Roamer
Active Member
Hello folks,
I'd been swithering over which car to buy recently, and finally after much deliberation landed on a Mercedes. The dilema then became which model.
I like estates, typically the faster models, and so had been thinking about a C32, but most of those I spoke to who had Mercedes had suggested an AMG wouldn't be the best model to go for as a first entry into the marque.
With that in mind I went from looking at faster to classic and found my head being turned by the S124. I found one locally that looked in decent condition amn had arranged to go and see it on Saturday morning, having carried out an HPI check on the Friday night.
Unfortunately, on Friday night i got caught up in the good work the Admin's are doing to keep the site free from spanners and managed to get banned, which made my last minute cramming on things to look out for when viewing the car a bit problematic. Fortunately i'd made some notes and had a copy of the Mercedes Enthusiast August issue where they had a buying guide on the car, with large contributions from a forum member it seems.
I have been running a Subaru Legacy estate, an imported twin turbo model from Japan. It's been lowered and run's on Bilstein suspension, so they ride would make even a BMW feel like a magic carpet. The S124 seems larger, partly because i feel higher up i guess, but the ride quality is just fabulous. The short drive convinced me this would be a pleasant car to run for a while and see how I get on with it.
So, three owners before me, well actually two as the original owner had purchased it for his wife within his company, then moved it to private ownership. The last owner only had it a few months, but with a new job meaning a much longer commute, he was looking for something more economical.
The history is fairly comprehensive, starting with a MB main dealer, and then for some reason switching to a VW/Audi dealer. A few invoices have been for more than I paid for the car, with a load of other less eye watering bills. A load of old mot's confirm the mileage at just under 122k.
The exterior of the car has the usual front wing issues as well as assorted scraped and bumps on the bodywork and bumper. The interior is a mushroom leather which is dated but in good condition. The wheels are corroded but not dinged, so shoul hopefully come up well following a refurbish. The coolant system shows no sign of mayonnaise, even though the head gasket was last changed at 60k miles. I can't find any mention of the wiring loom being replaced, but I also can't see any problems with it yet. One cable does seem to be snapped in the engine bay, and i'll post a pic of it in the relevant section to see if anyone can help identify it.
Features of the car are, it's a 280 model, has leather, (or possibly MB Tex, though i'm not sure how i tell) air conditioning, (i think based on what the manual says) a sunroof, seven seats, cruise control, blaupunkt sound system with cd changer.
It does have a few issues, the snapped cable mentioned earlier, the cruise control doesn't seem to work (may be related to the cable), and the electric aerial isn't playing. I did check the sunroof worked as i've read that can be expensive to fix, but i've just discovered while it will slide it won't tilt, but hey ho.
Finally a couple of pictures:
I'd been swithering over which car to buy recently, and finally after much deliberation landed on a Mercedes. The dilema then became which model.
I like estates, typically the faster models, and so had been thinking about a C32, but most of those I spoke to who had Mercedes had suggested an AMG wouldn't be the best model to go for as a first entry into the marque.
With that in mind I went from looking at faster to classic and found my head being turned by the S124. I found one locally that looked in decent condition amn had arranged to go and see it on Saturday morning, having carried out an HPI check on the Friday night.
Unfortunately, on Friday night i got caught up in the good work the Admin's are doing to keep the site free from spanners and managed to get banned, which made my last minute cramming on things to look out for when viewing the car a bit problematic. Fortunately i'd made some notes and had a copy of the Mercedes Enthusiast August issue where they had a buying guide on the car, with large contributions from a forum member it seems.
I have been running a Subaru Legacy estate, an imported twin turbo model from Japan. It's been lowered and run's on Bilstein suspension, so they ride would make even a BMW feel like a magic carpet. The S124 seems larger, partly because i feel higher up i guess, but the ride quality is just fabulous. The short drive convinced me this would be a pleasant car to run for a while and see how I get on with it.
So, three owners before me, well actually two as the original owner had purchased it for his wife within his company, then moved it to private ownership. The last owner only had it a few months, but with a new job meaning a much longer commute, he was looking for something more economical.
The history is fairly comprehensive, starting with a MB main dealer, and then for some reason switching to a VW/Audi dealer. A few invoices have been for more than I paid for the car, with a load of other less eye watering bills. A load of old mot's confirm the mileage at just under 122k.
The exterior of the car has the usual front wing issues as well as assorted scraped and bumps on the bodywork and bumper. The interior is a mushroom leather which is dated but in good condition. The wheels are corroded but not dinged, so shoul hopefully come up well following a refurbish. The coolant system shows no sign of mayonnaise, even though the head gasket was last changed at 60k miles. I can't find any mention of the wiring loom being replaced, but I also can't see any problems with it yet. One cable does seem to be snapped in the engine bay, and i'll post a pic of it in the relevant section to see if anyone can help identify it.
Features of the car are, it's a 280 model, has leather, (or possibly MB Tex, though i'm not sure how i tell) air conditioning, (i think based on what the manual says) a sunroof, seven seats, cruise control, blaupunkt sound system with cd changer.
It does have a few issues, the snapped cable mentioned earlier, the cruise control doesn't seem to work (may be related to the cable), and the electric aerial isn't playing. I did check the sunroof worked as i've read that can be expensive to fix, but i've just discovered while it will slide it won't tilt, but hey ho.
Finally a couple of pictures:
Attachments
Last edited:
