W123 300D Taxi in Berlin last week!

[isobars]

I'm very fond of these, not least because I've got one myself, but to see one plying its trade in 2015 in a modern German city brought a big smile to my face and almost a tear to my eye!
Click to enlarge, I think.

 

[gaz_l]

Went to Madeira a few years ago, nearly every taxi there was a Mercedes and there were still many W123s racking up the miles..

Cheers,

Gaz

 

[Charles Morgan]

How does it meet the environmental standards?

 

[GP801]

Some 123s and many 124s still working as taxis in Malta. Most in immaculate condition. Two weeks ago in Florence saw a 124 estate plying its trade

 

[V12]

Cyprus is also full of old W123 and W124 taxi's.

When we visited Madeira we took a W124 250D taxi from the airport. The driver really knew how to get the most performance out of his taxi round the mountain roads!!

 

[isobars]

How does it meet the environmental standards?

I must admit I wondered about that, but I imagine it's the same throughout The EU.

I've got two with the OM617 in Portugal and one in Belgium and there's never been a problem - and I can't see our cousins letting anything slide through that wasn't Korrect!

 

[John Jones Jr]

I was in Berlin a few weeks ago but only managed to spot a W124 and W202. Besides the usual W211 & 212's the place is getting flooded with Toyota Hybrids.

 

[SG1]

No W123's or W124's left in Cyprus I'm afraid! All W211's or W212's now.

My cousin refuses to sell all he's old cars, he still has his W115, W123 and recently retired W210 with around 700k miles on as we have just sent him a W212. He's been offered £5k for the W210 although he's adamant he won't sell it for less than £7k!

 

[V12]

No W123's or W124's left in Cyprus I'm afraid! All W211's or W212's now.

My cousin refuses to sell all he's old cars, he still has his W115, W123 and recently retired W210 with around 700k miles on as we have just sent him a W212. He's been offered £5k for the W210 although he's adamant he won't sell it for less than £7k!

When did that change? There were absolutely loads of W124's in Paphos 7 months ago.

 

[SG1]

When did that change? There were absolutely loads of W124's in Paphos 7 months ago.

Ah yes there are a few more on that side, I was talking about the North.

 

[219]

I was in Berlin a few weeks ago but only managed to spot a W124 and W202. Besides the usual W211 & 212's the place is getting flooded with Toyota Hybrids.

It has been six or seven years since I was last in Berlin , back then the majority of taxis were W124 , surprisingly not so many W210 , a few W123 and I saw one W201 taxi .

My weekend there , however , was a Merc spotting fest , best of all was seeing the topless W113 driving up Friedrichstrasse , closely followed by a Fintail on the Kufurstendamm , and there was a Ponton parked in a side street somewhere too .

Maybe Stuttgart will still have a few W123's running around ?

 

[John Jones Jr]

You'd hardly think you were in Berlin, not kidding I'd say it's getting close to 50% non Merc and most of those are Toyota's. Year on year and I go there a fair bit there's less Merc taxi's. As for K/dam, it is a good spotting place but it mainly Lambo's, Ferrari's and Porsche's that seem to grab the limelight, possibly due to the noise thanks to 2nd gear pulls. Did you get to Classic Remise in the old tram depot?

As for Stuttgart about two years ago it seemed to be mainly W211's from what I recall but only took two taxi's. Back in 2008, there was loads of W210's.

 

[219]

Alas , only so much we could do on a weekend break , but did visit the Technical Museum which had a car section .

 

[John Jones Jr]

Alas , only so much we could do on a weekend break , but did visit the Technical Museum which had a car section .

Well, if you do go to Berlin again it would be worth making a point to visit the place. Allow a few hours especially if you get chatting. There's a nice restaurant there too.

 

[isobars]

Slightly off the Berlin Topic, I drove from Dover to Bolton on Saturday - 6.5 hours - and spotted only four pre-2000 mercs. Two 201's J+K reg and a pair of 210's R+W, five including my 124.
Thinking about it there weren't more than a dozen - fifteen at most - pre-2000 anyway.
Second place went to Volvo.

 

[Vlad]

Just on this subject...I drove north through Germany last week and only saw one W124 and nothing older. Interestingly is always surprises me just how few high performance cars you see on German Autobahns, however, back in the UK you see high performance cars everywhere.

Weapon of choice for the outside lane on a German Autobahn appears to be a Volkswagen Passat Estate followed closely by a Skoda Octavia estate

 

[BTB 500]

How does it meet the environmental standards?

Good question. Could be retrofitted with a DPF - generally this is the only way a pre-'97 diesel car can get an emissions disc.

I vaguely remember an exemption for 'historic' vehicles more than 30 years old though, which a W123 would be

 

[syncropaddy]

Just on this subject...I drove north through Germany last week and only saw one W124 and nothing older. Interestingly is always surprises me just how few high performance cars you see on German Autobahns, however, back in the UK you see high performance cars everywhere.

Other than Porsches, you tend to see the other stuff out and about at the weekends

Weapon of choice for the outside lane on a German Autobahn appears to be a Volkswagen Passat Estate followed closely by a Skoda Octavia estate

And why not? They are bloody good cars.

 

[BTB 500]

I agree most of the cars travelling at high speed on the autobahn (during the week anyway) are relatively humble. Most of them will do 120+ mph these days anyway - a 1.8 petrol Audi A4 will crack 140.

 

[fab1975]

I agree most of the cars travelling at high speed on the autobahn (during the week anyway) are relatively humble. Most of them will do 120+ mph these days anyway - a 1.8 petrol Audi A4 will crack 140.

That is a further confirmation that the 70 Mph speed limit we have in Britain does no longer make sense in 2015, when most cars have ABS, ESP, airbags, anti-intrusion bars, etc...