Advice on buying a W124:

[aaz1978]

Hi all, just joined this forum and I am looking to buy a W124 I am mainly interested in the following:

260E
300E
E280
E320

Is there anything to watch out for as I see a handful of them on Autotrader that seem very affordable. Or do you know anywhere else where I can buy one in good condition.

Much appreciated.

 

[matrix]

All you show on the post, are volume of the engine. The higher the figure, more powerful the engine and bigger petrol spendings from the pocket.... Fit your purchase to your pocket.

 

[Legoman]

as often qouted , the w124 is the last of the 'overengineered' mercs , so there pretty reliable , things to check are.

1. rust , front wings especially are prone.
2. electrics , the loom on later models are fragile , test for hardening and cracking
3. transmission whine and oil , neglected gearboxes are liable to fail

theres probably lots more but most are unspecific to the car and you should check all stuff normally related to buying any car tbh. imo the 6 cylinder engines are much better , but its down to your pocket fuel wise

 

[aaz1978]

Many thanks guys for the response, fuel is not an issue for me it just the reliability. I was in Germany recently and they had the W124 as taxis, you can imagine how much mileage they have done, but they are diesels which I believe are more reliable than the petrol engines.

I choose those specific models as we used to have the W210 E320 V6. Which was very smooth and had the power when you needed to use it, so was looking for something of a similar nature.

Kind regards

 

[Stevie B]

I bought a low mileage '88 260e 3 months ago and absolutely love it. Every trip is fun and much more of an event than the new cars I used to own

It went for an MOT today and failed for emissions ( which I hope I can sort at local garage) and for rust holes around the rear jacking points (easy weld).

Suggest you have a good poke around for rust and have a look at exhaust. Watch out for electric windows as I understand that motors can be expensive. The only other thing was a noticeable lurch from gearbox when moving in to top gear which was traced to worn prop shaft coupling.

To sum it up lots of fun but it will always require a little fettling and upkeep (which is half the fun). Most it you can do yourself from cheap parts suppliers and advice from the people on this site

Good luck

 

[Bolide]

My best advice is to do your homework and don't buy the first car you see. Asking here definitely counts as homework...

There are millions of W124 threads on here. Have a read of as many as you can stand then start working out all the model / year / trim / engine variations. Then look at as many cars as you can. Then buy

Some info here:

Model Range
http://www.w124.co.uk/modelrange.html

Options & Accessories
http://www.w124.co.uk/optionalequipment.html

Most of the info here is relevant to all W124 models (saloon, coupe, estate & cabrio) with a few minor exceptions. EG there were no 260 estates that I know of...

Nick Froome
www.w124.co.uk

 

[joem]

You're not pitching for business are you Nick?

Mind you that AMG 280 looks a bit special. I don't think I would be allowed though!!

Joe

 

[aaz1978]

Much appreciated for your comments, as soon as I can sell my current car I shall start looking for good examples.