W140's Talk to me

[buccal]

There seems to be little mentioned of the Leviathan S class on the forum.

I know there are a couple of members who side stepped the W140 when they first came out but to my eyes they are starting to become increasingly appealing as a big barge for smoking around in.

How much are we looking at to get into a reasonably good condition car?

Mileage would be minimal on an annual basis but what would be the big ticket items to avoid, I read somewhere that the air con evaporator is a common fault?

There doesn't seem to be many on the market if your fussy re spec and colour.

 

[Dieselman]

Borys has one for sale at present, which might be of interest.

 

[brigadier]

I love w140. Look for newer years 1997 or 1998, as they have less problems. S320 or S500 are preffered engines. You can find decent w140 for around 2k.

 

[Borys]

Look into models after 1996 with parktronic,climatronic they are sorted from most of issues pre facelift had (wiring harness problem).
Always look on central locking if it working,soft closing (two separate pumps and they go wrong),blower fan if it ok on all speeds and auto,rear springs like to go soft-rear would be lower of about 3cm then front,air con need to work otherwise may be expensive to fix,gear box if it was serviced,avoid many owner cars w140's don't like it,steering wheel vibrations at 50-60mph it is a pain to get it sorted,rust on arches
Pretty much that would cover everything

 

[millo777]

It's not that the evaporator is a common fault, just that it costs a feckin fortune to fix if it does go. It's a whole dash out job, which also means front seats and centre console out.

There are some bargains floating around, and the usual stuff at the likes of Avantgarde and Charles Ironside. I think **********.com has one at the moment as well.

There are 2 low mileage (around 40,000 miles) S320s on ebay at the moment, one for £4k and one £7k. Both look pretty good.

I love my mine and much prefer it to any w126 or w220 I've ever driven or been driven in. It's only my opinion of course, but to me the w140 makes the w126 feel very old, and the w220 feel very nasty.

The only problem I've encountered is that people assume there is a dead prostitute in the boot and a serbian drug dealer in the back seat.

The m119 V8 always gets good write ups, but I've never once regretted buying the V12 instead. The interior in the v12 is also significantly nicer.

 

[millo777]

Just found this one on ebay, and I'm a little shocked these cars have got this cheap.

1998 MERCEDES S320 .. What a nice old car, TOP SPEC.. P/X welcome ..low miles, | eBay

 

[guydewdney]

look at the coupe too

1997 Mercedes-Benz CL420 4.2 V8 auto Coupe (S Class, SEC) | eBay

 

[MicB]

I bought my CL420 last summer and I absolutely ''love it to bits'' (now there is a stupid phrase).
Anyway it is a January 1998 car and had covered 82k genuine miles......now over 86k miles.
I paid £3250 which by the time I had got it ''sorted'' was effectively £4500 and in my judgement still terrific value for money. I suspect the saloons change hands for slightly less money than the coupes.
If you get a ''140'' I do not think you will be disappointed.

Mic

 

[buccal]

The m119 V8 always gets good write ups, but I've never once regretted buying the V12 instead. The interior in the v12 is also significantly nicer.

Thanks for all the replies chaps.

Would be happier at 2, max 3k. Facelift SWB saloon would be ideal, as I need 4 doors.

So it sounds like a reasonable proposition then bar the caveats above?

The complexity of the V12 scares the he'll out of me at this level, but god id love a run in one.

I remember Setanta had a cracker for sale a while ago. What's the difference in the interior? Nappa?

 

[MicB]

Thanks for all the replies chaps.

Would be happier at 2, max 3k. Facelift SWB would be ideal.

So it sounds like a reasonable proposition then bar the caveats above?

The complexity of the V12 scares the he'll out of me at this level, but god id love a run in one.

I remember Setanta had a cracker for sale a while ago. What's the difference in the interior? Nappa?

Budget to spend upto £2k on the car over and above the purchase price.

Mic

 

[Borys]

Buccal, you are always welcome to look on mine and compere to others on the market.We can have a chat and I will take you through everything I know about w140's.I may even sell mine to a good home

 

[Dieselman]

I may even sell mine to a good home

That means only feeding it on Winalot and doggy chocs, I guess.

 

[Dieselman]

Just found this one on ebay, and I'm a little shocked these cars have got this cheap.

1998 MERCEDES S320 .. What a nice old car, TOP SPEC.. P/X welcome ..low miles, | eBay

Looks a nice unmolested example in a nice colour.

These are bargain barges now.

 

[Borys]

As above that s320 looks a bargain.Knowing those cars 1000£ on the top to put it right,from experiance

 

[grober]

As always its finding a good one. Problem with well built old Mercedes is they have enormous reserves of quality which allows impoverished owners to skip on the correct servicing while the cars gradually deteriorate and accumulate problems which may be reasonable viewed in individual isolation but tend to be costly when they appear " mob handed" to the next unsuspecting owner. Needless to say in this day and age a hefty barge like a W140 uses a lot of fuel in any "stop start" type motoring---- even the little engines. Good luck with the quest. W140's remind me of Anita Ekberg- big beautiful and may end up costing you a lot of money- but who's counting! [YOUTUBE]TalPYf7gf2I[/YOUTUBE]

 

[C43AMG]

You forget how stunning she was , unlike the W140

 

[buccal]

I know there are a couple of members who side stepped the W140 when they first came out .

That was aimed at you Peter, will you let me in the car park if I turn up to brooklands in one?

 

[Tan]

My father had a W126 and then a W140, which we still have and I have spent considerable time with the W220 and W221.

Was not as keen on the W220, the W221 does feel like a more fitting replacement to the W140.

Overall I love our W140, it is a 280, which is a little sluggish at times, but for gently cruising it is just fine. If I were buying one today, I would want an S500, with parktronic, a sunroof and Xenons.

Our W140 has been in the family for 10 years now and has been very reliable overall and driving it does have an air of ceremony about it.

I intend to keep ours for many more years as its a classic in the making.

 

[millo777]

I

Thanks for all the replies chaps.

Would be happier at 2, max 3k. Facelift SWB saloon would be ideal, as I need 4 doors.

So it sounds like a reasonable proposition then bar the caveats above?

The complexity of the V12 scares the he'll out of me at this level, but god id love a run in one.

I remember Setanta had a cracker for sale a while ago. What's the difference in the interior? Nappa?

The M120 is just two M104s on a common crank, so the complexity is having 2 mafs, 2 etas, and 2 ecus. Admittedly, thats potentially a nightmare if they need replacing, but (urgently looks for wood to touch) in 20 years of owning cars I've never had to replace any of those items in any car.

Nappa leather is the main difference in the S600, though most also have the electric reclining rear seat including the electric head rest up/down, Multi contour front seats (As opposed to just lumbar) 4 zone climate control with seperate blower motor for the rear, heated rear seats (Thats maybe on all models?). Mine also has a dinky little fridge between the rear seats. I think the S600 also got the half walnut steering wheel which was optional on other models. And most pointless of all, a button which changes the rear seat adjustment switches to control the front passenger seat instead. The S600 is also only in lwb, where as all others were available in either regular or lwb.

Much like the w126, there was an option for individual rear seats which was quite expensive. Despite losing the practicality of having 5 seats, and the fact I'll probably never ride in the back, I still think it's a cool option.

As with all MBs of the 80s/90s there so many options, finding identical cars (other than taxi spec) is near impossible.

If you don't mind LHD there are some S350D models floating about with the 3.5 turbo diesel om 603, and the S300D 3.0 turbo om606.

 

[Borys]

UUU avoid diesel models, more juicy then petrol.
300sd they call them rod benders