1998 E 300 Dt Esp??

[martthefart]

Hi everyone,
The saga of buying a new car continues. I have recently discovered a 1998 S plate E300 TD. It is in immaculate condition and appears to have all the bells and whistles, except heated seats!!. Having done a bit of digging around information received suggests that ESP didn't become available as standard until 1999. Is this correct. If so can anyone comment on what they think about ESP, is it a must or a desireable with additional maintenance costs/problems. Also, are the old 300 TD easier/cheaper to work on than the newer CDI engine (i've heard the injectors are v expensive and difficult to work on). Normally i would have gone for a 320 CDI, but the ones I have seen so far are expensive and rusty! This one has no rust on it and is three years older than the 320 CDI's i've seen and has less mileage! The performance from the 300 TD seems good anyway though not quite as sprightly as the CDI.
All comments are gratefully recieved.

 

[Blobcat]

The 300DT is a very basic desgin compared to a CDI engine, it will happiliy run on bio fuels and cooking oil. It is not as refined or as economical and is a lot louder. ESP is useful and with the high torque of the diesel engines does stop the wheels spinning regularly. The 320CDI came about with the face lift in 99 (v reg) and was initially available as a Classic, Elegance and Avantgarde. They dropped the Classic variant in 2000. The face lift modernised the W210 quite a lot and the oler version seems quite old in comparrison.
I'm not aware of any issue with regard to servicing or faults on the ESP. Brake light switch goes wrong occasionally but is cheap to replace. Glow plugs can go on either engine and can be a pain to replace if they don't come out.
E320CDI's are available without rust (I have one), I would try and find one. Mileage is not an issue and one that has been regularly used is much better than one which has been sat around.

 

[television]

ESP = Electronic Stability Program hardly ever goes wrong, I cant recall one in the 12 months that I have been on this forum. If you were going too fast around a corner and the car started to lose control, the ESP would cut in and apply the brakes, or reduce or increase the power to the offending wheels.

It is not to be confused with any form of traction control, but a very nice feature to have.

Malcolm

 

[Blobcat]

ESP = Electronic Stability Program hardly ever goes wrong, I cant recall one in the 12 months that I have been on this forum. If you were going too fast around a corner and the car started to lose control, the ESP would cut in and apply the brakes, or reduce or increase the power to the offending wheels.

It is not to be confused with any form of traction control, but a very nice feature to have.

Malcolm

Whe I turn my ESP off I also turn traction control off so they are linked

 

[television]

Whe I turn my ESP off I also turn traction control off so they are linked

I believe that they were linked on some cars,My V70 is. the system works from the ABS along with BAS. all cars with Sensonic brakes have the ESP on its own.

malcolm

 

[OlafMaxwell]

I think the ESP came in with the 99 facelift. However I know many people with the 300TD W210 who are extremely happy with it and over here the values of the 98 and 99 models would suggest they are more attractive than the later W210 models due to the greater complexity of the later cars.