1986/7 230E Auto

[c2raig]

Crawling under a 25 year old Merc once a week is much more appealing than spending five out of seven days driving a C5 diesel manual, honest.

Plus, my weekends in France are exceedingly dull, and my apartment comes with a spacious garage so it'll give me something to do.

 

[d w124]

Crawling under a 25 year old Merc once a week is much more appealing than spending five out of seven days driving a C5 diesel manual, honest.

Plus, my weekends in France are exceedingly dull, and my apartment comes with a spacious garage so it'll give me something to do.

That`s the spirit

 

[c2raig]

I have a bonus question.

Can someone tell me what purpose assymetric wing mirrors have?

 

[Sp!ke]

They were designed before curved mirrors were approved for automobile use.

So in order to provide the right rear view the mirror glass needed to be different sizes.

 

[c2raig]

That makes sense then, but why is it that all old cars don't have them?

Or is it just the particular size and shape of an 80s Merc?

 

[219]

Mercedes engineers are 'smarter than the average bear'

 

[312 Sprinter]

That makes sense then, but why is it that all old cars don't have them?

Or is it just the particular size and shape of an 80s Merc?

They're a pet hate of mine, on the basis that they're ugly. I bought a mirror from a LHD 124 for the E220 I'm doing for my brother in law. It bolts straight on and the electrics work, but is virtually unusable; it gives little useful rearward vision.

Symmetrical mirrors looks great though

 

[c2raig]

Did you put the LHD driver's side mirror on a RHD passenger side? I don't understand why this would reduce rearward vision, as it's a bigger mirror!

Unless your brother in law now has a W124 with two tiny mirrors

 

[Tiff]

They're a pet hate of mine, on the basis that they're ugly. I bought a mirror from a LHD 124 for the E220 I'm doing for my brother in law. It bolts straight on and the electrics work, but is virtually unusable; it gives little useful rearward vision.

Symmetrical mirrors looks great though

I love 'em.. function over form for me!! I can find a reason, a valid reason for every quirk on a Merc.. try the same with a modern Citroen... although I am a big fan of Xantia and older.. I've owned what was once the car that terrified mechanics the country over..an XM, and loved it- sphere's and all! then they joined up with Peugeot big time,and lost all their je ne sais quoi... same with Saab and GM, Skoda and Vw, Lancia and Fiat...

 

[312 Sprinter]

Did you put the LHD driver's side mirror on a RHD passenger side? I don't understand why this would reduce rearward vision, as it's a bigger mirror!

Unless your brother in law now has a W124 with two tiny mirrors

No, LHD cars have the big nirror on the left and small on the right. I put a big LH, LHD mirror on a RHD car.

It doesn't work properly because the mirror isn't angled correctly for the driver to be able to actually see anything in it. I can just about use it, but I'm tall and have the seat all the way back. Anyone shorter can't see anything. It may work if I modify the base to turn the mirror inwards.

 

[c2raig]

I love 'em.. function over form for me!! I can find a reason, a valid reason for every quirk on a Merc.. try the same with a modern Citroen... although I am a big fan of Xantia and older.. I've owned what was once the car that terrified mechanics the country over..an XM, and loved it- sphere's and all! then they joined up with Peugeot big time,and lost all their je ne sais quoi... same with Saab and GM, Skoda and Vw, Lancia and Fiat...

My C2 does have SOME quirks, mostly being dire.

Split tailgate is mental, but useless.... also insane headlamps that dont do what you want them to do and an under dash tray that drops out when you plant the loud pedal.

Digital dash, vague fuel guage, too.

As for the mirrors, clever idea, I don't mind the assymetric design, I just wondered about it. New VW Transporters have it, too.

 

[Tiff]

Good ideas are ones that you never really notice.. The drivers mirror gives a wide view for motorway overtaking, the passengers mirror allows you to see the kerb, and behind without all that stupid BMW'ish tilting passengers mirror.. sometimes you need to see the kerb AND whats behind you... Try reversing a new Discovery into a tight space.. GRR

 

[c2raig]

Agreed about the un noticed ones. I can't really think of anything that benefits me massively with the Citroen to be honest, now you mention it.

 

[ianrandom]

I replaced the V70 with an E320 CDI, which was a disaster. I ended up driving my Citroen 2CV whilst Mercedes attempted to fix the E320; laughable really

(Hello to the fellow 2CV owner. I like my W126/2CV combo. And ps Derek, DS or SM? You have excellent taste in cars, what with your old Mercs too.)

But on topic, sounds like you have the offer of a lovley car there C2raig, a weeks trial as you mentioned would be a really good idea. And if you have a garage in France, to do the occasional tinkering, the car may well do you proud.

I know exactly what you mean about the modern Citroens, for work i drive a Berlingo. Ugh! Its really not good at all. It would depress me if i had to drive it too much. Even the Seat Alhambra i drove previously was better than this.

My old W126 has done regular long journeys with seamless reliability for about two years now. Hasnt missed a beat. But i tinker with it a lot, adjusting things, replacing things i have found better cheaply secondhand but mainly trim or interior parts to get it up to scratch. This car has had a gap in maintenance that i have been catching up with, but it seems maybe not too big a gap, so its been the most reliable £405 i ever spent, the economy is bizarrely ok at higher speeds on a trip, plus when i drive it, it makes me veery happy indeed..

If you buy it and start to feel uncomfortable with the experience, there wouldnt be a shortage of buyers for one of these so i doubt you would lose out too much. (As long as no big nasties come your way maintenance wise.)

 

[c2raig]

Although I own one, modern Citroens are terrible. I don't want another. I am actually writing from our office inside PSA's Rennes plant. Seeing them built and supplying parts for them is offputting, for me. I spent a lot of changing parts on my Nissan, not for upgraded spec but for better quality parts I handpicked from our own plant.

 

[219]

(Hello to the fellow 2CV owner. I like my W126/2CV combo. And ps Derek, DS or SM? You have excellent taste in cars, what with your old Mercs too.)

But on topic, sounds like you have the offer of a lovley car there C2raig, a weeks trial as you mentioned would be a really good idea. And if you have a garage in France, to do the occasional tinkering, the car may well do you proud.

I know exactly what you mean about the modern Citroens, for work i drive a Berlingo. Ugh! Its really not good at all. It would depress me if i had to drive it too much. Even the Seat Alhambra i drove previously was better than this.

My old W126 has done regular long journeys with seamless reliability for about two years now. Hasnt missed a beat. But i tinker with it a lot, adjusting things, replacing things i have found better cheaply secondhand but mainly trim or interior parts to get it up to scratch. This car has had a gap in maintenance that i have been catching up with, but it seems maybe not too big a gap, so its been the most reliable £405 i ever spent, the economy is bizarrely ok at higher speeds on a trip, plus when i drive it, it makes me veery happy indeed..

If you buy it and start to feel uncomfortable with the experience, there wouldnt be a shortage of buyers for one of these so i doubt you would lose out too much. (As long as no big nasties come your way maintenance wise.)

I have to second that - my 500SEL bought two years ago for £1350 has so far covered over 20,000 miles in my hands without missing a beat - just down to routine DIY servicing - so far the only non-scheduled thing has been replacement of the rear springs which were sagging slightly but needed uprated to cope with the Kg's of CD changers/amplifiers/DSP and speakers I have loaded into the back end , plus the addition of a towbar - I'm still collecting parts to retrofit hydropneumatic self levelling suspension a la Citroen - it was an option which the original owner of my car did not opt for . I now need to replace the exhaust , but most of it looks original so no complaint there . The W126 is a generation older than the W124 , being basically a bigger version of the W123 , so says a lot about the reliability of older Mercs .

Re the Citroens : a friend had a DS many years ago and I thought it was fantastic in its engineering - way ahead of its time - amazing the way you could remove a wheel and the suspension was so clever it would stay upright on just three wheels !!! My friend , who had had it for years , did have problems with sacrificial corrosion underneath where aluminium met steel , but got round it ingeniously by fitting nylon spacers when repairing it .

I have no direct experience of SM's but just admired the car as a schoolboy - one of the few non-Mercs I always liked .

On the subject of Citroens my PET HATE is when people pronounce it 'two cee vee' instead of its proper name Deux Cheveaux

 

[219]

Another thing to check , Craig , is the condition of the springs in that drivers seat you're going to spend so long sitting in/on .

Springs often break , causing the seat to sag at one side or the other ( usually where your derriere lands when you drop into the car ) . The solution is a new seat base - easily obtained from a passenger seat in a breakers yard - it is easy to remove the seat covers , swap the runners over from your drivers seat and build everything back up to have an as-new seat - I've done it on so may seats and can now do the full job in a couple of hours - but expect to spend a Saturday on it if it is your first attempt . I can post 'how-to' pictures of the job being done on a 190E seat if need be .

 

[c2raig]

Thank you!

Counting down the days until my return to the UK! 7 now!

 

[219]

... it's easier to run RHD on the continent than LHD in the UK.

I'm interested in why you say that ???

My Ponton is LHD and I never had any problems driving it here - great fun stopping at tolls ( Forth Bridge mainly ) and jumping up out of the sunroof to pay No seatbelts in a '57 car so easy to do

I have driven loads on the continent , but always rental cars (or scooters in Italy) without any problems , other than the usual first short while getting used to driving on the 'wrong' side of the road .

What am I missing ?

 

[c2raig]

I had no end of problems with the Barchetta, from the daily run through the Tyne Tunnel, to not being able to see past a truck to overtake, to visibility when heading down narrow streets and parking etc, overtaking stationary buses and the like.

RHD, at least, in France, is much easier because the roads are generally wider.