Buying a 190D

[Mr Viking]

Hi there, keep having thoughts about buying a 190d as my first car. Can't afford to buy and insure at the moment, but possibly in the next year or 2. Have a full licence and learned to drive in a Saxo before driving my mum's Renault Scenic (glad to see it go) and Fiat Doblo. Have very fond memories of her W123 coupe and would love to drive a merc. Any tips on buying 190's? Is it worth paying more for the diesel. Don't care about performance as insurance is going to be horrendous but what are other running costs like? I could do most maintenance short of welding myself

[GTIR]

Pretty much bomb proof.
Proper solid Merc which makes modern ones look cheap in comparison.

Diesels can do mega mileage but are a little agricultural. Avoid the 2.0 diesel non turbo - it's gutless and dangerous at junctions and sliproad as its so slow!
You can run them on waste vege oil with a 50/50 mix straight into the tank.

I don't know much about the petrol but it's one that I'd go for if I bought one again.
I'd avoid auto only for the fact they're boring!

[Mr Viking]

I thought diesel at first for economy, but I think they're usually a good whack more expensive to buy. Also, couldn't be much slower than the 80bhp Scenic I drove so I'm not bothered at all about pace. The 2L petrol would probably leave me dizzy with it's mighty 120bhp. Not too keen on autos for the boring reason, but they are much more common and Mercedes have a bad reputation for manuals, any truth in it?

[sawman]

i bought a 190e recently, with the 2.0 petrol motor and auto box, so far I have covered nearly 1k miles and its averaging just over 30mpg. mine cost £300 to buy - the bodywork could be better, but the interior is mint, considering its covered over 150k and is 23 years old

I would highly recommend one, it feels much more solid than the 2001 c class I had a couple of years ago. I only got it to use over the winter, but I'm getting quite attached to it....

[bolide]

All 190Es are tough & easy to keep running. Most I've seen in the last three years have needed a bit of fettling - mainly cracked rubber top mounts, broken / rusty springs and tired dampers

The 2.5 diesel has a great engine but it's not quick. 2.0 petrol is economical on long runs, probably not fantastic round town. The 2.6 petrol is thirsty and the 1.8 is surprisingly good to drive, albeit a bit buzzy at speed

Nick Froome

[rubystone]

Just a thought. Isn't insurance often dependent on engine size for petrols? If so, the 2 litre may be out of your price range...the 1.8 petrol may be OK. Interesting choice btw, 'proper' cars!

Eta they do rust in the boot area, above lights, in boot corners (mot failure) and wiper motor isnt cheap to replace.

Edited by rubystone on Friday 23 November 08:38