RE: SOTW: Mercedes E300 Turbodiesel

[X5TUU]

Robmarriott said:

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

And blow itself apart before you can burn through all that fuel lol

[AV12]

A brilliant, brilliant find.

[yellowbentines]

hman said:

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

If I was your neighbour and you told me that, I'd laugh at you for spending more on a suit than I paid for a roadworthy Merc.

[will261058]

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?????????????????

Eh? Not sure about A6s but there are definitely loads of early E39 5 series around!

[Hellbound]

So you can change the exhaust and make it sound like a lazy, old, badly cared for V8 at low speeds, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uaYuWXT0Kg

...then change the turbo for a bigger one and remap it. I wonder what you'd end up with.

[The Obeast]

is it just my eyes or does that first picture show difference in paint work from the front and rear door?

[esvcg]

First SOTW I'm not remotely interested in, even for curiosity/morbid fascination/genuine interest.

This is just another euro box, not really 'right' for SOTW?

[v8will]

A remarkable car in its day. I remember the disbelief that a diesel could pump out 177BHP

If it was reasonably rot free it'd be worth a punt for a couple of years cheap driving.

I've done many miles in a W210 E55, fantastic but an utter rot box.

[Strawman]

Hellbound said:

So you can change the exhaust and make it sound like a lazy, old, badly cared for V8 at low speeds, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uaYuWXT0Kg

...then change the turbo for a bigger one and remap it. I wonder what you'd end up with.

I think this earlier estate has the engine similar to the SOTW one fitted plus a turbo from a truck

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24afjVqm2Uw

[soad]

kaliber said:

No thanks.

Hated the frog eyed look when it came out...still hate it now.

Aye, it hasn't aged well.

[MadDog1962]

CampDavid said:

From the good old days? This ones a poster child for the worst of Mercedes build.

Still, great shed and a cheap way to get to work

Actually, I think these are generally better than the model that superseded them. They're not as solid as a W124 but really a lot better dynamically. A South American lady (with MILF looks) that I work with runs a 12 year old (petrol) model with galactic miles. It is still a classy ride, bit like her really ;-)

[Zircon]

I quite liked the shape of these, but I think that rust came as standard to every single one I have ever seen!

[Carnnoisseur]

I think the CLK variant has aged worse? In relation to the above, it is what it is.............

[anonymous-user]

excel monkey said:

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?

Rust from this era Mercs is well documented. They are terrible for it. I was looking for a CLK55 of similar vintage a while back and all the examples I looked at had rust issues. The funniest comment was from a guy selling a black one, he said 'well as it's black you don't notice the rust as much as a silver one'. In my book that isn't a very good selling point! so ended up with a B3 Alpina instead

[AC43]

anything fast said:

why do the headlights on these cars mist over? See so many cars like that nowerdays!

The polycarbonate headlight covers degrade over time. Some of it is fine stone chips but most of it is just a reaction with dirt and/or the atmosphere and/or UV rays.

The OH's Clio headlights became badly yellowed and were a possible MOT failure until I T Cut them back and polished them up earlier this year

The ones on my 7.5 yr old W211 are starting on that journey and if I can find 30 mins I'll give them a quick polish up soon. Makes a big difference to how the car looks.

My neighbour's 10 yr old Rav 4 has gone the same way as the Clio - looks like it's got yellow headlights.

[anonymous-user]

The Obeast said:

is it just my eyes or does that first picture show difference in paint work from the front and rear door?

These cars are basically Trigger's broom. Pretty much every panel has probably been replaced on that car multiple times

[JaguarsportXJR]

I have to admit that when I logged onto my favourite motoring website, complete with it's usual tagline of "Speed Matters", I wasn't expecting to see a diesel, automatic Mercedes as SOTW.

Rated 1. Would've been 0, but it's not as bad as that LR concept from a few months back.

[Embryonic]

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.

99% sure this car has just been bought by Barge Threadist PHer BlueMR2...

[J4CKO]

A mate had the newer one with the Common Rail and it rusted, had electrical gremilns, it leaked from the injectors so it smelt like a Cross Channel Ferry, he had it fixed but the muppets that changed the injectors used the same stretch bolts so they snapped and it spat the injector rail out of the top of the engine cowl, sold for scrap at 134k which is a pretty short life for an alledged quality car.

[teammonkey]

yellowbentines said:

hman said:

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

If I was your neighbour and you told me that, I'd laugh at you for spending more on a suit than I paid for a roadworthy Merc.

I'll second that. What a bell end you sound...