Hello,

so I just jumped in the deep end and bought myself a 22-year-old Mercedes W124, sedan.
It`s the 6 cylinder Diesel. (I think a lot of Europeans would recognize it as a taxi).

Why?
I don`t drive much (I fly a lot for work) so the not so modern consumption is no issue, I always loved the W124 shape; AND the engine sound is absolutely classic.
A million KM is not uncommon for the W124 and its durability is hard to match.

Where?
At a specialist. This guy is an expert in finding the very best "young Timers" in Europe. His hunting ground is mainly Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

How is it?
Great! It has almost all the luxurious options, the engine and the gear box are smooth and it is a very comfortable ride.
Just went to my local dealer for a bit of TLC for the first time, and they were impressed with the state that it`s in!

Any more Mercedes owners on this forum? New? Old?
It would be nice to interchange experiences.

No Tax On Rotax

in immediate family have a 68 280S (carbureted w108 sedan) and a 2017 E300. They are about equal in size actually. Nice cars. Owning one from 25 years ago would be a perfect middle ground... w124 is definitely on the menu if I saw a nice one. Also looking at Porsche 944/928s. These are all thoroughbred cars that in the US you can find for $5000 +/-. Paying 30k for a new Hyundai or something doesn't appeal to me. Maybe if I were a nurse who didn't want to work on cars... but... Im not..

nice car purchase what color is it. I saw a 300D turbodiesel w124 (5 cylinder I think) in new York city recently.

NIce choice. Good luck with it.

Good choice for a classic Merc, those things (especially with the diesel) are darn near built proof.

The only issues I have heard with them are electrical, mostly window switches and if you have them the electric seat controls can act up. The good news is, there is a huge market for those pieces, so they are cheap and easy to find, to the point where you may as well buy a spare set or two for each side.

The other issue I have heard about is the harmonic balancer....Those are not cheap...

And yes, I had a '94 E 500....Loved that car, it became a total dog after 50k miles though, every month it was in the shop for something, it was a bitter sweet day when I traded it in.

Thanks, people.

When I bought it, it was silver.
The reason I started this thread is that I left the car in a paint shop, 2 weeks ago.
It is the 1995 face lifted version, and it looked really good:

https://flic.kr/p/WbNVB8

I certainly enjoy all the electric options, but I actually love the Mopf0 version even more.
In short: Mopf0 stands for the original appearance from 1985: Orange blinkers forward and aft, the grille was still the old fashioned model, and you didn`t have these plastic covers at the bottom of all doors.
Here`s 2 images:

https://flic.kr/p/Xda5Kn

https://flic.kr/p/Xanqc3

So at present, they are converting mine into a Mopf 0 (give or take a few details)......and the colour I chose is a Mercedes colour; Onyx Grau (grey).

Before you ask "Why didn`t you buy the earlier version in the 1st place?".....that was because I enjoy the amenities in the newer versions.

Excited to pick it up soon!


No Tax On Rotax

Keep us posted. Always nice to see someone whom keeps these cars rolling and care for them. Thanks for that.

Way to go! I have a 2003 C class W203. Smooth ride and the best thing is the lack of electronic gadgets. It's still a car, not a moving computer.

Hello, first post here.

W124 is indeed a great car. Personally I love the W140 but it's too much car for me right now. I am thinking of buying a W204 C-class. You can get a second hand very cheap these days that are still in great condition with relatively low mileage.

The W124 is the only Merc I'd consider owning. It's basically the most reliable and rugged car they ever made and after that Mercedes Benz started a downwards drift.

Parts are widely available (EBay!!) and cheap, so if you are a bit handy it could also be a project car for weekend tinkering. There's also plenty of pattern parts out there if you need to do bodywork, so no need to pay dealer prices. I'd like a turbodiesel version, definitely.

Dutchy wrote:

Keep us posted. Always nice to see someone whom keeps these cars rolling and care for them. Thanks for that.

I am doing my tiny bit......"Fork the plastic, drive the classic" as they say!

BartSimpson wrote:

Way to go! I have a 2003 C class W203. Smooth ride and the best thing is the lack of electronic gadgets. It's still a car, not a moving computer.

That`s just it. Not too much electronics.
The fanciest thing I have is that the rear head rests drop down at the touch of a button; you know; if you can`t see properly while reversing! Quite funny....

787Driver wrote:

Hello, first post here.

W124 is indeed a great car. Personally I love the W140 but it's too much car for me right now. I am thinking of buying a W204 C-class. You can get a second hand very cheap these days that are still in great condition with relatively low mileage.

I agree entirely.

Channex757 wrote:

The W124 is the only Merc I'd consider owning. It's basically the most reliable and rugged car they ever made and after that Mercedes Benz started a downwards drift.

Parts are widely available (EBay!!) and cheap, so if you are a bit handy it could also be a project car for weekend tinkering. There's also plenty of pattern parts out there if you need to do bodywork, so no need to pay dealer prices. I'd like a turbodiesel version, definitely.

People tell me that all the time.
That the W210 (the one with the double round headlights) is a nightmare with regards to reliability; and that was only one design after the W124.

No Tax On Rotax

Dutchy wrote:

Keep us posted. Always nice to see someone whom keeps these cars rolling and care for them. Thanks for that.

I am doing my tiny bit......"Fork the plastic, drive the classic" as they say!

BartSimpson wrote:

Way to go! I have a 2003 C class W203. Smooth ride and the best thing is the lack of electronic gadgets. It's still a car, not a moving computer.

That`s just it. Not too much electronics.
The fanciest thing I have is that the rear head rests drop down at the touch of a button; you know; if you can`t see properly while reversing! Quite funny....

787Driver wrote:

Hello, first post here.

W124 is indeed a great car. Personally I love the W140 but it's too much car for me right now. I am thinking of buying a W204 C-class. You can get a second hand very cheap these days that are still in great condition with relatively low mileage.

I agree entirely.

Channex757 wrote:

The W124 is the only Merc I'd consider owning. It's basically the most reliable and rugged car they ever made and after that Mercedes Benz started a downwards drift.

Parts are widely available (EBay!!) and cheap, so if you are a bit handy it could also be a project car for weekend tinkering. There's also plenty of pattern parts out there if you need to do bodywork, so no need to pay dealer prices. I'd like a turbodiesel version, definitely.

People tell me that all the time.
That the W210 (the one with the double round headlights) is a nightmare with regards to reliability; and that was only one design after the W124.

No Tax On Rotax

Hello... classic car owner here..

The W124 is my all-time favourite Mercedes. Lovely design, a delight to drive and absolutely BULLETPROOF. Good choice!
Keeps us up on how things go. It would be great to see a photo of the car once the resto is over.

I compliment you on your choice!

A friend of mine has a W126 420SEL - a 1991 model, one of the last ones ever built. It is getting on in kms, but drives very smoothly. The maintenance costs are frightening.
I understand the best ones to go for are the 600SEL or the SL600, those V12 engines (M120) are quite dependable.

I really do admire the older Mercedes cars, and kudos to those who are keeping them going. Just on the weekend I spotted a pristine 380SEC, what a lovely thing, looked like it was colour code 881.

Not an owner, but really liked the W116 up to the W220.

Gotta stick with the classics. The new designs are just not to my liking.

I kind of like the original C class. They are classic cars now - they ended production in 2000. No fancy electronics. Still the old style Mercedes I think. C36 AMG would be cool.

Great topic! I own 4 Mercedes in total:

• W123 230E (1983) with 123t km
• W123 280CE (1983) with 75t km
• W116 450SEL 6.9 (1978) with 119t km
• W212/2 E300 Hybrid (2013) with 80t km (daily driver)

Absolutely love each of them. The W123 is also considered as a solid design, although I agree the W124 is probably the most solid Benz ever built. Mercedes almost killed itself due to the lack of maintenance / aftermarket requirements of this series.

Just got the W116 a few weeks ago, what a massive engine with 6.9 liters! It is expensive to maintain but looking forward to using it more often.

If I had more space and time I'd also get a G-Class, W140 and maybe W126. But even with four cars I can hardly drive all of them in a single month, since I use public transport mostly in the city.

Cheers,
Loran

I had to finally say goodbye to my trusty Suzuki for the farm and I've put my eyes on an early 90s G-Klasse (with the 6-cyl diesel and a soft-top)

It meets the legal threshold for a vintage vehicle (so less tax, insurance, etc. to pay) and anyway I only drive it a few weekends a year.

I was looking for a Land Rover initially, but this one ticks all the boxes, the state is good and the mileage still reasonable (about 130.000km)

Anyone have experience with Gs?

We just recently sold a metallic grey 1989 300E with 212k miles on it. Still looked basically like showroom condition. It was a summer car for many, many years. The rear-wheel drive didn't really do well in northeastern winters. But, for a long time, it was a great car. It was the last hand-assembled model year, I believe. The engine had the best sound, too; it was like a big purring cat. Great turning radius. Really liked that car. Unfortunate that we eventually had to let it go.

JJJ wrote:

I had to finally say goodbye to my trusty Suzuki for the farm and I've put my eyes on an early 90s G-Klasse (with the 6-cyl diesel and a soft-top)

It meets the legal threshold for a vintage vehicle (so less tax, insurance, etc. to pay) and anyway I only drive it a few weekends a year.

I was looking for a Land Rover initially, but this one ticks all the boxes, the state is good and the mileage still reasonable (about 130.000km)

Anyone have experience with Gs?

Good choice, although not the most comfortable car on the road, but a great one for off road. You are Dutch, right? If so, they changed the rules on classic cars, not sure how this will affect diesel cars, but I think the threshold has been moved to 40 years in order to prevent old diesel to be used as a daily driver with all the pollution that goes with that.

Nee. Ik ben Spaans

JJJ wrote:

Nee. Ik ben Spaans

Then I am off by a couple of hundred years

Also a Mercedes owner here.
Have a 2003 A160 with roughly 180K km on it. It runs on petrol and I am very pleased with the mileage and comfort. Great car all around.

My second car is also a classic, a 2001 Renault Twingo, which I am restoring.

Strongly considering a W220 E-class now.. such a good looking car and they are quite reasonable in price now. Anyone with experience from this car?

Sorry I meant the W212

787Driver wrote:

Sorry I meant the W212

Yes, I have a W212 E300 Hybrid Stationwagon, built 2013. It is the second series after the facelift.
Happy with it so far, no problems at all after a good 25t km (81tkm on the clock), only the Hybrid battery had to be changed which had reached its life limit.

Love the space the stationwagon has, I wonder myself how much stuff it can fit.
So from my side a positive recommendation for this car.

Regards,
Loran

The battery can't last longer than that ? How much did the replacement cost ?

I'm not into sedans myself, my classic car is a 1989 BMW 320i coupe in burgundrot. It drives but it needs a lot of work. Including buying BBS (or copies) wheels.

Flighty a colleague of mine is the president of the French Porsche club 924/928/944. He owns several, including a 944 convertible and a special modified turbo 944 with 280hp.

Here in France the price of these used to be cheap but not anymore, they're getting more expensive by the day as they're becoming classic cars.

Not 100% sure what the specific limitation was on the battery (total time or driving distance). Sadly I let the battery change here in Switzerland, so it was extremely expensive (CHF 500 approx. = USD 500), it would have been much less across the border in Germany.

I wasn't happy with the repair cost and that the battery had to be changed so early. The Hybrid engine doesn't deliver fuel savings which would have made up for the cost, however I need to say that I bought the car second hand and I did not pay more than a regular Diesel would have cost.

Regards,
Loran

Aesma wrote:

I'm not into sedans myself, my classic car is a 1989 BMW 320i coupe in burgundrot.

Something like this? Wel done, monsieur! My favorite BMW 3-series, especially the 3 doors version.

I love W124s, and I love to see them in regular use doing what they were intended to do - be driven! They're darn near indestructible, and were the last cars from the era in which Mercedes was run by the Engineering department, with complete quality and ultimate customer satisfaction being the driving goals behind the company. Fiduciary duty to stockholders? Bah!

Well, the Gordon Gekko crowd got to Mercedes eventually, and standards declined, but they still are among the finest cars in the world in my opinion. That said, the car I drive is from their absolute rock bottom low point - my current daily driver is a 2003 E55 AMG - the W211 chassis sedan. It's a W211, the first 'fresh' design that was released under the merged DaimlerChrysler entity that hadn't already been in development before the merger.

I've been a long time Mercedes owner and enthusiast - prior to the current W211 2003 E55 that I have now, I owned a first generation W210 2001 model year E55 AMG - basically the older bodystyle, no whizbang gimmicks in the suspension - straightforward coilovers as opposed to "Airmatic" on my current car... also, the W210 didn't have a supercharger. Same engine, essentially - 5.5 liter single cam 3-valve per cylinder V8, known as the M113 - shared with other Mercedes vehicles as the standard V8 in production at the time. The 5.5 liter version was fitted only to the AMG cars, and came in two variants - the naturally aspirated version, which was in the W210 E55 AMG, and made "349 horsepower" and "394" ft-lbs" torque, and starting in 2002 a supercharged version was available and became the go-to engine for AMG for several years, which was rated at between 469HP and 492HP and 516 torques.....

Did I mention I'm a bit of a car nerd?

Anyway, the E55 is *the* perfect vehicle for the environment it lives in, and the duty it is impressed upon to do daily: be a road warrior as it torques its way down the 405 freeway or 101, or 210, etc... It is able to get me from point A to B comfortably, faster than is generally recognized as legal, and without attracting unwanted attention from traffic enforcement. Perfect vehicle designed for purpose and it fits exactly for what my needs are... looks like every other E-Class out there.

As a former BMW and Audi owner, I'm converted and never foresee myself going back to them. For as many little headaches as my Merc has given me (and it has definitely given some headaches), the headaches have been cheaper and less frequent than those I've experienced with my previous BMWs (540i, M3, 328i) and Audi (RS6)... They're lovely cars to drive. In fact, the BMWs are so much more balanced. There's no question as to which car I'd rather take for a cruise on Mulholland Drive - give me a BMW any day. Or Angeles Crest Highway? That's an Audi road. But any of the freeways or city streets...Merc is the best in my view.

Loran: You have a 6.9!!!!! I'm soooo jealous!!! You have a legendary machine Legendary! How is the engine holding up in 'old age'? What sort of use does it see these days? Even though it isn't your daily driver, do you occasionally commute the car?

NoTaxOnRotax: The W210 was not bad for reliability - at least my old E55 wasn't bad at all. I had a 2001 E55 AMG which I ran from 80,000 miles (purchased used) to 305,000 miles on the original engine and transmission. The car never left me stranded - with the exception of a failed battery.