A superb car and I have drooled over them for years - next year I may just get one.
As ever, buy the best you can, if possible with full history and get it inspected if you can.
Dont be afraid to hand over good money for a good car, it shouldnt depreciate ever so much, if at all, so its a good investment compared to a newer car as long as you dont pay more than the car is worth.
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I had one as a company car and never enjoyed it,
Despite the hype it cost a fortune to run - things went wrong £££s
IMy views ideal for geriatrics and those going into the future looking firmy to the past. :-)
Designed for those whose backside fills the seat...I'm too skinny,,
And they rust.
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I had one as a company car and never enjoyed it,
Despite the hype it cost a fortune to run - things went wrong £££s
IMy views ideal for geriatrics and those going into the future looking firmy to the past. :-)
Designed for those whose backside fills the seat...I'm too skinny,,
And they rust.
Honestly madf, you didn't enjoy it but it was a company car that was paid for? Pah.
I wonder who that third sentence is aimed at..... ;)
Care to enlighten us on what went wrong so that any future buyers can take heed, or maybe it was just a lemon.
Edited by corax on 05/09/2014 at 17:35
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Certainly arn't perfect, compared to a Volvo 7/9/8 series of the same timeline they rust in some places espacially if the owner is bone idle, they require constant maintenance, parts can fail that really shouldn't...they are not a car for the modern motorist, who can't manage without electronic aids or know where the bonnet pull is or what is meant by TLC.
Freely admit, if it wasn't for my venerable MB specialist indy my 124CE would have cost me a fortune more than it already has and i would have passed it on years ago, as it is the car still looks as lovely (IMO but beauty is in the eye of the beholder) as the day it was made, and it can still surprise those with fast taut handling cars, but as i say they are an aquired drive, you won't jump in one of these without the optional ASR and floor it out of wet roundabouts as you can do with almost any electronic white goods now made or it will bite you in the bum for sure.
They will never be boring clones, in that respect they are thankfully as far as its possible (of its age as they are the last MB's of the old school) to get from the current modern car in all it's white goods electronic blandness.
Got to have the right engine though, no good with a four pot, nor the small 6 pots that the rep spec saloons and estates were fitted with.
Good job we're all different, couldn't really say what i could replace it with, the very last car i would want would be a modern box of computers, perish the thought.
Edited by gordonbennet on 05/09/2014 at 18:11
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They will never be boring clones, in that respect they are thankfully as far as its possible (of its age as they are the last MB's of the old school) to get from the current modern car in all it's white goods electronic blandness.
Got to have the right engine though, no good with a four pot, nor the small 6 pots that the rep spec saloons and estates were fitted with.
Good job we're all different, couldn't really say what i could replace it with, the very last car i would want would be a modern box of computers, perish the thought.
Couldn't agree more. Love my E300D estate. It is a bit sluggish, but the 6 cylinder is so smooth, and it is a joy to drive, especially on back roads and cruising at 70-80 mph where permitted. The ability to see the whole bonnet, combined with nimbleness derided from being rear wheel drive, make it so easy to place precisely on back roads, while the superb suspension soaks up surface irregularities with aplomb. After my Octavia it is a joy the drive a car without understeer.
Mine has covered 180,000 miles. I know of one with over 400,000 miles, without any rust issue, so mine has at least another 220,000 miles in it. Indeed, these are million mile cars.
BTW, servicing is no more than my Focus TDDI although parts can be more expensive in some cases. Therefore I have used some of the Mercedes breakers. From one of them an indicator multi switch was 25% of the price of a new one. To cap it all there is no depreciation at all, in fact just the opposite!
Edited by Trilogy on 05/09/2014 at 18:37
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What went wrong with mine?
(a 260E- great on motorwys)
Weld failed and fornt suspesion anti roll bar bracket detached.
The ignition barrel in the steering column failed and the car would not start... 100 miles from the nearest Merc dealer.
Engine misfire due to failed ignition lead.
(it was a new car)
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Went to the owners club 124 day a couple of years ago, what can you say?there are hundreds still out there giving good service and are in fine condition. Some of those cars were immaculate, they are old cars so will need some tlc. but if you are aware of this then you could have some seriously satisfying motoring.
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Hi all ,I'm just about about to finish rebuilding one of these lovely old merc coupes
I bought a silver coupe a year ago ,it was a rough old car with rotten inner and outer wings on the front ,plus extensive rot in the floors at the rear .About a month later ,while wandering around salvage yards ,I found a complete 95 N coupe that I gave £450 for as a parts car .
I gave £520 on e bay for the silver one ,why bother?
Well I fell for the unusual spec , brilliant silver with a dark red ,burgundy ,leather interior ,the car has just had a full respray prior to my buying it ,the paint reacted and was flaking off in large sheets .It looked like it had a really bad case of dandruff .Any ideas what would cause that ?
In addition the car has imitation 17 " AMG monoblock alloys ,plus factory tilt and slide roof, amg sill covers ,lowered suspension .etc .
Mechanically the car is pretty good ,the only fault is a noisy hydraulic tappet ,that I need to sort out .
Costs wise ,the welding was ££650 ,renewing brake and fuel lines plus fixing various mechanical bit and pieces another £700 .The respray was done by a friend of mine as a favour ,for the materials cost of £300 with me doing the rubbing down etc
The total cost of renovation will be approx £3000 including buying both cars ,less about £300 that I should get by selling the donor car.
I opted to buy a 220 rather than a 320 which I know is a much better drive , however having done a fair amount of research ,it seems that the 320 often needs a complete new wiring loom ,possibly due to the heat in the engine bay generated by the larger engine .I really didn't fancy rewiring a car .
Finally if any forum member fancies buying or renovating a w124 model ,get in touch ,I know a lot more about these great old cars than I did a year ago .
Tonyg
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Wiring loom was designed to be biodegradeable. Unfortunately, some do too soon.
The earlier W124s are less prone to rust than the later ones. Later ones were made cheaper. BMW rusted too. However, some run of the mill cars were more rust resistant e.g. Peugeot 205 or 405. I've had the former and actually think a 406 is just about the next best estate to a W124.
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(Wiring loom was designed to be biodegradeable. Unfortunately, some do too soon.)
Seems unlikely ,given that the majority of a loom would be copper a valuable recoverable item that degrades very slowly ,so why would they make the loom degradable .
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The systemic wiring loom problem is due to a period when MB introduced biodegradable wiring insulation in attempt to make car components more environmentally friendly when they were finally scrapped. Unfortunately this bio-degradation started to happen in the cars themselves rather than landfill.<*** class="inlineimg" title="Doh" src="http://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/images/smilies/doh.gif" border="0" alt="" /> It was limited to a period in the early 90's which was largely over by mid 1996.
Ironically, the change was a well-intended expansion to biodegradable and recyclable parts. Wire coverings degraded far quickly than intended from heat, cold and hum id weather. Short trips don’t dry out moisture. Abnormally vulnerable to engine heat, cracks formed allowing moisture fuel and oil residue seep in. This happened faster in extreme climates causing even further cracking during other repairs. - See more at: www.slmarket.com/mercedes-benz-wiring-harness-issu...f
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These cars are up to 30 years old give or take, shows how good they are that there are so many around. It would be interesting to have figures how long on average each manufacturers cars last. E.g. After 20 years manufacturer A's cars have x percent of their cars running etc etc. I would guess Land Rover, Volvo and Mercedes would be be high on the list.
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Lots of ore 2000 Toyota RAV4s here.. and Land Rovers and Toyta Landcruisers, Starlets, the off 1959 Riley 1500, a few Cortinas, a few original Mins, W123 Mercedes next door, and a Gordon Keeble plus a 1953 Bentley Contenental..
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