W124 230TE price advice sought

[Charles Morgan]

Thanks all for some very useful feedback and help. I think when spring arrives (May time then) I shall start doing some serious hunting. I shall certainly contact Nick Froome, but those links on ebay are food for thought.

I spend too much of my time on wine forums, where everyone is very helpful, and this place has a very similar community vibe.

 

[219]

I am also of the opinion that this car won't command such a high value - especially in neglected condition .

The only thing going for it is the low mileage , but that itself is a double edged sword as it can mean perishable items like tyres , hoses , gaskets etc will be original but well past their sell by date , and in some cases dried out . Also , things like fluids possibly not having been changed at time rather than mileage intervals won't have done any good .

The car is a basic model with 'poverty spec' which few people would be happy with today , and in one of the least desirable colour combinations . If the blue interior extends to a blue dashboard , there is also a possibility that the plastic will have split due to some shortcoming of the chemical composition of the plastic - even if it has not split so far , there is a strong probability it will do so in the future .

The reported type of use also does not bode well - nothing is worse for a car than lots of short journeys where it never gets properly warmed up and runs rich for most of the short journey - spewing corrosive gases into the exhaust which never heats up properly to disperse condensed liquids inside .

I'd give this one a miss , unless it was going for a silly price like a couple of hundred - not thousands .

I'd rather have a low mileage car that had been used normally , then laid up altogether .

 

[d w124]

Thanks all for some very useful feedback and help. I think when spring arrives (May time then) I shall start doing some serious hunting. I shall certainly contact Nick Froome, but those links on ebay are food for thought.

I spend too much of my time on wine forums, where everyone is very helpful, and this place has a very similar community vibe.

Just make sure you`ll bring yourself and your new car here http://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/national-mbclub-event-2010/76564-gtg-attendance-list.html

 

[chiefski26]

worth a lot more than 2k

 

[d w124]

worth a lot more than 2k

Not more than your nr plate though

 

[mattc]

I am in the 'not worth much camp'. The owner is deluded if he thinks he will get 5K for an uncherished, poverty spec 124 regardless of the low mileage.

Just my 2p (which is clearly a lot less than 2 or 5K)

 

[johnsco]

I agree with Pontoneer's comments in Post #22.
Old MBs are better for being used.
All sorts of things deteriorate with infrequent intermittant use.
I worry about corrosion and seal deterioration in braking systems which get little use (and probably infrequent fluid changes).

I ran one of these 230TE estates two or three years ago.
A nice old thing, in some ways, but a bit quaint and with few "goodies".
It was a steady performer with not very good fuel consumption.

The rear suspension pipes are very prone to corrosion.

I paid £500 for mine.
Easily worth it for a not-particularly-tasty vehicle.

 

[219]

I agree with Pontoneer's comments in Post #22.
Old MBs are better for being used.
All sorts of things deteriorate with infrequent intermittant use.
I worry about corrosion and seal deterioration in braking systems which get little use (and probably infrequent fluid changes).

Exactly the sort of thing I was talking about , and have experienced myself .

When I bought my Ponton , back in 1982 , it would have been about the same age as these cars are now . My car had been the property of an elderly gentleman who had died , and (the car) lay under a carport for I don't know how long until his widow decided to sell it .

I bought the car , fitted a new battery , tyres and an exhaust to get it MOT'd -a few weeks later I was coming to a halt at a set of traffic lights in Edinburgh when the brake pedal went right to the floor ( no dual circuits on these cars ) and had to haul hard on the handbrake , not quite stopping before running into the back of the car in front : a Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow ! Thankfully it was only a small nudge and not a mark on either car .

Ever since then I have been paranoid about brakes and one of the first jobs on any car I buy is a full brake overhaul .

I still managed to drive the 30 miles home from the centre of Edinburgh with no footbrake - just using observation , planning , gears and handbrake to slow/stop - and no 'incidents' , now THAT was advanced driving .

 

[Charles Morgan]

Just make sure you`ll bring yourself and your new car here http://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/national-mbclub-event-2010/76564-gtg-attendance-list.html

Last time I was in that part of the Land of my Fathers (he's from Carmarthen though) I thought I was almost there when I reached Telford. Amazing how the remaining journey to Brigands took almost three hours when you stick to the speed limits on North Wales roads. No wonder it took Edward I so long to conquer it.... I shouldl hopefully have a car by then, so will play it by ear.

 

[Charles Morgan]

A coda to this tale, with coincidences. I was going through Mr Ironside's stocklist and there was the white W124 230TE - just sold, so no listing now, and no price. Poor Bill, the owner, died last year, and so his niece had clearly sold it on, a year after I viewed it, just sitting, doing nothing.

Quite by chance, at dinner this evening with my parents who were up for my mother's 70th, my father told me that the car had been sold, and so I mentioned to whom, and the price was £1800 - £200 under my bid. So I had a certain vindication that I had offered more than Mr Ironside, but not by so much I was far out.

Nice car, but however few miles, it would still be an entirely un-optioned car with an engine I would have found unsporting quite soon.

 

[bluevenetian]

Hopefully some one on here will have seen the price pre-sale

 

[GP801]

I think it was £5,950 cant be certain. It could have been more. He has sold a few 124 estates recently. Seems there is still a healthy market for them. Looks like both camps re the value were right!

 

[rickw]

I think it was £5,950 cant be certain. It could have been more. He has sold a few 124 estates recently. Seems there is still a healthy market for them. Looks like both camps re the value were right!

I think Ironside was asking £7950 for it and it sold very quickly!

 

[Charles Morgan]

blimey.

Apparently all he did was change the battery and touch up the one rust spot.

 

[GP801]

I think Ironside was asking £7950 for it and it sold very quickly!

Now that you mention £7950 I think you are right. Thats a hell of a profit in a very short time. He has also sold a number of very expensive cars recently. Who said there was a recession?

 

[rickw]

Now that you mention £7950 I think you are right. Thats a hell of a profit in a very short time. He has also sold a number of very expensive cars recently. Who said there was a recession?

I've just sold my 1991 300TD for £2500 - purchased from Charles Ironside in 2009. I would have started a new thread but don't seem able to despite being a member for 2 years. I lost £1500 in 2 years which compares well to the £4000 I lost in 2 years on my previous car - a Renault Grand Scenic. We have bought a VW Campervan T4 with a 1.9 diesel engine which will do as a daily driver.
I will miss my W124 - nothing can match the quality and character of these vehicles!
I have really enjoyed this forum. Cheers Rick

 

[grober]

This perhaps illustrates the adage that a car is worth as much as a buyer is prepared to pay. At one end of the spectrum you have the " realists" guys who have probably had quite a few W124's know they have weaknesses like all cars, but value them as useful reliable Motorway munchers and appreciate their engineering without seeing them through "rose tinted glasses" They buy the cars with their head. At the other are the "idealists " they have perhaps an exaggerated idea of the worth of the cars- look for low mileage and cast iron service histories and feel by paying over the odds they will get an almost new car with no faults. They are probably first time W124 owners and have been somewhat bewitched by tales of cast iron build quality and durability. They buy these cars with their hearts. The truth for most of us probably lies somewhere in between the two.

 

[GP801]

This perhaps illustrates the adage that a car is worth as much as a buyer is prepared to pay. At one end of the spectrum you have the " realists" guys who have probably had quite a few W124's know they have weaknesses like all cars, but value them as useful reliable Motorway munchers and appreciate their engineering without seeing them through "rose tinted glasses" They buy the cars with their head. At the other are the "idealists " they have perhaps an exaggerated idea of the worth of the cars- look for low mileage and cast iron service histories and feel by paying over the odds they will get an almost new car with no faults. They are probably first time W124 owners and have been somewhat bewitched by tales of cast iron build quality and durability. They buy these cars with their hearts. The truth for most of us probably lies somewhere in between the two.

I think I was somewhere in between. First time 124 owner although our son had a 300e-24. Bought ours as a comfortable motorway cruiser for running down to Italy with the ability to leave it a few weeks and hopefully it would still start when we returned. It does all this admirably. Not low mileage - around 134k now. It was certainly not without fault and we have put a lot of effort and money into getting it fully sorted. Probably the heart got the better of the head but it is now mechanically as good as can be, drives superbly and the body is rust free. It is not worth anything like the money spent on it but we enjoy it enormously. Much prefer it to a modern car for similar outlay.

 

[dcs]

I am more afraid of no use than decent use vehicles, possibly irrationally.

I don't think this opinion is irrational at all Charles, i couldn't agree more! Cars are designed to be driven, not to sit for long periods, allowing parts to seize up, seals to deteriorate etc.

The ideal compromise on low mileage for me is a car that's done say 5k a year and has been regularly and properly serviced.

 

[GP801]

Sorry to resurrect this old thread but thought people might be interested to know that Charles Ironside has the 230TE for sale again only this time its up for £10950!