Advice please - e320 sportline coupe 93

[Cal]

Hi

Am just looking for some advice on this E320 sportline coupe, as am considering purchasing.

Am not sure the ownership history but the car is in very good condition. It's black with black leather interior - Has done 110,000 miles.

I'd appreciate any advice about this model, and thoughts on what the value of the car would be.

Cheers

 

[d w124]

Hi there and welcome to the forum.First think to check is for rust around arches as this is common.Also have a look if the loom has been changed as i`ve heard that over 100k they might play up.Reg value i would say anything betwen 2-4k,depending on condition.

 

[bolide]

Price of E320 Coupes is dictated by mileage, condition, history, colour & spec

If it's a real Sportline or Sports Chassis car it's more desirable. Cars over 100k are not worth nearly as much as much as those with less

I'd do lots of research before you decide - the really good cars command fairly high prices compared to the rest, which is exactly as it should be. The secret is knowing what to look for

They have all the common E124 foibles (see the list on Honest John's website) plus delaminating rear screens, rust spiders on the roof, non-functioning seat belt presenters and broken piping on the front armrest

Nick Froome

 

[Smiley]

As has been said the value for these cars is all over the place. Some are not worth £1,000 because they will cost more to keep on the road. Others like del320 has - member on here - are at the other end of the value - probably touching £10,000 - maybe not quite that much - but north of 7 anyway.
Fantastic buy if you get the right one but could be a complete disaster if you pick the wrong one.
Do your homework, be aware that the head gasket is a weakness, so is the engine wiring loom (goes brittle and insulation breaks down causes uneven running, poor starting and ultimately fries the ECU) the gearboxes are not without fault (esp the 5 speeders) - and then you have all the usual stuff with cars that are at least 13 yrs old. Plus the dreaded rust. The list of places typically afflicted is just about every panel with the front wings usually the first to go - and the easiest to repair.
Good luck.
ps black on black is not everyone's taste - usually a black car has a light interior. I think it looks good but took me ages to sell a black + black SL.

 

[Roger Jones]

I've had very few problems with the 1996 car I've had since 2000, which replaced a 1995 model. The front wings are just beginning to go. The rear window started delaminating not long after I bought the car but the extent of it has hardly increased at all since then. The biggest problem has really been no more than an irritation: vibration from the drive train. Last Friday the rear half of the propshaft was replaced and the problem has gone . . . almost gone, because I think I can detect a residual low-frequency noise, although I am honestly not 100% certain. I've heard of similar problems in other Coupés.

As yet, there are no signs of loom degradation or gearbox problems. There is a small engine leak, which is next on the agenda, but I think it is front end rather than head gasket. It's a great engine by any standards.

I have enjoyed the car immensely and, as I've said before, I still can't envisage selling it.

 

[kth286]

older cars (15 years) such as the coupe you are looking at should be judged on condion alone.

Receipts and service books which prove what work has been done to keep the car in proper condition is the key.

Service books with just a dealers stamp in them do not tell the whole story, because we know that service jobs which cannot readily be seen (such as the charcoal filter inside the wing, and fuel filters behind the cover under the car) are nearly always omitted to be changed.

Miles is irrelevant, because we all know that engine wear is dictated by the number of starts from cold.

So, a 15 year old car with say 70,000 miles on it may have been started many more times over that period if it was mainly driven locally, compared to one with 200,000 miles used mainly for motorway use, and therfore has been at normal operation temp for most of the time, and may have been started from cold half the number of times and therfore have less engine wear.

Taking my own car for example which I purchased at 119,000 miles, it had done 67,000 miles in the first 3 years being used by a company exec travelling up and down the mortorways.

Now at 170,000 ish the car still drives beautifully and powerfully with negligible engine wear.

So, at the end of the day it is the provenance of the car which dictates the desireability and therefore of course the price someone will pay, to get that assurance of buying a car of know history.
If there is no supporting info, then proving the quality of the car needs specialist inspection on a ramp by a knowlegeable person familiar with that generation of car.

 

[del320]

As has been said the value for these cars is all over the place. Some are not worth £1,000 because they will cost more to keep on the road. Others like del320 has - member on here - are at the other end of the value - probably touching £10,000 - maybe not quite that much - but north of 7 anyway.
Fantastic buy if you get the right one but could be a complete disaster if you pick the wrong one.
Do your homework, be aware that the head gasket is a weakness, so is the engine wiring loom (goes brittle and insulation breaks down causes uneven running, poor starting and ultimately fries the ECU) the gearboxes are not without fault (esp the 5 speeders) - and then you have all the usual stuff with cars that are at least 13 yrs old. Plus the dreaded rust. The list of places typically afflicted is just about every panel with the front wings usually the first to go - and the easiest to repair.
Good luck.
ps black on black is not everyone's taste - usually a black car has a light interior. I think it looks good but took me ages to sell a black + black SL.

Blimey Smiley, wanna buy a E320 coupe?