PH Carpool: Mercedes 500E
Big V8, reasonable running costs, Porsche engineering and Merc reliability. Is this the perfect car for a PHer?
Name: Moley500
Car: 1993 Merc 500E
Owned since: December 2009
Previously owned: A beige Fiesta Mk1 (first car), various boring Fords, Lancia Delta HF Turbo, Golf GTi Mk2, Lancia Delta Integrale, among others. Current fleet also includes a '62 Jaguar Mk2, a '98 Mercedes SLK and a Mercedes 190 E 1.8 that runs on LPG.
I suppose the main reason is that I've been working as a parts bloke and dealing with Mercedes for 22 years - and the 500E was the first Merc that really grabbed my attention when it was first launched. I thought: one day I'll have one of these.
That finally happened when I spotted this car languishing on eBay. I think it scared people off, because it's not the sort of thing you normally see on eBay (it's a bit too 'niche'), it was coming up for Christmas, and there were 312,000 kilometres on the clock.
But it had oodles of paperwork (admittedly a lot of that was in German as this was originally a German-market car) and the previous owner was a serious barrister-type who clearly lavished it with time, care and money. In the end I paid just under £8K for it.
What I wish I'd known:
Nothing, really. Because of what I do (ThreePointedParts.co.uk, by way of a bit of a plug for you - Riggers) I know my way around the Mercedes parts back catalogue, and I can get parts and labour sorted cheaply. But even if you weren't in my fortunate position you wouldn't find parts too much of a problem, as the 500E is all off-the-shelf bits.
I also wish I'd known how much fun it would be. I would have bought one sooner.
As a package it's practical, fun and enormously fast. Its overtaking ability is huge (a 326hp 5.0-litre V8 will do that for you) and for me the left-hand-drive thing is never an issue
That Porsche-built pedigree is a massive part of the appeal, too. I also prefer the idea of it to the AMG stuff of the time and, while I had toyed with a 400E, in the end I decided that that was just a W124 with a big engine, whereas this is something a bit different. A bit special.
Things I hate:
Filling it up with fuel - at current prices it takes about £115-worth on a full tank, which is pretty full-on. But other than that I can't really think of anything.
Apart from fuel, it's only been the usual routine maintenance, tax and insurance, none of which have been too bad. Tax isn't horrendous, insurance is cheap (around £300 because I'm old and keep it to a 5000-mile limit) and because nothing is bespoke the parts aren't too pricey. I did have to spend around £270 on a pair of rear tyres, though.
Where I've been:
I've not been on any trips abroad in it, but a hoon around the Brecon Beacons was great fun, and it's been with me to various car meets and Sunday Services.
I could use it as a daily driver, but the LPG 190 is really the daily hack so that lets me keep the 500E as an 'occasion' car.
I did toy with selling it for a while, but that was in winter, and when I didn't really have the cash to tax it - I've got over that now! Besides, there's nothing I could really replace it with. Sure, there's plenty of other cars I could buy (and I am a serial car buyer), but nothing really matches the Merc's extraordinary blend of abilities. Which is why I'm keeping it for the foreseeable future!
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Oh those glorious days when the engineers built the car then got the accountants to price it rather than the other way around. Caused them to get in trouble financially but surely the greatest period for mass Mercs!!
HOWEVER, I DO like this gentleman's 500E and remember them when they first came out. Discreet, discreet, discreet but with sledgehammer purpose - I like that!
I happened to be down at one of BCA's classic car auctions at Blackbushe many years ago now and had an opportunity to bid for the ex-James Hunt Mercedes 450 SEL which had been beautifully restored with fabulous bronze metallic paintwork and rich, brand new buffalo hide. This was another discreet Q car, featuring a 4.7 litre V8 - angry and quick underneath but looking almost like any old 70's Merc saloon.
This car went for around £5k at auction and I came away thinking I might have missed a great investment opportunity but, truth be told, I'd have wanted it for the discreet power drive! Awesome car - just like this 500E (did they call it E500 originally?).
Nice q looking machine and real Merc build quality , vault like doors and so on.
My dads brother has a j plate 300 te estate thats in white , only covered around 49000 miles and as new .
I allways admire the build of these proper Mercs.
ETA - is the thread title correct? I suspect not
But it wouldn't be the first time we've been wrong, so I forgive you
I had an interesting argument with my Brother Inlaw who thinks it`s "rubbish" because it looks like a taxi from Lagos, we don`t talk much anymore!
I bought a 300E-24 a few years ago "by accident" off Ebay which got me into reading up on the W124 series. As soon as I read about the 500E/E500 I knew I had to have one. Finally managed it last November. The ultimate Q car which gives people quite a surprise as they think it's one of those old sluggish Mercs.
Great fun especially seeing the look on peoples faces when you leave them for dead.
BH.
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