Newbie: W210 - possible to keep long term, or am I completely insane?

[RSTurbo50]

Not too sure how you being part of a club affects a cars value but there you go.

And let me guess; every single owner in your club talks up the value of their cars? It's not unique by any stretch, there is evidence of it on this very forum, as soon as someone asks for a valuation on their car you get other owners piling in saying how much more they're worth than they actually are. The worse people in the world to ask about values are current owners and "owners clubs".

Totally agree. The point I was making was that I'm quite well aware of what a decent E39 is selling for as they come up for sale quite regular on the forums.

Some people ask ridiculous money for poor examples and for that reason they don't sell. The very best examples command high prices as people are willing to pay this premium.

The W210 E55 in my opinion of course isn't going the same way. Looking at classifieds proves this...even when the W210 first came out people were horrified by its looks and I don't think this opinion has changed over the years whereas the E39 on the other hand was given high praise for its appearance.

 

[C36fan]

I have to say my CLK 320 CDI is the most comfortable car iv ever had. Iv driven up to Edinburgh a few times in it from Cheshire and I'm totally refreshed when I arrive, the miles just waft by. I could only imagine an E Class is even better in this respect.

At the end of the day we like what we like and this is a Mercedes forum after all so it's not totally unexpected for BMW to be disliked.

On the BMW forum, Mercs get absolutely slaughtered. They are old mans cars apparently lol

What the chav know anyways??
I'd rather push a Merc than drive a bmw !

 

[RSTurbo50]

What the chav know anyways??
I'd rather push a Merc than drive a bmw !

BMWs are great car, the older stuff especially but I hate to say although the new stuff is probably excellent, I feel BMW has lost its soul.

 

[Deleted member 37751]

Totally agree. The point I was making was that I'm quite well aware of what a decent E39 is selling for as they come up for sale quite regular on the forums.

And motoring forums generally live in a bubble where owners of said cars blow smoke up each other's ****s saying things like "that won't take long to sell" and "so much car for the money" and other tired cliches when what they are actually doing is trying to convince themselves that their car is valued higher than the market.

Buyers dictate the market, not sellers, it really is that simple.

 

[mj2k]

BMWs are great car, the older stuff especially but I hate to say although the new stuff is probably excellent, I feel BMW has lost its soul.

I think you can say the same about many car manufacturers, e.g. I wouldn't touch a post-306 Peugeot, with the exception of the RCZ they're all dull and unreliable. And Alfa went through a period of making tiny, ugly Fiat-clones but I think they're pulling out of that period now. And I guess many people would have said the same of the W210 when it came out, ironically.

 

[RSTurbo50]

I think you can say the same about many car manufacturers, e.g. I wouldn't touch a post-306 Peugeot, with the exception of the RCZ they're all dull and unreliable. And Alfa went through a period of making tiny, ugly Fiat-clones but I think they're pulling out of that period now. And I guess many people would have said the same of the W210 when it came out, ironically.

Had a couple of 306 and 206 HDi D Turbos...brilliant cars and never let me down. Would have another as a runabout in a heartbeat. Electrics aren't the best on them though..

 

[mj2k]

Had a couple of 306 and 206 HDi D Turbos...brilliant cars and never let me down. Would have another as a runabout in a heartbeat. Electrics aren't the best on them though..

Ha ha, true enough, especially when you've got a cabriolet with a power hood

There are still hundreds of 306s about though; they're a bit like cockroaches - very difficult to get rid of.

 

[mj2k]

And talking of cockroaches, I think this W210 might be difficult to get rid of, assuming it hasn't rotted through.

We went out for the first family trip in it today - two adults, one child, one seat folded down and three bikes in the boot. As expected I got the "old man's car" comment from my other half (she even said that about the GTA until I accelerated so hard she felt sick), but by the time we'd driven to Cambridge she was no longer looking quite so disdainful. My son liked it straight away when he found out he could lay down full length in the boot, and that I might be able to make it into a 7 seater.

On the way back I explained to her how to move the seat so she got more legroom, and by the time we got home she was saying "Shame it looks such a mess on the outside, it's quite a nice car"

My other half complimenting one of my purchases is virtually unheard of, and I certainly wasn't expecting that for a car which looks like it's already got one wheel in the scrapyard

So, I suspect this may turn into a 'keeper' as long as it doesn't dissolve before I get round to restoring it.

 

[mj2k]

5 days into owning the W210 and I'm amazed how many modern bits & bobs it has compared with the W124, like the (sort-of) keyless entry, motorized mirrors, etc. But also how similar it is in other ways, like the muted thrum when accelerating from rest, the feel of the seats, heater controls, weird handbrake, etc. It also seems to be much more town-friendly than my old OM603 W124 auto estate - easier to manoeuvre thanks to the rack & pinion steering, easier to park (presumably because of the rack and the S210's bulbous back making it easier to estimate how long the car is) and just about enough acceleration from rest to make it move like a normal vehicle in traffic jams without jamming the accelerator to the floor. Still think it'd feel better around town with a manual box though, and it'd def look better with the W124 estate's rear end design, leaving practicality aside.

And then I compare it to my Pug 306 cabriolet. It's still an auto but feels incredibly responsive in comparison, and obviously corners better. It's more difficult to park with the hood up, less roomy, less pleasant on the motorway and has a much, much smaller boot, but it's good fun to punt around.

So the two cars complement each other - W210 for motorways, family trips and lugging stuff, 306 cabriolet for wandering around country roads (esp in the summer) and for quick trips to places by myself.

Which then leaves the GTA. Aggressive acceleration makes it impossible to take the family out in (they feel sick), pretty lousy on windy roads, not sensible around town (sneeze and you're doing 60), not as good for lugging stuff or m-way driving as the W210, and tbh I prefer hooning around in the 306 cab because it corners better. So it looks like I've got least use for my newest, nicest, most expensive, most desirable car...

Anyone fancy a nice, recently restored Alfa 156 GTA sportwagon, a snip at 9 grand?

 

[mj2k]

No surprises so far...

I've been having a few preliminary pokes around the W210 this weekend, and so far nothing too surprising:

1) Non-working windows / mirrors. Took the master switch out and dismantled it - there was a fluffy white 'bridge' between two contacts suggesting water damage, numerous dry joints and some corrosion. No chance resoldering's going to fix that, so I've got a 2nd hand one on order from the 'Bay. Here's hoping that's the root of the can-bus troubles...

2) Failed rear windows (one recent, one 'never worked'. One was inevitably the white plastic bit (but the cable's chewed too), the other one looks OK though. Two complete 2nd hand rear winder assemblies on order from the 'Bay

3) Swore at the 'cheap plastic s**t' the door cards were held on with, and marveled at how such a cheapo, rubbishy door card can feel so solid when it's on the car. How did they do that? It almost feels as well-made as a W124 one when it's fitted.

4) Leaky oil cap - pinched the one off the W124 for the moment, must order a new one from MB, and a tank strainer

5) Crusty n/s/f door. Appears to be beyond repair and that 'new' door I ordered turned out to be a 2nd hand, so sent it back. Collected decent-looking silver door today, complete with winder motor, etc.

6) Attempted to replace blown brake light bulb. Wtf?! It's a non-standard fitment and none of the bulbs in my spares box go anywhere near it! Hope I can get one from Halfords tomorrow.

7) Noticed heinous behind-the-bumper and spare wheel well rust whilst I was checking the brake bulbs; I'm quite surprised the rear end of the car didn't fall off when the prev owner was towing horse boxes...! Doesn't look particularly structural and it's not double skinned so should be an easy repair, but won't bother yet until I've assessed all the other structural time bombs.

I know it seems like I'm doing things in a strange order by not fixing the rust first, but the car's got at least 6 months life before the next MOT and having working windows will be pretty important in the summer. And replacing that ratty door is important to stop the neighbours looking at it and thinking 'rustbucket', and I get the feeling it'll need all the goodwill it can get once I start welding it up.

There's one caveat though - the welder's coming straight out if the spring hangers are toast

Couple of questions if anyone's still reading my ramblings:

• Do replacement rear window motors / ecus need to be reprogrammed to work, or should they just plug and play?
• Does anyone know who does decent aftermarket front lower wishbones? I get the horrible feeling I'll be needing some...

 

[a111r]

1. No. These are far too old for that sort of nonsense.
2. Lemforder or Febi are both good for these, non-OEM. I wouldn't do the plethora of unbranded others on Ebay.

Take the rear bumper off. Non-structural but nice to keep the spare in place.

 

[mj2k]

1. No. These are far too old for that sort of nonsense.
2. Lemforder or Febi are both good for these, non-OEM. I wouldn't do the plethora of unbranded others on Ebay.

Take the rear bumper off. Non-structural but nice to keep the spare in place.

1. That's a relief!

I'm going to have to take the rear bumper off anyway at some point because it's damaged and needs replacing (at which point the welder will definitely have to come out), but yeah, I can easily imagine it'll spontaneously develop a 5th wheel if I leave it too long

Despite all it's faults I'm even more impressed with the thing now - I've fitted a replacement window winder at the rear, and though it doesn't work yet it's fixed a small draught which has left the car whisper-quiet at motorway speeds, which adds even more to it's effortless Autobahnstormer feel

 

[a111r]

I've got a spare estate bumper in 744 silver.

 

[mj2k]

I've got a spare estate bumper in 744 silver.

That'd be very useful, thanks

Have you got a front bumper by any chance too?

 

[mj2k]

Replacement master switch arrived today, just plugged it in and the windows are all working now, as are the mirrors. Also the sunroof's stopped being juddery and the service indicator's behaving itself, so I should be one set of resets away from having all electronics working perfectly :bannana:

Presumably the damaged microcontroller in the master switch had gone promiscuous (i.e. was spamming the CAN bus with lots of rubbishy messages) so was interfering with the operation of the other electronics. If my theory's right not even Star diags would have made sense of the garbled error messages; wonder how many other W210s over the years have either had unnecessary ecu replacements or been scrapped after getting similar minor issues?

So all I've got to do now is replace that rusty poorly-painted door (which hopefully won't affect the CAN bus again), crusty n/s/f wing, both bumpers, glow plugs, and do a shedload of welding, and I'll have a near-as-you-can-get-to-perfect W210

Actually, it does seem like rather a lot of work when I put it like that

 

[horatio]

The rear bumper is really easy to get off, only a few bolts. What's annoying is I would have been more than happy for you to raid my car before it went to the scrappy as you can't be far

The previous owner fitted genuine front wings which were still pristine and there were other fairly recent parts (alternator etc). It went to redcorn salvage in Tottenham, they might still have some of the parts I don't know.

 

[a111r]

That'd be very useful, thanks

Have you got a front bumper by any chance too?

Sorry, no. That went to Andy in Southampton's mate.

 

[mj2k]

The rear bumper is really easy to get off, only a few bolts. What's annoying is I would have been more than happy for you to raid my car before it went to the scrappy as you can't be far

The previous owner fitted genuine front wings which were still pristine and there were other fairly recent parts (alternator etc). It went to redcorn salvage in Tottenham, they might still have some of the parts I don't know.

Aww, that is a shame. I'll have to check out Redcorn if I get any spare time; a genuine front wing would definitely come in useful.

BTW I was having a peer at howmanyleft.com last night and the 300TDs have been disappearing at the rate of 1000 per year for the past few years, and there's only just over 1000 left! Which means (assuming it is saveable) there s a pretty good case for me cobbling mine back together - W210s will soon be rarer than W123s...

 

[mj2k]

Sorry, no. That went to Andy in Southampton's mate.

Oh well, never mind, the rear bumper in the right colour will definitely come in useful

This week's shaping up to be rather busy, but I'll drop you a PM next week so we can arrange collection and exchange cash / W124 bits depending on what you prefer.

 

[mj2k]

And this afternoon / evening I finally got round to washing the W210, touching up a couple of nasty scratches to stop them rotting, pushing out the dent on the o/s/r quarter a bit, and swapping the n/s/f door.

Doing the n/s/f door was an interesting experience - it all came apart remarkably easily and I'd got the door swapped and 90% reassembled within 1.5 hours, and just had to route the i/r sensors wiring and screw the lock back into place. An hour later I was thinking "I'm glad I'm not Bruce Banner, otherise bits of this car would be in the next county by now", and an hour later I'd finally got the fiddly, nasty thing back into place.

1.5 hours to replace a door and all internals is pretty good, but 2 hours to fit a stupid little cable without the rest of the lock falling to bits or slipping into the wrong place is v bad! Presumably they didn't bother to fit cable guides or more sensible cable routing to save a little money, but it was definitely a false economy; it must have made putting it together on the assembly line more fiddly / time consuming, and the lost time must have cost vastly more than the few thousandths of a pence they saved by not putting a tiny bit of extra plastc on the lock mech.

Oh well, it's all done at last. The S210 still looks pretty ratty, but at least it's a little bit more pleasant now