Interested In W124 320 Cabriolet For Sale - Has Anyone Viewed This?

[fraz]

Hi All - I have found the following for sale (see link at bottom of page) - however it is a fair distance from my home. Has anyone viewed this vehicle or know anything about it. The seller tell me he's had it for over a year and that the hood mechanism doesn't fold fully - the metal tonneu (sp!) type cover isn't closing over the retracted hood - does anyone know how big a fix this might be? Aside from this it is described as being in very good condition with no rust - if anyone has previously viewed this vehicle or if anyone is local to the garage and could give me 'warts and all' evalutation of the car -this would be VERY much appreciated.

Finally does anyone know of a decent W124 specialist who could do an inspection on the vehicle before i purchased and what sort of money would this cost me (i understand it would be money well spent!)

http://atsearch.autotrader.co.uk/ww...t&ukcarsearch_full.x=51&ukcarsearch_full.y=12

Best Regards and many thanks for any help with this.

Regards Fraz

 

[fraz]

anyone pleeeeease!

 

[The German Flower Pot]

that car is £6,980 for many reasons most of which i doubt they are telling you

for a uk right hand drive one of these with a 5 speed box, electric seats, full leather, 3.2 24v, heated seats, low low milage and convertible that would be best part of £15,000 maybe more

i would not touch that car at any price

you get what you pay for and that looks too cheap

 

[c955]

that looks too cheap

I'm certainly no expert, but I watch W124 prices closely enough and I'd say TGFP is right.

 

[Ade W124]

£7k for a LHD with a broken hood doesn't sound outrageous - there was a LHD on Autotrader for ages with 250k km for 5k. A 'great service history' doesn't necessarily equal a full service history.

I would do a search for common w124 faults (wiring loom, cylinder head,) etc. and grill the vendor - their website shows that they don't normally deal in this sort of car. There is no substitute for a test drive.

Speak to a decent MB indy and see if you can get a ballpark figure for the cost of the repairs to the hood - if it was a cheap fix, the vendor would have undertaken the repair..

These cars can cost a fortune to maintain - to give you an idea I've recently spent 2k on routine maintenance and a cylinder head gasket replacement on my fairly tidy 57k coupe.. my neighbour has a green E320 cabriolet which has suffered myriad electrical gremlins and is currently out of action.

Good ones are great, bad ones :roll:

HTH

Ade

 

[shirubaby]

sounds about right

I've been following w124 coupe prices and cabrio prices and that sounds about right...I've seen cheaper on ebay. If you like a LHD they ok....personally i would wait for one in RHD and preferably red...that's the best color IMHO.

 

[Lordjellybelly]

I was looking for about three months before I purchased mine in June. This ad I`m 90% sure was in Auto Trader during that time. I would suggest you check all the boxes you want ticked i.e. sportline?/colour?/heated and/or electric seats?/ five speed?/ armrest?/air con?/maintenance eg new loom and/or head gasket?/mileage?/history? etc and then see what you get for your money.

 

[fraz]

wow thanks people. It's due a major service on both age and mileage - does anyone know of a reputable independent in the area SW london area who could have check over pre-purchase or anyone i could speak to - will of course test drive but would like to get an expert opinion on the HeadGasket/Wiring loom and any other potentail pit falls. The vendor tells me that it has been on the marky for over 1 year and it's creeped down from 12k! thanks again all

p.s I assume some of these 320's had a 4 speed auto and some a 5 speed

Can anyone tell me if this example is a 24 valve or a 12v - or how i can establish which it is.

N.B TGFP - have you viewed the vehicle or are you suggesting that it is most likely a bag of spanners due to the price etc.

 

[Ian B Walker]

It will be a 24 valve being a 5 speed box. Another pointer is the age of the car 1995.

 

[kth286]

The W124 cars had 4 speed autos as standard for the UK market.

However you could specify a 5 speed auto for extra money, on the 3 litre and 3.2 litre six cylinder 24 valve cars only (not 2.2 litre 4 cylinders).

OR you could specify a manual box at no extra cost but very rare in UK market.

The 3.2 litre 6 cylinder 24 valve cars were ALL electronic for both fuelling and ignition all controlled from a single ECU (computer).

They were the most advanced engines ever fitted to the W124 range of cars. Not even the mighty V8 engines had electronic fuelling, still using the electro-mechanical system.

This advanced system was then carried over into the next generation of executive cars the W210 series for several years.

Six cylinder straight six engines are the most perfectly balanced engines you can get, and when Mercedes and others went onto V 6 engines, they had to fit an extra layer of complexity into the engines in the form of balancer shafts, to keep them smooth.

So, the car you are interested in has the fabulous 3.2 all electronic straight six 24 valve engine with 5 speed gearbox.

In fact the 5 speed gearbox is superfluous in this engine and has an extra layer of complexity you do not need for an older car which you might intend to keep for a long time.

The 5 speed box is like the very reliable mechanical box (before the problematic electronic boxes came along) with an extra 5th gear selected electrically. I would not let this put you off the car however if the car is otherwise in generally good condition..

 

[Bolide]

Just to add the 5-speed box was in the price lists from 1992 and was available on the 300-24 valve engine. There are quite a number of 1991 300-24 valves fitted with it

I suspected there were relatively few 5-speed autos due to it being an expensive option. But it was only about £500 extra - less than a Blaupunkt stereo - so I am surprised more buyers didn't specify it

Nick Froome
www.w124.co.uk

 

[mattsurf]

Fantastic engine I had an W124 E320 with 5 speed auto a while back. The Auto box is not as strong as the 4 speed, however, it is relatively cheap to have rebuilt - mine cost £900 for a rebuild at 120k miles, I believe that the 5th gear is an electronic overdrive unit mounted onto the back of the gearbox. Check all the gears - check that it is changing from 4th to 5th, change it manually as check that the engine speed changes accordingly. Also be aware that in this gearbox, when you start normally it pulls away in second gear, if you accellerate hard, it pulls away in first

The E320 also has an airpump, which I believe is only used at startup, the bearings in this failed on mine, causing the fan belt to break. If you get a whining noise in the engine for this is a likely cause.

I think that the car looks really nice - It may well be a good one - take an expert and they will quickly spot whether this is a good buy or not

 

[Ade W124]

Just to add the 5-speed box was in the price lists from 1992 and was available on the 300-24 valve engine. There are quite a number of 1991 300-24 valves fitted with it

I suspected there were relatively few 5-speed autos due to it being an expensive option. But it was only about £500 extra - less than a Blaupunkt stereo - so I am surprised more buyers didn't specify it

I've got both in mine from 1991

(Although the stereo has a few issues)


ps. parcel arrived cheers.

 

[fraz]

thanks everyone for your pointers - does anyone know of an 'expert' on W124's I might enlist to check the car over for me pre-purchase?

 

[Bolide]

The Auto box is not as strong as the 4 speed...

I've heard this said a few times but no-one's ever been able to back it up. If it's the same box as a 4-speed with an electric overdrive, I wonder how it can be "not as strong"?

I believe that the 5th gear is an electronic overdrive unit mounted onto the back of the gearbox

A German chap I met said you can convert one to the other. You'd need to add the ECU & loom, though

I also think the 5-speed has a different torque convertor as the 4-speeds creep when in Neutral and the 5-speeds don't

Nick Froome
www.w124.co.uk

 

[fraz]

Ok as there doesn't seem to be any experts for hire - can someone pls give me a few pointers on evaluating the car when i go for a viewing/drive. My main concerns have read previous posts are the Head Gasket issues and the ECU - aside from checking for gunk under oil cap, oil in the water, creamy residue on the dipstick etc is there anything else i can do to tell if the gasket is on it's way out? Regarding the ECU anything in particular i need to check? obv check car drives straight etc and go for a decent run in it. Many thnaks if anyone can help me out with this. Regards

 

[Lordjellybelly]

I knowingly bought my car with that oil leak that was noticed about 20k miles ago according to service history. It`s so slight I`ve done about 1500 miles since service and it doesn`t need topped up yet so it`s not a black and white issue.......it`s in the price, same with the wiring loom. If the car`s at a price with a history to allow for the work and you`re happy with it otherwise don`t dismiss it.

 

[Ade W124]

Re Head Gasket, there is likely to be some oil escaping from somewhere so it will be hard to tell but if its at the back of the engine this is where the gasket allegedly fails most - check the coolant hoses don't go solid with the engine warm (quick way of spotting pressure in the coolant system).

If its not been replaced already, I would budget for replacing the head gasket in the next 12 months anyway if the car gets regular use - mine took about 6k miles and 8 months after years of intermittent use for the original to give up.

Check what's involved with the major service - that could cost a bit (as I recently found out..)

Don't believe the vendor if he says the AC just needs a regas

Good luck

Ade

 

[Nicholas 82]

Hi Guys,

This is my first post so please bear with me.

Essentially, i am also looking at a E320 Cabriolet that a business contact is selling. The vehicle is a late registered 1997 car with the Sportline specification and comes in Azurite Blue with a Mushroom leather interior.

The car has covered 70,000 miles and more importantly is a one owner car with full service history!

The price is £22,950. I appreciate that values are increasing for these examples, but does that price seem reasonable based on the current market?

Any replies would be greatly received.

Regards,

Nick

 

[kth286]

Nicholas

That is a good colour combination but priced at the top end of the market.

You can buy similar cars from specialist dealers at less money with very good and long warranty.

Buy copy of Merc Enthusiast from WH Smith and compare prices.

It sounds as though he does not really want to sell the car but if you gave him about £3/4K over the top he would. He can then go buy another similar for 3/4k less and pocket the difference.