Best smoker barges 1-5 large [Vol 17]
Discussion
TW124 said:
I agree, these 140's are fantastic, it's as simple as that. Probably the biggest barge you can buy under 5k, superb for crossing countries in comfort at a silly speed. I love the ones I have got, not a bad price for this but not the best colour either, not a fan of blue on a car. Driven wisely they can return almost 30MPG in a V8 but the build quality is granite like - 5 times better than any S-Class brought out since. I've not had any major problems in 20 years of owning a 140 except for normal servicing. Even the V12 one's have been decent. What I love is the classic simple dashboard still being used from the 80's. They need the 8 hole alloys and an 8 cylinder engine, black leather, a chauffeur and some hot french chick on the backseat whilst hurtling down to Narbonne or somewhere around there.
I am very tempted, but out off with the miles on this one a bit. Are they like a more refined, blobby, spacious and flabby w124? That’s what I’m looking for.
Just an FYI I'm about to go full eBay shortlist DEFCON-4 on some Audi a8 (d2) v8 quattro's. They're around £2k so at least when the timing chain lets go I can buy 1.5 more a8's and still be within thread. I'm hoping to get one with a fridge between the rear seats and/or the solar panel sunroof which I have no idea of the purpose of. TBC! How exciting..
0a said:
TW124 said:
I agree, these 140's are fantastic, it's as simple as that. Probably the biggest barge you can buy under 5k, superb for crossing countries in comfort at a silly speed. I love the ones I have got, not a bad price for this but not the best colour either, not a fan of blue on a car. Driven wisely they can return almost 30MPG in a V8 but the build quality is granite like - 5 times better than any S-Class brought out since. I've not had any major problems in 20 years of owning a 140 except for normal servicing. Even the V12 one's have been decent. What I love is the classic simple dashboard still being used from the 80's. They need the 8 hole alloys and an 8 cylinder engine, black leather, a chauffeur and some hot french chick on the backseat whilst hurtling down to Narbonne or somewhere around there.
I am very tempted, but out off with the miles on this one a bit. Are they like a more refined, blobby, spacious and flabby w124? That’s what I’m looking for.
Also I remember the car did feel alot bigger when I drove one, however the ride is very impressive and the V8 power is very smooth but impressively quick once the revs pick up for something so big.
TW124 said:
... an 8 cylinder engine, black leather, a chauffeur and some hot french chick on the backseat whilst hurtling down to Narbonne or somewhere around there.
Almost max points; I was the chauffeur and the hot chick was Divide by zero; I was in a Lexus*.
* But it was the one that looked a lot like this and was designed to be better than it. Like all Lexii actually.
0a said:
ian316 said:
Barge meet location location location as they say 
I think our best turnout was MB world, between Christmas and Boxing Day a couple of years back. Bullet-Proof_Biscuit said:
Just an FYI I'm about to go full eBay shortlist DEFCON-4 on some Audi a8 (d2) v8 quattro's. They're around £2k so at least when the timing chain lets go I can buy 1.5 more a8's and still be within thread. I'm hoping to get one with a fridge between the rear seats and/or the solar panel sunroof which I have no idea of the purpose of. TBC! How exciting..
I believe the auto-boxes on these are a “when” not “if” they go wrong too, may be worth seeing if they’ve been reconditioned. Really like them though, peak Audi solid tank-like build quality CharlesdeGaulle said:
0a said:
ian316 said:
Barge meet location location location as they say
I think our best turnout was MB world, between Christmas and Boxing Day a couple of years back. The only thing to really worry about with the W140 is the aircon compressor / condenser or whichever bit it is that requires most of the interior to be removed to replace. Allegedly more likely on earlier cars as the design changed but that may be internet rumour.
My ideal spec would be a post facelift S600L. Preferred my S500L to my C600 mainly due to the additional doors.
Ben
My ideal spec would be a post facelift S600L. Preferred my S500L to my C600 mainly due to the additional doors.
Ben
BlueMR2 said:
0a said:
TW124 said:
I agree, these 140's are fantastic, it's as simple as that. Probably the biggest barge you can buy under 5k, superb for crossing countries in comfort at a silly speed. I love the ones I have got, not a bad price for this but not the best colour either, not a fan of blue on a car. Driven wisely they can return almost 30MPG in a V8 but the build quality is granite like - 5 times better than any S-Class brought out since. I've not had any major problems in 20 years of owning a 140 except for normal servicing. Even the V12 one's have been decent. What I love is the classic simple dashboard still being used from the 80's. They need the 8 hole alloys and an 8 cylinder engine, black leather, a chauffeur and some hot french chick on the backseat whilst hurtling down to Narbonne or somewhere around there.
I am very tempted, but out off with the miles on this one a bit. Are they like a more refined, blobby, spacious and flabby w124? That’s what I’m looking for.
Also I remember the car did feel alot bigger when I drove one, however the ride is very impressive and the V8 power is very smooth but impressively quick once the revs pick up for something so big.
Only a 3.2 however similar to your E Class.
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202009033...
Just don't look at the MOT history.
jason61c said:
Having looked around, I’ve stumbled on this.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/154058680651
It’s a one owner car. Having looked into the issues, what should be the main points to check? Regarding the wiring loom(engine bay), can you do anything about it or see if it’s affected? Also 5 speed, so 30mpg motorway?
A £7k 124 320 T ' near enough ' mint.https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/154058680651
It’s a one owner car. Having looked into the issues, what should be the main points to check? Regarding the wiring loom(engine bay), can you do anything about it or see if it’s affected? Also 5 speed, so 30mpg motorway?
If he wants £7k for it then the loom and all of the loom should have been done. If he hasn't got proof of that then it's worth £1.5k less immediately. It's a shoddy advert quickly written with very limited information non descript yet again. His advert doesn't command 7k. It's not near enough mint either. It needs to be up on a ramp checking for corrosion which it will have somewhere around the rear arches & subframe.
I've got a friend in Royston and he will go and see it tomorrow but £7,000!!! Good grief, they're not worth that with a worn drivers bolster. I don't think it's worth even £5k. No way to value these except 99p auction it and see what happens. I've owned and sold loads of these and still own some. There's always plenty of jap imports knocking about for between £6k and £8k and they never seem to sell which means they aren't worth that money. There's high demands for 124's, they sell fairly easily with a sensible vendor.
Macron said:
BrabusMog said:
Just catching up on the last pages of the previous volume... Mercedes really do make the best looking wheels.
Although they can look dire on the wrong Merc...http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2020...
0a said:
I am very tempted, but out off with the miles on this one a bit.
Are they like a more refined, blobby, spacious and flabby w124? That’s what I’m looking for.
The mileages aren't a problem, I own 2 of them, a 600 and a 500. Both of them are up on the mileages but both have been maintained correctly. If it's done 140,000 miles, it will go much further. I had one once at 235,000 miles running great. I prefer miles on a car and for it to have been maintained than a low miler that's neglected.Are they like a more refined, blobby, spacious and flabby w124? That’s what I’m looking for.
No, they aren't like a W124 at all in my opinion, they are much much more refined and much bigger too, they feel like about a foot wider inside but they're not and they're almost silent when at high speed which a 124 is far from. They look a bit similar and that's about it. The 124 nowadays is quite tiny & cramped as a saloon car. 140's are sumptuous in comparison but not over the top. I think out of all the barge stuff in these threads at 5k max, and someone gave me 5k to spend on anything, I'm 99.9% certain a 140 would be my choice.
The 140 is a very big car and feels it. The ride quality and quietness are brilliant. But they are a long distance big roads car. Pretty useless on little roads and around town. I would strongly counsel you to find a V8, 420 or 500. The V8 engine is very, very smooth and significantly stronger than the six (220bhp v 275bhp and 335 bhp). And standard wheelbase. My S420 was a fast enough car. The stereo was very good: did I ever mention that? https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=15...
This one has graced these pages at least once before. Only a six but SWB and lovely colours.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CLASSIC-1997-MERCEDES-B...
Oa, if you spring for a 140, I'll gladly buy your E320. And sell it back to you four weeks later when you've tired of the 140's mass.
This one has graced these pages at least once before. Only a six but SWB and lovely colours.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CLASSIC-1997-MERCEDES-B...
Oa, if you spring for a 140, I'll gladly buy your E320. And sell it back to you four weeks later when you've tired of the 140's mass.
TW124 said:
CharlesdeGaulle said:
W00DY said:
What an epic buy that would be. 
All you grizzly moaners grumbling about the new S Class at the end of the old thread need to put your money where your mouth is and buy this.
The 3.2 litre engine sounds small for the size of the car but it went surprisingly well. A 500 would be fairly fast I would imagine, even now. Engine power seemed to rise significantly at that time with cars becoming much more powerful than their 1980s equivalent. It was also very comfortable and solid-feeling and although it was rather full of plastic inside, the car felt well made. It was very quiet - probably marginally quieter than my XJ40 (which I had even back then) and particularly smooth riding. Comfort was very much at the expense of handling though - it felt significantly less nimble than the Jag and its suspension control felt inferior to me - but it made up for it with a feeling of imperious indomitably. Driving that, you were definitely 'coming through'.
I liked the W140 and it was very good at being a big car if that makes any sense, but I would add one cavet. My brother had quite a bit of trouble with his centred around the electrical system. It never actually broke down that I can recall, but it had an intermittent but frequent and persistent misfire that Mercedes were never able to trace to the point it wasn't running quite right more often than not. This could be quite dangerous at times since the car
would sometimes die when pulling out at a junction. It also had problems with the electric windows. They sometimes had a life of their own and would open and close themselves. Any attempt to shut them again would result in them twitching up and down rapidly in a kind of electrical St Vitus' dance. The sunroof would sometimes refuse to close in a similar way - but thankfully it never opened itself. The car was fairly new even when he sold it and the problems (and Mercedes disinterest) make me a little circumspect of them generally, though this may well be unreasonable nowadays since I imagine all the bad ones are long dead. Incidentally, my brother's W140 suffered the sort of catastrophic depreciation which would have been unthinkable on an S Class Mercedes only a few years before. The W126 held its value incredibly well, whereas the W140 depreciated at least as severely as the Jaguar XJ and BMW 7 Series. It was a different marked by then of course and Mercedes were also not exported at a couple of years old in the volumes they had been in the 1980s.
Reading my reply back I sound more negative than I intended to be. W140s are lovely cars - far nicer than the W124 in my view, which though I respect them, I can feel no more than that about them. But the W140 impressed me. They're smooth and powerful cruisers and extremely comfortable and refined. My brother's also had an outstanding stereo.
CharlesdeGaulle said:
r129sl said:
RE a barge meet.....I'll pensively say I may be able to attend, depending on work/family commitments.
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