Mercedes-Benz W124 230E - The Car to Outlast You
Discussion
Not the most exciting motor ever to feature here, but I have some pictures so I might as well put them somewhere.
I purchased it about a month ago from the family of a chap who passed away having owned it since 1988 or longer than I've been alive!
It's clearly been very loved and is in fantastic nick without a single parking ding or any rust. I chose it for my love of the early-W124 with fantastic colours and the rather spartan spec, which suits me fine. I've done a couple of bits to it, such as sorting the front and rear bumper inserts, giving it a big clean and polish alongside a couple of other small jobs. Still being able to get parts like aerial grommets from Mercedes is nice, although I'm sure I'm the dealers least favourite customer spending just a few quid a pop.
It's the 4-pot and I was worried that it'd let the car down, but I'm more than happy. It's incredibly quiet and smooth until about 4k RPm where it gets a bit gruff and emits a dreary noise, but revving it doesn't make much sense anyway. It'll move plenty fast enough for any driving I'll want to do in it. The bus-like steering wheel and very springy seats make spirited driving quite unappealing, this is definitely a car for cruising with the sunroof open and Now 10 playing on the stereo.
I purchased it about a month ago from the family of a chap who passed away having owned it since 1988 or longer than I've been alive!
It's clearly been very loved and is in fantastic nick without a single parking ding or any rust. I chose it for my love of the early-W124 with fantastic colours and the rather spartan spec, which suits me fine. I've done a couple of bits to it, such as sorting the front and rear bumper inserts, giving it a big clean and polish alongside a couple of other small jobs. Still being able to get parts like aerial grommets from Mercedes is nice, although I'm sure I'm the dealers least favourite customer spending just a few quid a pop.
It's the 4-pot and I was worried that it'd let the car down, but I'm more than happy. It's incredibly quiet and smooth until about 4k RPm where it gets a bit gruff and emits a dreary noise, but revving it doesn't make much sense anyway. It'll move plenty fast enough for any driving I'll want to do in it. The bus-like steering wheel and very springy seats make spirited driving quite unappealing, this is definitely a car for cruising with the sunroof open and Now 10 playing on the stereo.
Thanks guys. I'm pretty pleased with how it's turned out. Just need to find some mats to suit, since I've tried two sets where the colour didn't work at all.
Ben Jk said:
Absolutley love those seats for some reason!!
I think it's quite a contemporary, crisp fabric pattern for an 80s car and with the seats themselves are a nice minimal, but comfortable shape. Almost like something I might choose in my own home.I'm definitely enjoying the build quality compared to my CX or XJ40. No squeaks or rattles makes it so quiet at low speed. Some great touches too, like the single electric mirror and the one stalk does all, which just feel so right.
I went for a long dusk drive earlier tonight after realising I hadn't used mine this weekend and posting on this thread earlier. A hundred odd miles of meandering up from Edinburgh in a nice little loop. There is something lovely about pottering around in these old mercs isn't there? They are actually remarkably good for this era and type of car when you get out onto some open roads as well, once you know how to drive them.
Graham yours has the more powerful 24v version of my 3.0 engine if I remember correctly - I'd like to try one as I do enjoy my straight 6 (strangely more than the BMWs of the era that I have driven that made me love straight 6 engines).
Here's two terrible iPhone pictures...
24 years old and absolutely fine as a daily driver - not bad.
Graham yours has the more powerful 24v version of my 3.0 engine if I remember correctly - I'd like to try one as I do enjoy my straight 6 (strangely more than the BMWs of the era that I have driven that made me love straight 6 engines).
Here's two terrible iPhone pictures...
24 years old and absolutely fine as a daily driver - not bad.
Edited by 0a on Monday 13th April 00:01
0a said:
Graham yours has the more powerful 24v version of my 3.0 engine if I remember correctly - I'd like to try one as I do enjoy my straight 6 (strangely more than the BMWs of the era that I have driven that made me love straight 6 engines).
Yup, mines a 300TE-24. Shout if you are ever in the London area.Love the colour combo on yours Woody, mine has a bit of rust on every arch. Was planning to get it all sorted so it'd be basically fault free. However this weekend the roof on the M3 decided to die again
so the cash i'd put aside may well disappear on fixing that... AGAIN
Glad to see it's getting some love. 4-pot saloons have been seen as disposable work-horses for too long I think.
The CX was a series of fantastic ideas executed badly.
0a, 100 miles of an evening sounds like a nice way to relax. Definitely get some better pictures once you get the paint done! Green was on my shortlist of W124 colours.
Graham, I love your car, such a rightness about that spec and a massive bargain. How do you find the 24 motor? They're supposedly lovely to rev so it must be very different to the 230 in that regard. Mine's done just about 96k, so plenty of life in it yet!
dbdb said:
How very dare you!! 
To be fair the Jag never let me down and apart from the cruise control, it all worked. It just sometimes felt like some parts of the car weren't quite as well attached as they ought to be! Jaguar really did nail the ride and handling though and I miss that engine if not the fuel and oil consumption.The CX was a series of fantastic ideas executed badly.
Ecurie Ecosse said:
Looks really great. Reminds me of the early 124 230E my Dad had back in the 80s.
Rear electric windows! Very posh!
It had windy windows all round from the factory (see the covers in the door-card where they were originally). Must have been a pretty involved job to retro-fit since blank switches weren't acceptable to Mercedes back then.Rear electric windows! Very posh!
0a, 100 miles of an evening sounds like a nice way to relax. Definitely get some better pictures once you get the paint done! Green was on my shortlist of W124 colours.
Graham, I love your car, such a rightness about that spec and a massive bargain. How do you find the 24 motor? They're supposedly lovely to rev so it must be very different to the 230 in that regard. Mine's done just about 96k, so plenty of life in it yet!
Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff