W124 300 diesel, is it a turbo?

[richardxjr]

Hi

Researching my next buy which will be my first Merc. It will be a W124 estate. Considering a 300TD but the seller(dealer) is convinced it's not a turbo. It's a 1990 and reg check confirms it is a 300TD. Anyone know about these units? Has it a turbo? mpg/performance, basically is it worth it or should I stick to a petrol 280? Never had a derv before & I'll only do about 6000pa in it, but this particular car has a good spec & looks decent.

Cheers in advance.

[marc.l]

no offical 124 diesels were turbo charged for the uk market. The line from MB is that the turbo was in the way of the steering columb on RHD cars. I have seen a couple of 250 td and 300 td fitted with after market turbos.

I think the 124 series estates are maybe one of the best built cars mercedes ever made, wish i had keept mine.

marc

[bolide]

UK W124 diesels are all non-turbo. LHD European cars would be turbocharged

There's a big difference between the pre-facelift 300TD and the post-facelift E300 Diesel. The later cars are a lot more driveable and I'd try one before buying an earlier car. That said, the 250TD and 300TD are probably the best cars Mercedes ever built

You'll get 31-33 mpg out of a 250TD, a little less out of a 300TD, and 32-33 out of an E300 Diesel. It doesn't seem to matter how you drive them - the mpg doesn't change much. Figures are for autos - manuals are slightly more economical

Nick Froome
www.w124.co.uk

Edited by bolide on Sunday 25th May 00:19

[richardxjr]

Many thanks. I've been ogling the beauties on your site a while now Nick. You're in the same county as me; do you do servicing/appraisals at all or could you point me in the direction of someone local who does?

[tricky 100]

If your close to Worthing John Haynes are a good independant dealer and workshop .

[Mustard]

The 'T' in 300TD relates to the body style not the engine, hence you have a 200T, 200TE, 230TE, 300TE, (and for a very brief period 220TE, 280TE and 320TE before the facelift and the range was renamed the E-Class estate ...E220, E280, E320 & E320 Diesel Estate)

Facelift E300 Diesels feature a 24v version of the diesel engine but still no turbo for the UK.

If your not doing many miles I'd save your money and buy a E220 if mpg is an issue (not that far behind and performance is similar) or a E280/E320 petrol as Diesels fetch a big premium and are often quite low spec.

Edited by Mustard on Tuesday 27th May 20:48

[richardxjr]

Even really leggy ones are fetching good money still:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Mercedes-W124-300-auto-diese...

My measly budget doesn't stretch far in W124's (diesel or petrol) so I've bought a Volvo instead