is to have waypoints).
The early nav were on CD’s and to cover the US took about 6 or so. The 2007 SRX (my first nav) was a DVD which had the US on one DVD. Now the updates come on USB drives (takes an hour to update).
My Mercedes is DVD also, at least the disc covers the whole country. It can get updated via a new published disc every couple of years. Well you can, but I don’t want to spend the money. Easier to rely on it for anything pre-2013 and just go to the phone for anything newer. Or just use the phone for all which is what I’m starting to do now as a backup I don’t quite understand the appeal of the newer phone based infotainment systems (Android Auto, CarPlay) – how can it be relied on when you outside of a cell phone coverage area, i.e the mountains, or in more parts of the west than one would hope? At least the Satellite is always up there…
I updated the system in my 2014 CTS for I think $140. I have traded the CTS for 2017 XT5 which has older data (it thinks the speed limit on our interstate is 75 instead of the actual 80). I can update the XT5 for $140 too for a while with free shipping.
I did update the DVD for my SRX, but I no longer remember what they charged, except I think I bought left overs from the previous version at half price or something like that.
Ah, we must read the same sites!
You took an S Class to McDonald’s drive-thru? It died of embarrassment!
Haha, my first thought too! “Vee do not like dis McDonald’s. Vee vill give you zome time to zink about zees.”
How about towing a load of pilsner…if you want to wash away those awful burgers.
It’s not as if there’s German “haute cuisine” as an alternative, at least in North America. Germans seem clueless or uninterested in hyping their food like the French. This is not to say it isn’t tasty. Brits have the same PR problem; who’s going to take dishes with names like “Bangers & Mash” or “Bubbles & Squeak” seriously?
In France, the price of butter is currently a big scandal. There’s now a campaign to save the “real” croissant.
I salute you for getting many good miles out of a car you enjoyed. But reading between the lines, you seemed less in love with this one.
It is my casual observation. If you want long life and long term reliability, you own a simple Toyota product. The church paster owns 2006 Toyota Yaris 4-door sedan with close to 400k miles with virtually everything in working order including automatic transmission (4 speed). The car has gone through 4 timing belts and water pump. I doubt the Lexus LS with all those goodness could survive that long with major money infusions.
The story here once proves Mercedes does problems but remains charming if you are willing to flood money into maintenance and repair. It can be evergreen car. Afterall, it is designed to last, but mordern electonics compounded with cost cutting killed this generation of S class. Sadly its problems go beyond electronics, its V8 engine is known to have problems. Neverless, it is like a beautiful and charming girl friend, you need to spend money on her so she is happy and makes you happy. The S class after W202 is much better and beat LS in technology, performance, prestige and sell. With short term lease and huge appetites for after lease, Mercedes has not problems to sell them in US. Other guys like BMW 7 series Audis A8, Jaguar XJ and Lexus LS are just playing catch up.
This series of S-Class cars had a bad tendency to get rust in the bottoms of all 4 doors. There was some sort of quiet recall where some of them got fixed under warranty.
Something about the weatherstrip at the bottom of the door trapping water…
it’s like MB forgot how to rust-proof their cars in the late 90s. Better than the 96-99 E-Class that the front spring perches rusted and broke off…those were fun to fix too…they had a rivet-and-glue kit to hang new perches.