Buying a G400: Good Idea??

Thanks for the reply. The vehicle has been in the UK for 2 years and before that it was originally in Germany. All I know is that the Air-Mass Flow sensor and a couple of glow-plugs were changed recently. As far as I could tell, it is fully working in other respects, but the diff input-shaft seals are leaking oil as is the engine. My dad's present G300D is 1992 vintage and leaks not one drop of oil.

I know what you mean about the MB-Chrysler era. In 2001 I'd bought a last of the range R129 (SL320), which I figured that after 13 years in production should be bug-free, but no, it was full of new electronics with no end of problems. Nice car otherwise.

With this 2001 G400, I was wondering whether it's likely that any of the big problems would have been fixed for good, after all this time? If he went for a G300TD instead, what year do they go up to?

Having had the G300D for all these years and a few 460 before that, I think he's after something with a few more toys, like in the G400. Probably the 2006 G320CDi would be the best of the new ones, but looking at mobil.de site, all the German G400 Cabrios (5 listed currently) have many more miles (>100kmiles) and/or are more expensive than this one in the UK. This one is being offered at just under £30k. I guess the £/Euro being low now makes a difference.

What mods have been done to the G400 engine bay to make the egine fit? I can see that there's not a spare mm of room in there.

Yes, I don't like the huge centre console either, nor the electronic transfer-case operation.... nor the fact that you can't engage diff-locks unless the system says so....

Well, we'll see how it goes. I'll try to get the some details to do a service check on it. Overall, it seems in good condition, but it has seen some off-roading, as some bumps and scrapes underneath reveal and some of the paintwork, like on the bonnet, looks to have been be redone.

Thanks for the tips.

Hey, Thanks for that! (I've just seen it and looks quite good from the pics)

When I looked before, I only found 5 and they all seemed much more expensive than Jame's one.

Well, the story is that the one James is selling (on consignment) belongs to a customer of his, who wants full payment rather quickly, within 7-days and, although we're trying, it might be difficult to complete the transaction this soon, as my dad now lives in Italy.

Perhaps they have another customer, hence the rush?

Anyway, since the G400 was going to be exported to Italy, it probably would be just as easy to get one in Germany. Well, maybe not easier, but cheaper.

Thing is with UK plates, you could at least use it in Italy for about 1 year before re-registering it. Importing from Germany, I don't know?

We'll need to decide today, if we'd be able to complete on Jame's one.

yes, well the advertisement lists it as 32,000 miles, but it now has 36,000, so I agree it must have been there while, so I don't know why suddenly there's so much pressure to complete the sale.

Yes, it could well be or he's go another potential buyer. But I did look again at the Mobile.de advertisement for the one at Euro-30k and the seller is in Latvia. The next cheapest one in Germany is just under Euro-40k (£31.5k) with 155,000 km. However, all of them are newer than 2001 and there's quite a nice 2006 model on offer for loads of money. A couple of years ago, I met a guy who regualarly travelled to germany to impost cars into the Uk and he told me he could easily get me a low mileage one from either Germany or Switzerland for £26k - £28k. The £ has gone down, but have prices gone up?

I'm going to take another good look at Jame's one to make sure that all the gadgets and systems are working 100%.

It has had some off-road use with some signs of bumps and scrapes underneath. It's also been fitted with ORC plates under the tank and under the transmission and the shock absorbers don't appear standard (they are red in colour).

I wonder whether anyone on this forum might know more about Jame's G400 Cabrio?

Well, we've decided to go ahead with the purchase and will be looking at the car again on Friday to make sure everything on it is in working condition, and that what on the first inspection appeared to be oil leaks have been fixed.

(Apparently the ORC plates were fitted by the first owner in Germany, but there are signs of off-road use and some dents on the front protection plate.)

So, I'll have to make a good check-list between now and Friday. :lol:

Thank you for the tips (James might well be reading this thread :D ).

IIR the service booklet had three German MB dealer stamps in it, up to about 34,000 km and all looked OK, and the next two services were carried out be G-Wagen.co.uk. As I understand, the existing owner is selling on consignment through James, so not sure who set the price, but, yes, it's a bit cheaper than the other contemporary G's listed on the site.

(I know the place from some 10 years ago, when a Max McArthur used to own it, as Caversham)

With regards to the warranty, it will give some piece-of-mind, but I can't imagine bringing the car back, unless it was really something major, but then might not be able to drive back anyway it if it were really bad.

Anyway, my dad's quite stuck on this G400 now. Hopefully, everything will go well.

Just to let you know that we collected the vehicle last week. Everything on it is fine except that the engine oil leak seems to be still there. It seems to be leaking from the sump gaskets but there is also a small trail down the side of the engine from the rear-right.

Anyway, tomorrow it's going in to MB to have the "lifetime-fill" auto-transmission oil changed as a precaution, as it's approaching 40,000 miles. While it's there I'll ask them to diagnose the engine leak properly. Hopefully, the worst will just be the sump-gaskets. We also found quite a few bits of interior trim, particularly around the centre air-vent and COMAND console that were removed at some point, breaking their fasteners off. So spent yesterday morning repairing these.

The front bumper appears to have been removed/ replaced at some stage since the wiring to the front fog lights has been cut and "breather" pipes to said lights are missing. (Probably used to have a winch arrangement.) Also, the front ambient air-temperature sensor and its bracket was found dangling, so if anyone can advise on where it should be attached, I'd be grateful.

Other than that the car drives very well, and is very smooth on the road, but crashes hard over any bumps. This leads me to believe that the red front shock absorbers are replacements, but I've discovered that they are adjustable, so I'll have a go at that. Probably they were tuned for German autobahns, rather than pot-holed London roads.

The chassis is in good condition, with only very minor surface rust at the exposed extremities. Not sure if the prop-shafts have ever been greased, so that will need to be done. As someone pointed out the chassis on the G400 is modified to fit the engine. This involves moving the steering box forward and out on a bracket that sits over the front transverse round tube, rather than just behind this tube as on other 463s. This means that one track-rod is longer and there is an extra cardan link in the steering column that brings it out almost horizontal and then down to the box at a sharp angle. However, the steering is precise and tight and seems none the worse for this modification.

Went to MB in Broklands, following suggestions on this forum, to obtain evidence of an immobiliser for the insurance company. It took a while to get through to the service people what I wanted, and eventually a senior service person came out to talk to us. When he saw the Infra-Red, "Smart" ignition key, he commented "...Oh yes that's the MBSS... immobiliser.... same as any Merecedes since 1998..." However, they would not put that in writing and suggested instead that I take a picture of the key and mail it to the insurance company. They also claimed that they could access data-cards for only UK-supplied vehicles, but eventually they got me a data card showing that it has an optional alarm fitted as well.

So, that's the summary to date.