Looking for help with 1992 190e 1.8 buying tips

[tomdylan]

Hi There, I'm not sure if I'm posting this in the right place but I'm going to ask anyway as I need all the help I can get. I'm a new driver and I am not happy getting a modern hatchback or something similar, and one of my dream cars is a 190e so I began looking into it and realised price wise it's relatively affordable for a new driver. Insurance and buying price is fine but I'm a bit lost as to what to look for when searching for examples to buy. I've been told by countless family and friends that a 30 year old Mercedes would be far too expensive to run and maintain, and that parts would be too expensive for a 17 year old. I've looked online and tried to get a good idea as to what running costs are on average but I need some assistance from actual owners. If anyone can give me any tips on what to look out for or things to avoid when viewing, testing and buying that would be extremely helpful, as well as any ball park on what running costs, MOTs and services are like cost-wise.

(If it's helpful, I'm looking at specifically the 1992 190e 1.8 Manual, Petrol. Most of the examples I've found for sale are around 100,000 miles.)

Thankyou!

 

[Blobcat]

Hello and welcome,

Rust is probably the biggest issue to deal with / avoid if at all possible

 

[peterws1957]

Hi There, I'm not sure if I'm posting this in the right place but I'm going to ask anyway as I need all the help I can get. I'm a new driver and I am not happy getting a modern hatchback or something similar, and one of my dream cars is a 190e so I began looking into it and realised price wise it's relatively affordable for a new driver. Insurance and buying price is fine but I'm a bit lost as to what to look for when searching for examples to buy. I've been told by countless family and friends that a 30 year old Mercedes would be far too expensive to run and maintain, and that parts would be too expensive for a 17 year old. I've looked online and tried to get a good idea as to what running costs are on average but I need some assistance from actual owners. If anyone can give me any tips on what to look out for or things to avoid when viewing, testing and buying that would be extremely helpful, as well as any ball park on what running costs, MOTs and services are like cost-wise.

(If it's helpful, I'm looking at specifically the 1992 190e 1.8 Manual, Petrol. Most of the examples I've found for sale are around 100,000 miles.)

Thankyou!

I think the cost of parts would be the least of your problems expense wise. You say insurance is fine but have you had a good look at the cost of insurance? Someone on one forum, a new driver and slightly older could only find insurance at £5k a year for a 190. If that is not a problem as Blobcat says rust will be the main issue. Most I suspect will be a patchwork quilt of welded repairs. For more detailed info you might try the MB 190 forum. Good luck in your search though.

 

[DREAMER NO2]

Go for the larger engine 230E not much information floating about on 1.8 or the 2L i searchaed ages for information on them both for members on the forum , and its in short in supply

 

[JBell]

Go for the larger engine 230E not much information floating about on 1.8 or the 2L i searchaed ages for information on them both for members on the forum , and its in short in supply

This looks nice

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[DSK]

Firstly what a great choice. Insurance tends to be higher on stuff that every idiot buys and claims on. So picking something less common is wise on that respect.

As for old cars being expensive, your friends and family are sadly delusional. The simple fact is, aside from rust as mentioned, the old Mercs were engineered better than the modern crap MB and most manufacturers churn out. The good thing is, it will so easy to tell a good one from a bad one now. There’s a white G reg 190 owned by a local chap, it’s pristine and he drives it daily. He went from a modern Renault to that and never looked back. They can be maintained simply and easily unlike modern vehicles. Even the big jobs are a doddle in comparison to all the complex, design to fail crap of today. So getting a good one will be fundamentally easy and running costs low as it will be reliable and maintainable.

For similar money, here’s a few more choices, Volvo S70/V70R, Lexus IS200/250. The insurance may not be as bad as some think!


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[rifiki]

Go for the larger engine 230E not much information floating about on 1.8 or the 2L i searchaed ages for information on them both for members on the forum , and its in short in supply

I think the 2.3 motor was only fitted to US and Japan and possibly South Africa cars.

 

[DREAMER NO2]

You are wrong there because there is a 1.8 200,E 2.3E 2.6E . all in uk

 

[rifiki]

2.3E Jap or SA import?

 

[DREAMER NO2]

They are all iomported mine came from Japan The Mercedes 190E was the German brand’s first attempt to make a small saloon but wasn’t a flash in the pan. Development had taken almost a decade and £600m was spent perfecting the design before it was released to the public in 1982. Using the same 2.0-litre engine as the basic W123 in carburetted and injected forms, the new car adopted the 190 and 190E epithets to mark that it sat below the existing 200 in the range. From September 1983 the Mercedes 190E was exported to Britain, priced to compete with the 320i and 323i models from BMW’s E30 range. Not forgeting the Cosworth 16valve

 

[horatio]

Find a nice one and input some energy into preventive maintenance you can run one as a daily even now. They drive like a far newer car.

I had been using mine a second car / runaround for nearly 15 years until ULEZ got extended to nearby (replaced it with a Smart). Keeping it as a nostalgic toy for summer.

Be prepared to underseal & understand the Kjet system & weaknesses such as the OVP/FP relays, front balljoints. Keep the fluids fresh. You get out what you put in. Failures are usually preventable rather than random computer glitches on new cars

 

[DREAMER NO2]

Facebook is no place to buy cars from ...the site is scam a second on there ..i was scammed few weekls back. I did not know anything about it . That was until a friend caled l to give us a Christmas card ..He said i see your selling cars on Facebook ,,,i saud no i am not .He used his phone to show me ., and sure enugh on my page where expensive cars for sale ...they ask for a deposit, and thats the last you see of them .