Up-the-Dubs
New Member
- Joined
- Apr 17, 2013
- Messages
- 4
- Car
- W124 E220 Cab - Elise S1
Hello!
Been a while since I joined a new forum but a specific new car probably needs a new specific forum to cosy up to!
I'm a Merc nut, always have been, always promised myself I'd have one by 30 but missed it by a few years! Still.... on Thursday I pick up a W124 E220 Cab.
Rubbish phone pics:
116k miles, body in great condition (well, as good as I could tell in the hammering rain!) with only one tiny bubble on a rear arch to attend to. Interior is ok, seats are a little cracked and perished but that'll be a job for the future. She's been sitting in dry storage for the last 9 months. Bought it off a family friend (that's his red T124 daily in the background) for a good price but it's a bit of a punt! Bought it as a daily driver as something comfortable and automatic (my only criteria!). I was looking for a much newer W211 E220cdi but this popped up and it's got a little bit of cool to it and a little different.
Went for it partly because it was a 220. In Ireland it's all about the €1000 road tax a year versus (the much more desirable, I'll gladly admit) E320 at about €1700. Which really can't be sniffed at! Plan first off is a bloody good clean, cleanse, wax and polish and a good service! All the filters and fluids (engine and gearbox, coolant/brake fluid etc) and check the rest of the car out. She drove sweet as a nut on the test drive and she's been reliable over the 5 years the previous owner has had it. So brakes/suspension etc should be fine too.
It brought back alot of memories of my fathers '87 W124 200 (yup, no E to be seen! A carb fed beast!). He had that for 6 years from new then dilly dallied with a BMW 525i and a Jag XJ6 for a few years then to appease me got an '03 W211 E240 followed by an '07 W219 CLS350 and picked up his new W218 CLS250cdi a month ago (now that he's retired, €1800 tax a year on the old petrol car with all the fuel it ate versus €280 a year on our new environmentally friendly, non-polar-bear-killing, fuel-of-Satan loveliness isn't to be sniffed at either! Don't you just love road tax!). There's a bit of previous there then! So my E will get to meet her Grand Daughter whenever I visit home! Somehow, oddly, the family driveway is now a German generation game with our two Mercs on one side and my Sisters '89 BMW E30 318i touring and Brothers '02 BMW E46 320ci on the other. My poor Mothers little Peugeot 307 will have to be the one waving the white flag of peace in among them!
Anyway! I've been searching all over the site over the last few days trying to absorb as much information as I could find that may be relevant and it seems like a great site. So if you don't mind I might stick about for a bit with the highs and lows of ownership and probably a few dumb questions along the way!
Oh, and why I wanted soft and comfy for a daily (I'm only 34!) is that the weekend toy is this little money pit!
Comfort is underrated by alot of people!
And in the most convoluted way possible...... That's me. Like a little child at Christmas, there's just 2 sleeps to go to get my new baby!
Be nice!
Dubs.
Been a while since I joined a new forum but a specific new car probably needs a new specific forum to cosy up to!
I'm a Merc nut, always have been, always promised myself I'd have one by 30 but missed it by a few years! Still.... on Thursday I pick up a W124 E220 Cab.
Rubbish phone pics:
116k miles, body in great condition (well, as good as I could tell in the hammering rain!) with only one tiny bubble on a rear arch to attend to. Interior is ok, seats are a little cracked and perished but that'll be a job for the future. She's been sitting in dry storage for the last 9 months. Bought it off a family friend (that's his red T124 daily in the background) for a good price but it's a bit of a punt! Bought it as a daily driver as something comfortable and automatic (my only criteria!). I was looking for a much newer W211 E220cdi but this popped up and it's got a little bit of cool to it and a little different.
Went for it partly because it was a 220. In Ireland it's all about the €1000 road tax a year versus (the much more desirable, I'll gladly admit) E320 at about €1700. Which really can't be sniffed at! Plan first off is a bloody good clean, cleanse, wax and polish and a good service! All the filters and fluids (engine and gearbox, coolant/brake fluid etc) and check the rest of the car out. She drove sweet as a nut on the test drive and she's been reliable over the 5 years the previous owner has had it. So brakes/suspension etc should be fine too.
It brought back alot of memories of my fathers '87 W124 200 (yup, no E to be seen! A carb fed beast!). He had that for 6 years from new then dilly dallied with a BMW 525i and a Jag XJ6 for a few years then to appease me got an '03 W211 E240 followed by an '07 W219 CLS350 and picked up his new W218 CLS250cdi a month ago (now that he's retired, €1800 tax a year on the old petrol car with all the fuel it ate versus €280 a year on our new environmentally friendly, non-polar-bear-killing, fuel-of-Satan loveliness isn't to be sniffed at either! Don't you just love road tax!). There's a bit of previous there then! So my E will get to meet her Grand Daughter whenever I visit home! Somehow, oddly, the family driveway is now a German generation game with our two Mercs on one side and my Sisters '89 BMW E30 318i touring and Brothers '02 BMW E46 320ci on the other. My poor Mothers little Peugeot 307 will have to be the one waving the white flag of peace in among them!
Anyway! I've been searching all over the site over the last few days trying to absorb as much information as I could find that may be relevant and it seems like a great site. So if you don't mind I might stick about for a bit with the highs and lows of ownership and probably a few dumb questions along the way!
Oh, and why I wanted soft and comfy for a daily (I'm only 34!) is that the weekend toy is this little money pit!
Comfort is underrated by alot of people!
And in the most convoluted way possible...... That's me. Like a little child at Christmas, there's just 2 sleeps to go to get my new baby!
Be nice!
Dubs.
