Indian W124s

[Indian W124]

Does anyone else have any personal experience with Indian W124s?


The business I work for bought 3 x W124 250D’s in 1998 as company cars for the directors. They were purchased from a company called Enigma Fleet who I believe has long since gone out of business. My understanding is that:

• They were built from CKD parts from Germany.
• Only ever available in 220 and 250D engine sizes.- all manual
• Some were registered in the UK as late as 2001.
• Raised ride height and additional shielding underneath to cope with Indian roads.
• Most had leather, all round electric windows/mirrors, air con, metallic paint

As far as we could fathom there was very little difference between these and the German built cars. Two of the vehicles covered large mileage without serious problems at all and apart from a few subtle differences underneath there was nothing that suggested these were not made to a high standard. In fact when they were initially taken to be serviced at the local Mercedes dealership it caused quite a stir with the mechanics and the dealer even remarked that it wasn’t in any way an inferior product to the original.

There was also a story from an employee at Enigma in the late 90s who reported that they had leased several other W124s to another business which happened to mention that they had a lousy fuel economy. After the lease period ended and they were returned, it was discovered that they had been armoured. Quite how true this is, I have no idea. Obviously it must have only been armoured inside the doors and body work as I think its impossible for anyone to not notice a 2 inch think window when you wound it down, but hey its something I heard at the time and have no reason to doubt it.

I think these vehicles (and others built outside Germany) deserve a bit of chapter in the W124 story in their own right.

 

[GP801]

As far as I know what you say above is correct but no idea about the armoured story. Quite a few made it to the UK. For some reason they seem to be mostly in blue metallic with grey leather. Build quality seems as good as the german ones but not sure about the rust proofing. Having said that most of the german ones are now rusting. I think they all had aircon. Its good to see that quite a few survive here.

 

[219]

I've got one !

See thread below


http://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/general-discussion/128974-late-w124.html

 

[219]

As far as I know what you say above is correct but no idea about the armoured story. Quite a few made it to the UK. For some reason they seem to be mostly in blue metallic with grey leather. Build quality seems as good as the german ones but not sure about the rust proofing. Having said that most of the german ones are now rusting. I think they all had aircon. Its good to see that quite a few survive here.

There were a lot of white ones , as well as Azurite Blue , like mine . There are quite a few running around Glasgow as taxis .

Most had MB Tex interior , but mine does have grey leather as confirmed by the data card .

I have returned 45 mpg on a long run with mine - E 250D 5 speed manual .

My NSF wing has the usual rust patch at the front end of the wheelarch , but I have tracked down a pair of good wings in the correct colour from a fellow member here , and hope to get them within the next few weeks .

 

[Indian W124]

Pontoneer - that looks exactly like my fathers W124, I can't see a single difference. How did you originally come by it?

 

[219]

I heard about it via a fellow member of the MBOC in the far North of Scotland , who had acquired it from the original owner when he became too old to drive . My friend ran it for a while then SORN'd it due to rear subframe bushes needing replaced for the MOT , only he never got round to it , and sold the car to me complete with al the parts needed to do the job , also new poly belt tensioner assembly . The car also came with a spare gearbox , since there is noise when in 5th gear ( which it very occasionally jumps out of on a trailing throttle ) , but I have lived with it for now and will do that job later , unless the fault worsens and it needs done sooner .

I had to fit new tyres , battery and replaced the centre exhaust section . More recently , I replaced the fuel filters and tank strainer which cured fuel starvation problems .

 

[WDB124066]

I wonder if they charge similar parts prices in India; anyone ever checked........

 

[neilrr]

The E220s have special 'India only' ECUS with a 180kph speed limiter. I think these cars also have heavy duty steel 'bang into rocks all day long' undertrays & raised suspension.

 

[grober]

The closest you could get to a "modern" W124 chassis/engine car until very recently was the Ssang Yong Chairman H. SsangYong Chairman - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia There were plans to introduce it to the European market but they never came to fruition due to type approval problems.
I think I might well have been tempted.

 

[219]

The E220s have special 'India only' ECUS with a 180kph speed limiter. I think these cars also have heavy duty steel 'bang into rocks all day long' undertrays & raised suspension.

Yes , my car has a steel undertray below the sump .

 

[Niks]

I used to have one. It was a E220, Manual in 199 two tone. Very comfortable to drive and was a great car! Back then I had no reference to how they compared to the german built equivalents, but it was solid. The raised suspension made it very smooth and it handled bumps/bad roads very well. However, once the bubbling started, it spread like wildfire.

In the 4 years that we had the car, it only asked for a head gasket change and a viscous fan. The rest was just general service.

Its out there around my part of London still being driven, so sometimes I do see it - not much of the front arches left though!