How have E320 cabrio sportlines altered in value?

[SL300-24]

The difference is that R129's are commonly known as the Mercedes Roadster.. they have mass appeal.

unfortunately the W124 cab only really ever sold to a much more niche audience... i.e. us mercedes geeks.
to everyone else its an E class with its roof chopped off...

dont get me wrong, ive always loved the E class cab but its not a mass priduced car in relation to the R129..

so of course there are positives and negatives... R129, desirable but loads about so values go down.
W124 cab, not many at all but then not that desirable either..

I don't agree with the last bit Jay......they are very desirable. The two I had sold for top money straight away. The last one I paid £11,500 for kept it over 3 years and realised £13,000 when I sold it.

 

[Smiley]

I agree with you Ray judging by how hard it is to find one when you want to buy one. The e class cab has a classic elegant look to it that is hard to beat. Another 20 or 30 years down the line and they will be the equivalent of the big old 60s four seater cabs - are they the w108s? Look at the price of those - also driven by the scarcity factor.

 

[kikkthecat]

I just found one that is a Singapore import. No service history and a few minor faults but less than 40,000 miles and under £8000.

Registered July 2004 and one owner showing on the log book ???

http://antim.co.uk/

 

[Smiley]

Looks good value and the mileage is probably right as Singapore is a small place. Downside is the lack of any sh at all and the colour esp with a black interior, the grille does not look like an original one for some reason and the spacing on the e320 badge does not look right - maybe it has had some body repairs?
This is a std e320 as opposed to a sportline model.

 

[janner]

I think the Almandine red looks nice, especially with the black interior. It's not a sportline but does have the sportline steering wheel. Wouldn't cost much to add the suspension. Being imported from Singapore is not a bad thing. It would have cost a bomb new in Singaore so it's unlikely that the owner neglected the servicing, probably just lost the history when imported. The mileage looks genuine (check the lack of wear on the brake pedal) and it probably has less rust than a UK one.

 

[fuseman]

Looks good value and the mileage is probably right as Singapore is a small place. Downside is the lack of any sh at all and the colour esp with a black interior, the grille does not look like an original one for some reason and the spacing on the e320 badge does not look right - maybe it has had some body repairs?
This is a std e320 as opposed to a sportline model.

Interestingly when I was looking for an E320 cab, all the ones advertised seemed to be Sportlines. This is despite over 700 standard cars being imported as opposed to only 89 Sportlines. I suspect some may be standard models that have have a new gear nob and trim added but not the suspension and wheels which are also different.

Does anyone have a vew on the difference in value of a Sportline and a standard model all other things being equal?

 

[grober]

In 1990 the cost of a full W124 Sportline suspension package was £1503-96.
The full Sportline package - suspension plus interior was £2846-79 (cloth) and £3397-40 (leather)

I would guess that an aftermarket "new" retrofit ( if even possible ) wouldn't be far away from that. Second hand interior parts could work out a lot cheaper of course. A full suspension and steering rebuild inc labour tracking etc with new MB parts would stay about the same.

Needless to say a couple of Sportline badges is a lot cheaper.

 

[janner]

The convertibles had a standard interior of course. A set of genuine springs is probably about £200, Bilstein sport shocks are another couple of hundred, same for the anti roll bars. That only leaves the steering box and suspension bushes. The steering box isn't worth doing and the other bits you just replace as they wear.
For about a grand you could convert this one to near enough sportline spec.
Even if you buy a genuine sportline you might end up replacing shocks, springs and bushes anyway because they're general wear items.

 

[tali]

All things considered, a fairly rare car then.

I tend to notice quite a few of them about though, eg there's one on the next road to me

Will

Total sales of 1449 cars = 40.25 cars sold per month over a 3 year UK run(although 220 was introduced later in the run).
Can't find figures for SL - but since its intro ,350 accounts for around 70% of SL sales.
In 2005 UK registrations have split 65.4% SL350, 23.2% SL500, 0.8% SL600, 9.1% SL55 AMG, while 1.5% cough up the extra £49,000 for an SL65 AMG.
At launch SL was outselling XJS convertible 32 to 1.

 

[kth286]

As Grober states above the sportline pack cost £3400 for leather version BUT

that was before the cab model was even introduced onto markets.

You need to realise that sportline features were introduced as standard on later cars for UK, especially the cab model.

For example, leather, 7 inch wide wheels with lower profile tyres ete etc was ALL standard on UK cab cars.

ALSO the earlier sportline suspension was criticised in UK for being too harsh and was adjusted to make it softer for later models.

So, in conclusion, for the later generation of cab cars is not worth paying ANY more for sportline if someone tells you the car has that feature, because (I believe) even the sportline badge was dropped on the later cab cars.

 

[janner]

So, in conclusion, for the later generation of cab cars is not worth paying ANY more for sportline

Oooh, controversial.

 

[Roger Jones]

Honest John's enthusiasm for the Cab is undimmed (tomorrow's DT column):

The car of the moment is a Mercedes W124 E320 Sportline convertible, but for £15,000 the mileage is likely to be quite high. If kept in top condition, they were appreciating quite strongly before the economic downturn
​

at http://tinyurl.com/5wlkuq​

 

[fuseman]

Honest John's enthusiasm for the Cab is undimmed (tomorrow's DT column):

The car of the moment is a Mercedes W124 E320 Sportline convertible, but for £15,000 the mileage is likely to be quite high. If kept in top condition, they were appreciating quite strongly before the economic downturn​

at http://tinyurl.com/5wlkuq​

Well that's weird - I sent Honest John that e-mail about a month ago and bought an E320 on the strength of his advice (I am MS from Yorks). Either he isn't on top of the market or it's dropped since then as there are quite a lot of decent well-specd cabs with less than 100k mileage for under £15k. The specialist garages are still looking for £18/19k but I think I could have bought half a dozen privately for between £8k and £14k - the more expensive having less than 90k on the clock. In the end I got a 115k one for £9.5k - I suspect it won't go up in value like a low mileage one but I don't really mind.

 

[The G.F.P]

I don't think e-bay is a very good place to sell a car unless you're desperate - and even then you might do better at an auction. I've always found that Autotrader together with a bit of patience and a realistic price gets you closest to Parkers Private sale values. Of course with an older MB there isn't as much to guide you. I agree with you about the electric seats - the one I bought has it on the driver's side but not the passenger - I had to compromise there.

I think I also agree about colour - mine is imperial non-metallic red which is growing on me although I know it wouldn't be top choice for many people. Actually car colours go in cycles - currently black and dark blue are in, silver is out but I saw a gorgeous ivory BMW 3-series with cream leather recently in the states and I wonder if white or near white will come back into fashion.

I spoke to two guys who definately sold E320 Sportlines recently - one was said to be in very good nick on 84k miles and I think went for £13k the other had done 125k and I think was nearer £10k. I think the dealers asking £18k+ are probably kidding themselves.

From the answers I've got to my original post I get the impression that good cars on these lines have never dropped much below £10k. I suspect mine has too big a mileage to ever be worth much more than I paid but if I can get the enjoyment with no depreciation that would be good enough.

Martin
94 E320 Sportline Cabrio
03 S2000
07 Fiat Multijet diesel!

Actually i think red can be nice and there was one recently with a duclat/deuchlat (you know what i mean) kit and it looked nice but they look good with black leather

ive seen some right dogs colour wise like gold/bronze with blue interior, that should be a crime against motoring

also why bother with cloth interior!

yours is at 116k?

id still pay top money for that as i believe (maybe incorectly) that id rather have a car thats done around the 100k mark than a car that has done 50k as you know its been run in and used alot and any major faults should have popped their ugly heads up by now

gfp1 had twin electri cream
gfp2 has drivers electri cream
gfp3 has twin electric black

your car sound very nice