I bought a 500SEL a couple of months back , after a few weeks of looking at various cars .
The reasoning was that we had recently had a baby , and needed something roomier than the 190E I was using as a 'daily driver' : by the time the baby buggy and all the other baby stuff had filled the 190's small boot to capacity , the infant carrier was tightly squeezed into the back seat ( touching the back of the front seat ) it was clear we needed something bigger . I thought briefly about another estate car , but having had 3 in a row over a 15 year period ( a W123 then two W124s ) I didn't want another . I fancied neither an MPV nor a 4x4 ( though I did briefly consider looking for a G Wagen ) but did like the idea of an 'S' class and decided an SEL would offer more space and comfort . I had had a W116 before and knew them to be thirsty beasts and , although I prefer the styling , also knew it would be hard to find a decent one at a reasonable price ; likewise I did briefly consider a W140 but these cars have so much electronics in them and have such a bad reputation for all the gadgets going wrong that I decided a W126 was the best option .
On the subject of fuel economy , I knew that the earlier models ( W116 350SE/450SEL ) would return no better than 15 mpg , but had been assured by a number of people over on the MBOC that with a W126 500SE/SEL mileages for mixed driving of around 20 mpg and 25 or better on a run were achievable .
While I would have bought any model in any colour that turned up in good condition at the right price , I knew the larger engined cars had depreciated severely because of the increase in fuel prices last year and felt that going for a 500 rather than one of the smaller engines would also likely get me a more highly optioned car . At the end of the day , though , I was looking for a car with sound bodywork and reliable machanics . Having looked at W126's in the past , I knew about the rust issues and again saw a lot of cars going cheap because they had rotten bumper chrome / rusty wings/wheelarches . I was also trying to look at cars within a more or less 100 miles radius as I could waste a lot of time and money travelling further to view cars .
I eventually found one being sold by a fellow member of the MBOC and after phoning another club member who I knew lived in the same town , who confirmed he knew the car and it was ' a good un ' , I came to a deal with the seller whereby we agreed on a price and he would put a new MOT on the car ( it had been off the road for about 3 months since the old tax/mot had expired as he had replaced the car with a newer one ), still subject to my inspection and a satisfactory test drive . It turned out the car needed one piece of the exhaust replaced for the mot , but after a bit of haggling I agreed to pay half the cost of this on top of the previously agreed price if
I bought the car . It took a few days for the parts to come in , then I got word the car was MOT'd and ready to go , so I got a train across country . When I saw the car it was dirty ( the seller had just collected it from the MOT garage ) but an inspection revealed no rust anywhere ( other than the small area under the parcel shelf in the boot which I was already aware of and had been sent a digital picture of - job for the summer ) . Everything worked as it should ( other than the pop-up wind deflector for the sunroof which had also been pointed out beforehand , again an easy fix when I get the time ) . The car drove fine on the test drive so I took it .
Since then , I've been to Aberdeen a couple of times , down to Liverpool last week and put about 5000 miles of general driving on it . On the long runs I can confirm that 25mpg is achievable ; the run down M6 to Liverpool on Jan 1st , cruise control set to 70 most of the way , but with temperatures dropping as low as -5 in places and not rising above zero anywhere saw an average of 23 mpg over two tankfuls ( I had topped up with £58 worth before leaving Glasgow , and after a couple of days running about in Liverpool , filled up with £54 worth before returning , and had just under 1/2 tank showing when I got back ) . The normal daily mix of town driving and ( congested ) motorway driving probably sees 20 mpg or a little worse , but I don't FEEL the car any more costly to run than either my 190E 2.6 which I still have or my 300TE-24 which is sadly gone now .
Over the time I have had it , I have done NOTHING to the car itself and it hasn't missed a beat , always starts first time , runs smoothly and is a pleasure to drive . The one thing that is not so good is that the heater is none too hot - from speaking to ther 126 owners over on the MBOC forum it seems this is quite a common problem - on the run through very low ambient temperatures last week , it was not possible to get the car more than lukewarm . During normal outdoor temperatures the car does warm up inside eventually but the air coming out of the heater vents could never be described as any more than warm at best . I will try flushing through the cooling system as I don't know if or when it was last done . After that , I'll look at the duovalve and see if that's gunged up . I'm not about to spend £350 at the dealer for a new one , but a valve out of a W124 , which can easily be found in the breakers might fit , or the internal parts can be swapped over .
I am currently in the process of fitting my stereo system into the car : I have upgraded the factory fit speakers in the front and fitted the bulk of the electronics ( 3 amplifiers , 2 CD changers and a DSP unit ) into the boot and am awaiting delivery of two KEF B139 bass units which I will fit into the new parcel shelf I am making and use as subwoofers . I still have a lot of cabling to run and will then fit my head unit to replace the 'all in one' CD/radio unit currently in the car . At the same time I'll replace the one bit of burr walnut in the dash which is in poor condition and will replace all the bulbs as a few are out .
The pre-facelift leather interior is a bit shabby , but I knew that beforehand and will look out for a nicer post facelift interior later on - ideally with the two individual rear seats rather than the bench I currently have ( although I do have the electric back seat ) . The car , in 199 blue/black used to be a funeral car and had been well maintained with FSH but the wear to the interior was to be expected .
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