E-Class W124 ^^The Great Mercedes-Benz W124 BUYERS GUIDE^^

[mandraman]

Hello everyone.
I'm new with this forum, and after reading quite a bit of comments and topics about merc here, especially W124, I found a lot of useful and interesting things.

I live in Indonesia, and right now I have a 1991 300E, which I've owned for about a year now. I admit, it's really feel great driving it. It feels so comfortable, and give my self a feeling of self esteem, just by holding the steering wheel.

Does anyone have a scan of articles, or brochures, or anything at all, about 300E..?

Thank you..

 

[Merc1]

Ah...the 300E. Such a solid car back in its day. I remember the commercials in which they showed it could do 140 mph with the manual transmission. Most likely the most simply elegant Benz ever devised. Arguable only to the W126 S-Class. The 300E had only what you needed and nothing more. It was agile and just the right size for the time since the 190E was too small for more than 2 people.


[image no longer available]images/300e_lrear.jpg

Here is a nice writeup on the 300E from one of my old favorite sites:

300E - Mercedesshop.com


M

 

[mandraman]

Thank you Merc1.

Okay, I've read and heard a lot of positive comments on W124, especially 300E, on handling, performance, maintenance, etc.

But I would also like to know about the negative comments, especially on 300E, and also the comparation to any other merc type, or any other cars (BMW for example).

And why is that, that I've heard a lot such as "W124, merc don't make one like that any more", or "W124 is simply the best merc ever built", etc?

 

[Merc1]

Well for one, the overall build of the W124 cars compared to say the E-Class that came right after it, the W210. The W124 had the classic bank-vault door slam, the plain looking, but minutely detailed interior that felt like it would last forever, and in most cases they do. The classic I6 which met its end 2 years into W210 production. The single blade wiper, the spring-suspension seats, the odd sided rear-view mirrors. All were phased out a few years after the W124 expired. Some of these features it and the 190E brought to the table were so iconic of the time. The W124 was chock full of little engineering (not marketing as in today's Benzes) driven details. Last but not least the clean, simple, elegant styling.

The only real things I've seen and heard about the W124 problem wise is that on the I6 there is a usually head gasket problem after about 90-100K miles and A/C units often fail.


I personally loved the W124 (and R129 and W126) for their purity of design and longevity in the market. They carried the Mercedes "look" for a generation and did it with grace. Everyone knew what a Mercedes looked like during those years.


M

 

[steviec]

I have always been a fan of the w124 series.

Most recently, I had the chance to view an 88 300ce. It was a pre-face lift model as the door panels did not come with the wood trims. I test drove it and it has the torque and power of a 3 litre. However, one thing that puzzled me most was the speedometer which only read up to 220kmh. According to the technical data, 300ce cars were able to reach over 220kmh. I would have imagined the speedometer to read 240kmh at least as in the case of the w126 300sel which shares the same engine.

Can anyone confirm that early model 300ce or 300e for that matter came with speedometers that read up to 220kmh?

Or could this be a 230ce with a M103 engine in it?

what gives?