Used W124 or W210

[bigyin1]

Afternoon folks,

I've just joined as i'm looking to get myself a W124 300D or W210 300 DT.

I have £5-6,000 to spend on such a car and i'm looking for something for my family (3 boys) which will last for many years to come and really (really really) want to get one of the above. Mileage isn't hugely important but full MBSH is and needs to be in good or very good condition.

I haven't had a thorough look through the other posts (or done a search) to see if this has been asked already but what should i be looking out for and which of the two do you think i should go for & why?

I look forward to your answers...

 

[mattc]

Hi and welcome to the forum.

do use the search facility; there are lots of threads and opinions regarding what you have posted.

G/F and I both run 124's so are biased and we've never owned 210's so unfair for us to comment...I am sure plenty of people will be along to give a balanced view

Matt

 

[Dieselman]

The W210 is a better car with more driver feedback and the 300TD is very reliable and goes Ok.
The only downside to a W210 is rust, they have a problem with insufficient paint coverage at the edges of panels, such as door tops, boot around the lock button, bonnet skin to frame joints, front spring perches, all four wings around the wheelarches.
Many have been repaired under a goodwill programme and anything up to eight years old is covered if it has dealer service history. It may get covered even if not got dealer history.

 

[bigyin1]

Cheers for the advice. I'll do some searches and see what that comes up with.

I'll initially be commuting using the Merc, some 55miles each day, then after 6months or so buy a small commuter car and do 4-5,000 miles a year in the merc. I have to admit mattc that i'd rather have a W124 from the looks, ride side of things but would like the performance of the 300 DT engine.

ho hum..

 

[SilverSaloon]

i had exact same dilema a while back... see thread:

http://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=46428


i opted for a really good W124 estate!

 

[bigyin1]

Silversaloon - fantastic, just what i'm looking for, thanks

 

[Ade B]

I'd certainly test drive good examples of both. Having recently been a passenger in a tidy W210 98 E430 estate I was impressed with the smoothness and silence of the engine round town but preferred the design of the W124 seats and interior.

I would certainly not believe all the myths surrounding W124s, they rust and go wrong like everything else, especially the later ones..

Presumably you've checked out Nick Froome's (Bolide on here) site at www.w124.co.uk


Ade

 

[robv]

Hi. I have a 2002 W210 and love it. Loads of interior space...I have the seat all the way back and there's still plenty of room in the back for my kids. Very smooth and powerful and good fuel economy. But watch out for rust. It really is a problem!!! MB have fixed my boot and three wings so far under their goodwill deal (the cheek of it!! the reason I bought a merc and kept a full MB history was for the 30 year body warranty.....then they tell me they are doing me a favour by doing it as goodwill). There are blisters appearing around the door frames (behind the rubber), all over the bonnet. They refused outright to touch one of the rear wheel arches as a repair had been done on a different part of the wing - they check the whole panel with a paint thickness detector and if anywhere on that panel has been painted before (not by a merc dealer) then they refuse to touch that whole panel. So my advice is, if you go for a W210 is to make sure it has full MBSH and that if any panels have been repainted then it is recorded on the MB history. And then budget for getting the whole thing waxoyled - i've been quoted £500 for a proffesional job (rustmaster.co.uk)

 

[robv]

Hi. I have a 2002 W210 and love it. Loads of interior space...I have the seat all the way back and there's still plenty of room in the back for my kids. Very smooth and powerful and good fuel economy. But watch out for rust. It really is a problem!!! MB have fixed my boot and three wings so far under their goodwill deal (the cheek of it!! the reason I bought a merc and kept a full MB history was for the 30 year body warranty.....then they tell me they are doing me a favour by doing it as goodwill). There are blisters appearing around the door frames (behind the rubber), all over the bonnet. They refused outright to touch one of the rear wheel arches as a repair had been done on a different part of the wing - they check the whole panel with a paint thickness detector and if anywhere on that panel has been painted before (not by a merc dealer) then they refuse to touch that whole panel. So my advice is, if you go for a W210 is to make sure it has full MBSH and that if any panels have been repainted then it is recorded on the MB history. And then budget for getting the whole thing waxoyled - i've been quoted £500 for a proffesional job (rustmaster.co.uk).

 

[Smiley]

I bought my late 95 w124 300d estate 10 years ago when it was just 3 years old with 33k miles. I had intended to keep it 2 or 3 years but here we are 10 years on and a total of 200k miles still going strong and still like driving it. I have waxoyled it several times so rust is minimal - but you are not fighting a losing battle on a w124 like you are on a w210. Maintenance is going to be cheaper and easier on the w124 - less electronics + the injectors are a lot cheaper. I had it serviced by MB up to the 126k service - but actually there is not a lot to service so realised I could do it all myself with oil and filter changes every 6k instead of the std 9k.
In 200k miles mine has had the following replaced / repaired - one electric window motor, radiator, n/s/r wheel bearing (PITA job), one set of glow plugs (can be another PITA job), rear exhaust box plus mid section repair, one prop coupling, wiper motor - thats about it apart from tyres and brakes and filters. Also had the ATF + filter changed every 36k miles so the box still shifts like the day I bought the car.
Your problem is going to be finding a decent w124 for sale - they are becoming like rocking horse s**t on the used market - if you find one in a nice colour with a decent SH (dont necessarily insist on MBSH they are getting too old to expect that) then snap it up. If you find two let me know.

 

[bigyin1]

thanks folks, fantastic advice here.

Yes i've been in touch with Mr Froome from www.w124.co.uk for the last few weeks and have such a car in mind with 161k on it, BUT it's not 7 seats.. Equally i have a W210 in mind about 40 miles away from me which looks very nice but i do worry about the electrics/rust potential problems as i'll be at the top of my budget which ever i get.

What about commuting in the W124, 55miles a day?? I wouldn't have thought that would cause too many problems and i'd love to arrive at work in a W124 .

Smiley - that's just what i want to do, keep it for 10 years! I get very bored with cars very quickly. My last car a Honda Stream is the longest i've ever kept a car, 2 1/2 years!!!

robv - thats my main worry, the rust and MB's attitude.

I think i'll get back to Mr Froome and see what he says...

thanks again.

 

[Ade B]

If you are happy to spend the money on a W124, Nick will find you a car and sort it out. I really like my C124, they are lovely cars with character. Do make sure you test drive a couple though.

Best of luck with the search.

Ade

 

[Smiley]

I should add that this is the only car I have ever kept this long - the next longest was 3 years.
If I were you I would save some of your money, buy a W124 (if you can find one at the right price - £2k ish) and then buy a W211 in a few years time when they have fallen to your price range. The W124 will not have cost you a lot to run and depreciation will be just about zip.

 

[Smiley]

One more thing - mine is a 7 seater - but why do you need these - they are only for smaller children - no good for larger kids or adults - we have used them occassionally but they are not as useful as they would first seem - I would be very happy with a 5 seater.

 

[SilverSaloon]

W124.....

i commute to work in mine (approx 40 mile round trip) each day - perfect

i also tow a big caravan with the estate - perfect

you can get the seats retrofitted - only tricky part is finding the correct trim pattern/style as your other seats - then its just a case of bolting on the new bits - all the mounting points etc are already there, so dont discount a good 5 seater - just budget for the extra cost of retrofitting the 2 extra seats.

I have two 124's - a saloon and an estate; saloon was cheap - estate was top price. The difference isnt huge - the saloon has rusty wings and a few other rust patches and also has no toys - rust is all repairable, but of course costs money. The estate on the other hand is rust free and has more or less every concievable extra (rare on a Diesel) but cost 5 times the price. I think i got a bargain with the saloon though.... and probaby the estate if you factor in what car you get for the money.

Go for a 124 - you wont regret it.

 

[Ade B]

I have two 124's - a saloon and an estate; saloon was cheap - estate was top price. The difference isnt huge - the saloon has rusty wings and a few other rust patches and also has no toys - rust is all repairable, but of course costs money. The estate on the other hand is rust free and has more or less every concievable extra (rare on a Diesel) but cost 5 times the price. I think i got a bargain with the saloon though.... and probaby the estate if you factor in what car you get for the money.

I have often wondered if it is more economical (if you can be bothered) to pick up a solid car with known faults and then spend a few £k to get it top notch. Having said that, a few £k doesn't go far with an MB unless you are handy with the spanners.

Silversaloon, would you pay top whack if you were doing it again?

Ade

 

[SilverSaloon]

Silversaloon, would you pay top whack if you were doing it again?

Yes probably - i think you could easily spend what i paid for the whole car getting a cheaper one up to this standard.

it all depends on whether you worry about the odd issue here and there - if you can live with a few bodywork issues then i guess a cheaper one would be OK. I reckon that its mainly bodywork that makes the difference - there isnt a lot of difference in the saloon vs the estate mechanical-wise. The saloon requires a full service (i do it myself so cheap) but the estate got a full service before i purchased. It also had brand new tyres whereas the saloon will need new ones soon..... that sort of thing which soon adds up in ££££s

Saying that, i've only had the estate for 7 months now - not required much to be spent on it - everything has been "optional" up to now - mainly stuff needed after i converted it to run on SVO and i also changed the gearbox fluid as there wasnt any history of that getting changed. If I hadnt changed the ATF and ran it on diesel then i guess i wouldnt have spent anything at all on it in 7 months.

saying that, the rear wheel bearing requires replacement and i think the rear suspension bushes look old-ish. Its actually in the garage getting that done today which will probably be a few hundred quid i expect.

Also there is an oil leak from the crankshaft oil seal - cheap fix if you can DIY - still unsure if i can, been quoted £180 to fix. Actual seal part is just £5

Problem is, you never know really what may go wrong, even at top price, its still an old car with things wearing out. I may have a year of trouble free motoring ahead of me - then again it may cost £1000 in repairs in the next year - who knows. Thing is at these prices, you could buy, say a mondeo of a few years old that wont go wrong as much - but it wont be a 124 will it

thing is, in 5 years time, if i keep it nice the 124 will probably be worth the same as what i paid. The mondeo will be worth £200 ish

I'm also referring to Multivalve diesels here - which seem to go for more than their petrol equivelants - well when i was buying anyway - however I have seen several go for silly money in the past couple of months, but these certainly were not in top condition and required lots of work, maybe the cost of what the car sold for again to bring them up to scratch.

 

[Ade B]

Interesting... I think there is no getting away from spending money on the cars if you want them to look top notch and work properly.. (like any other aging car really)...

Mine has been fairly cheap so far this year (unlike last year) as I did my own oil service and got front springs replaced and drivers window motor at Olly's and had the AC gremlins sorted out.

The engine is getting slightly and I think progressively noisier when cold, its hard to tell from where exactly and there has been a transmission grumble at idle when in D since I had it (new engine mounts made it worse...), and then there is an intermittent squeak from the RHS of the serpentine belt I checked all the pulley bearings I could reach with an engine stethoscope last weekend and all sounded OK to me.. I expect the car will soldier on for 50k without issue, but it bugs me when everything else is in excellent nick.

And then there are a couple of minor oil leaks to contend with (if ever as it doesn't really lose any)..

I also finally put a new stereo in it a few months ago and have promised to get the bodywork sorted before winter as its on its original paint which is showing its age.. although it looks fine from 10 feet away . And then there are the battered wheels which could do with a refurb.. perhaps next year's project.

Oh and a bit of piping fell off the arm rest (which was perfect when I bought it )

I do like it though


Ade

 

[Smiley]

re the cold noise - is it the serpentine belt tensioner assembly wearing out? Mine sounded like a bag of nails eventually and got progressivley and slowly worse until I figured out what it was - I thought I had internal engine wear and kind of accepted it @ 150k miles - but with the new tensioner assy almost back to "as new".

 

[bigyin1]

My problem is that i can afford to buy one BUT the problem comes when something goes wrong. The odd oil change here/there isn't a problem but something big costing many £100's or even into four figures would cause my wife to chop of vital parts of my body....

i just don't know if i can take that chance.....