RE: SOTW: Mercedes E300 Turbodiesel

RE: SOTW: Mercedes E300 Turbodiesel

Author
Discussion

Strawman

6,463 posts

206 months

Friday 5th October 2012
quotequote all
RichardD said:
I read a while ago that most of these (or at least the bodies) weren't made in Germany, explaining the quality drop.
They switched the steel supply or something, but it's mostly a problem from paint not binding to the metal, when they switched from solvent based to water based paints it took them a while to perfect the technique, with disastrous consequences for a few owners.

RichardD

3,560 posts

244 months

Friday 5th October 2012
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Strawman said:
Stuff about paint.
Aah. I've seen some nasty wheelarch rot on some of these and had guessed that they weren't galvanised!

DCS01

350 posts

181 months

Friday 5th October 2012
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More fool me, I bought a 1999 one second hand, after having a W124 for 160K and now problems. Drove well for getting to work and back. But rusted like hell. MB replaced two front wings and the bonnet under waranty. Then had the doors and rear wheel arches go. I would only look at a new one now as the 'build quality' has apparently gone back up

Bash Brannigan

211 posts

186 months

Friday 5th October 2012
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W124: non-chavved, 2-tone Jewish racing gold, 3-litre, 107,000 miles and £995. Unfortunately Autotrader still has the edge when it comes to this game.


X5TUU

11,907 posts

186 months

Friday 5th October 2012
quotequote all
i doubt this is an ex-company car, not if that mileage is legit

More than likely a purchase made at retirement or similar and just ran.

A work colleague and I just over a year ago went down this line in bangernomics and I bought a E39 530i SE and he bought a 51 Plate one of these (Elegance model I think?) both low milers and low owners, both in cracking nick, and both only about £1500 if I recall ... he is still running the Merc and has plans to do pan-euro trips with the family et al so there are decent ones out there for not much

Not for me this week.

Limpet

6,293 posts

160 months

Friday 5th October 2012
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I saw an S-plate one of these only this morning on the motorway with the rear arches and leading edges of the front wings so badly eaten by the tin worm that it would almost certainly have failed an MOT. The rustiest car of that age I have ever seen, bar none.

I don't think I would give any Merc later than a W124 garage space.

GoodDoc

559 posts

175 months

Friday 5th October 2012
quotequote all
RichardD said:
BeirutTaxi said:
LuS1fer said:
All diesels being crap - IMHO.
I'm not a huge fan but for commuting down the M27 and A31 every day I think it's an OK choice.

However given the price of new injectors & other parts of the intake/fuel system I question whether old diesels are really 'economical' in contrast to their petrol counterparts.
Isn't this an "old school" engine, indirect injection and non common rail, so less fragile than modern diesels? Less So a good candidate for running on vegetable oil. With a decent supply of the used stuff, you'd have the ability to tonk along the motorway all day (maybe for free), just with the annoyance of 4 cylinder fossil fuel driven cars getting in your way (along with plodding v8's worried if they can make it to the next tax station) smile ?
Yep, the 300 diesel was an 'old-school' straight 6 with indirect injection and can be run on vegetable oil, the 320 is the newer V6 with common rail injection. At this age it should be the 24 valve version which had just shy of 180bhp with mid 30s MPG

tomoleeds

770 posts

185 months

Friday 5th October 2012
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Its too old for a taxi isnt it. they have to be 5 years old max in Halifax/Bradford. would be ok for work use on building sites that sort of thing,tools in boot etc. dust would soon cover the horrible seats.

Edited by tomoleeds on Friday 5th October 10:29

Geoffcapes

670 posts

163 months

Friday 5th October 2012
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FWDRacer said:
Rotboxes.

Wired by a combination of French and Italians... electronic feckwittery awaits.

Not with yours.
Most Italian cars (Alfa, Fiat, Lancia. Same company really) the electronics are done by that renowned German firm. Bosch.

So shouldn't that be German feckwittery? Just saying. tongue out

excel monkey

4,544 posts

226 months

Friday 5th October 2012
quotequote all
tomoleeds said:
They have to be 5 years old max in Halifax/Bradford.
Is that for safety/emissions reasons, or just to generate a steady supply of old Mercs for the local innits??

red_slr

17,122 posts

188 months

Friday 5th October 2012
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E300 was a good car in its day, the big diesel was quick too - my in laws had one and I would struggle to keep up in my hot hatch of the day.
Today, well, slower than a slow thing on a Monday but still for a grand... its a lot of car!

Minemapper

933 posts

155 months

Friday 5th October 2012
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I would drive that. Nice invisible colour for making progress. Add leather seats, redo the wheels, and it would be a great long distance commuter.

hman

7,487 posts

193 months

Friday 5th October 2012
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Terrible - awful rusty rubbish doing a big poo on mercedes "hewn from granite" reputation.

My neighbour has one, I'm inclined to tell him that my "work" suit is now officially worth more than his car.


I too have seen some truly amazing rust buckets of this vintage too, Mercedes should be very very embarrassed.

blartbox

48 posts

143 months

Friday 5th October 2012
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IIRC the leeser RHD merc saloons were built in S. Africa, not Germany. W210s have a reputation for the bracket that the front road spring mounts to on the body rusting through, which could make for an interesting day's motoring...Would I swap my 97 E39 BMW for a W210? Don't be silly. I recall German taxi drivers mounting protests against the perceived decline in quality when Benz replaced the W123 series with the 124, which in turn is now regarded as a paragon of build quality versus the 210.

g3org3y

20,606 posts

190 months

Friday 5th October 2012
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donkamio said:
Well judging by the number of these i still see on the road, they must be pretty well built. I know a few people who have had theres since new and are still running strong.

ask yourself, how many 5 series or A6's of a similar vintage do you see around?????????????????
Quite a lot of E39s ime tbh.

excel monkey

4,544 posts

226 months

Friday 5th October 2012
quotequote all
hman said:
Terrible - awful rusty rubbish doing a big poo on mercedes "hewn from granite" reputation.

My neighbour has one, I'm inclined to tell him that my "work" suit is now officially worth more than his car.
They're not all rusty. It depends on usage/maintenance.

Is your neighbour's car rusty? Perhaps he likes the fact that his car is worth less than your work suit? smile

LeoZwalf

2,802 posts

229 months

Friday 5th October 2012
quotequote all
A thousand times no. Dad's got an estate E320 CDI of this shape and it has been almost nothing but trouble over the last 5 years. Rust and engine problems are the main two issues and it was a well looked after car. They just suck frown

This one below however is a thousand (ok, maybe a hundred) times yes. Actually Dad had one of these in estate form before he got the current one and it was great. Ended up with about 230,000 on the clock, he bought it with about 70,000 on it around 7 years previously. It was still going pretty strong but was a big petrol drinker.

Bash Brannigan said:
W124: non-chavved, 2-tone Jewish racing gold, 3-litre, 107,000 miles and £995. Unfortunately Autotrader still has the edge when it comes to this game.

Gizmoish

18,150 posts

208 months

Friday 5th October 2012
quotequote all
tomoleeds said:
Its too old for a taxi isnt it. they have to be 5 years old max in Halifax/Bradford. would be ok for work use on building sites that sort of thing,tools in boot etc. dust would soon cover the horrible seats.
Five years old max if they're going to be licenced.

Minicab, boss? Minicab? Minicab?

Robmarriott

2,633 posts

157 months

Friday 5th October 2012
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£400 Holset turbo on eBay, turn the fuel up and it'll make 450bhp on standard internals.

anything fast

983 posts

163 months

Friday 5th October 2012
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why do the headlights on these cars mist over? See so many cars like that nowerdays!