94 E500 thoughts?

[bzliteyear]

i know this isn't a w210/211 e55, but there's been many talks of the e500 and i thought people here would be best for making helpful comments. what do you think of this 94 E500 w/ 142k miles for $15k? similar miles E420 for that year clean would be around $7k and have lower prices for repairs/parts...and i just paid less than $20k for a 2001 E55 w/ 87k miles...just curious everyone's thoughts. http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/car/243976810.html p.s. i think those BBS wheels were very "in" during the late 80's and early 90's than today, and i'd prefer the stock AMGs.

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[JLP]

Nice car but with those miles it may very well need a tranny, timing chain, valve job, throttle accuator and these things aren't cheap.
The 500E (W124) is also heavier than our E55's (W211) and the old torque converter sucked alot of the engines 326 BHP.
Try offering $8- 10K if its really clean and has service records for the items mentioned above.
These cars do drive very very nice though, they have a heavy-rich feeling to them.

[L8Apex]

One of my favorite MB. If it was me I would hold out for a lower mileage car or as JLP said offer $8-10k. Good Luck!

[AMG_55]

imo best mercedes ever built, it was my 1st car

[FLYNAVY]

concur that 124 500E/E500's are incredible cars (and very well built IMHO) but $15k is too much for that mileage....I've seen much cleaner with far fewer miles go for that price or less. That car has been up for a long time, and my guess is that the reason is the asking price....seller needs to accept reality. Perhaps you could be the one to help him/her That said, I would look for a lower mileage example for the reasons listed above related to the m119

[Bigdot]

i have one, i have RENNTech ECU and racing cats and muffler, VERY quick. awesome car!

i love it

Mark

[fireice]

Had both, youll never get the 94 to run right. Think of it like your first computer (94 was the first engine mgt system) it was really cool then, but it has a lot of glitches now.

[bzliteyear]

Originally Posted by fireice

Had both, youll never get the 94 to run right. Think of it like your first computer (94 was the first engine mgt system) it was really cool then, but it has a lot of glitches now.

had both - which 2?

...all 3 models referenced in the initial thread w/ w124, w210, and aalso w211.

still very much enjoying my w210 E55

[Bigdot]

Originally Posted by fireice

Had both, youll never get the 94 to run right. Think of it like your first computer (94 was the first engine mgt system) it was really cool then, but it has a lot of glitches now.

i dont know what you mean by this. i have had a 124 E420 (94) and i have a 124 E500 (94) and she runs great.

Mark

[vixapphire]

there's a very clean 36k mile original on ebay right now for around 20k BIN, so this seller's got an inflated sense of what his car is worth.

[Vetluver]

As I recall the model was a 500E and was tuned by Porsche. Is this the car you are looking at? I remember driving one when I got my 400E and didn't think that it that much stronger or better handling. Seems to me it was way over priced also. My 400E was an outstanding performer but nothing close to the W211 E55.

[bzliteyear]

was this "tuned" by porsche or partly made by porsche?

i think part of the charm of the 500E is the nostalgia...probably for the same reason why i still have a soft spot for my old porsche 928. i can' remember the name, but i recall when AMG first made a custom 300E w/ a V8 and upgraded suspension/brakes/wheels, it was about $200k USD back in the late 80's/early 90's. so when the 500E came out in 1992 for about $80k, it was almost the same performance for less than 1/2 the price. in addition, the power was very similar to what porsches and ferrari's did in the late 80's.

when i test drove the 500E, it felt like a nice car but unless it was pushed, it probably drove very similar to a 400 or 420E, imho. in fact, i think it started in 2nd gear also. therefore, i'm not surprised to hear comments like that.

btw, i still think it's a great car and will be a classic. who wouldn't mind having a parked in the garage in pristine condition? as a daily driver, however, i think i'm still very happy that i have my 01 E55

Originally Posted by Vetluver

As I recall the model was a 500E and was tuned by Porsche. Is this the car you are looking at? I remember driving one when I got my 400E and didn't think that it that much stronger or better handling. Seems to me it was way over priced also. My 400E was an outstanding performer but nothing close to the W211 E55.

[Germancar1]

Absolutely the most collectable Mercedes 4-door of the last 20 years IMO. The 500E is still likely my favorite 4-door MB of all time. The current AMG cars are awesome, but they just aren't as special or exclusive as this one was. It is my goal to own one of these before all is said and done. There is one the Autoweek classifieds. It was supposedly owned by Al Unser Jr. With only 8K on the clock they don't have a price listed. I bet it is way up there, like 40K or something. Youch.

M

[bzliteyear]

yes, i saw that ad in autoweek also for al unser's car. if it were white, silver, or charcoal...i might have interest(assuming price was within reason). however, as a green car - not sure that's my cup of tea. i find that for famous people, they own tons of cars and therefore it's not a big deal if you get one from them.

as an example, i once looked at an sl600 that was owned by larry ellison - piece of sh_t. i couldn't believe how thrashed it was...seemed like everyone was allowed to drive it and now it was just being disposed. obviously it'll be different w/ 8k miles for the unser's E500, but the point is i try not to be swayed by the fact it's owned by someone famous.

Originally Posted by Germancar1

Absolutely the most collectable Mercedes 4-door of the last 20 years IMO. The 500E is still likely my favorite 4-door MB of all time. The current AMG cars are awesome, but they just aren't as special or exclusive as this one was. It is my goal to own one of these before all is said and done. There is one the Autoweek classifieds. It was supposedly owned by Al Unser Jr. With only 8K on the clock they don't have a price listed. I bet it is way up there, like 40K or something. Youch.

M

[Germancar1]

Originally Posted by bzliteyear

yes, i saw that ad in autoweek also for al unser's car. if it were white, silver, or charcoal...i might have interest(assuming price was within reason). however, as a green car - not sure that's my cup of tea. i find that for famous people, they own tons of cars and therefore it's not a big deal if you get one from them.

as an example, i once looked at an sl600 that was owned by larry ellison - piece of sh_t. i couldn't believe how thrashed it was...seemed like everyone was allowed to drive it and now it was just being disposed. obviously it'll be different w/ 8k miles for the unser's E500, but the point is i try not to be swayed by the fact it's owned by someone famous.

I agree, I wouldn't care who owned it. The mileage is about the best I've ever seen. One of the "used luxury car row" dealers here had a silver E500 with 30K on the clock for 29K about a year ago. I still fell bad for not at least going to check the car out, but it wasn't in the budget.

M

[fireice]

Orig. owner 93 E500E and new owner of 2001 E55.

There is no comparison between the E500E and the E55 AMG other than it's genes. If you prefer the old body style with questionable Porsche heritage (built in the same plant)then the E500 is for you. If you prefer a car that is better equiped, better balanced, and more reliable, get the E55.

The AMG has every feature/option you could want from ventilated seats, sun shade. dimming lights,dual chrome exhaus, etc. The E500E is spartan in comparison.

Each AMG is a very unique and special car, each engine is hand built and tested to perform prior to leaving the factory. The E500E is an ordinary 300E with flares and a very inefficient engine at todays gas prices. The AMG is averaging 21 MPG with 25 more HP. The E500E averaged 15 MPG a 30% decrease in mileage. Lastly the E55 AMG is faster than the E500E.

Just my two cents. I don't want to start a war, I'm just speaking from experience.

[bzliteyear]

that first one looked painful - did they total it?
did you already own the 01 E55, or did you buy it after the acciden?
either way, thanks for sharing.

[Vetluver]

As I recall the motor was actually built by Porsche and reworked to have significantly better performance.

Also, I didn't mean to say that I didn't desire it at the time but it just wasn't worth $40k more than a similarly equipped 400E.

They were very rare and we never had one at our dealership, I just happened to be at Cherry Hills NJ dealership that was begging someone to buy it.

BTW it did start in 2nd and would shift to first if you knew how to nudge it into gear.

[Germancar1]

Originally Posted by fireice

Orig. owner 93 E500E and new owner of 2001 E55.

There is no comparison between the E500E and the E55 AMG other than it's genes. If you prefer the old body style with questionable Porsche heritage (built in the same plant)then the E500 is for you. If you prefer a car that is better equiped, better balanced, and more reliable, get the E55.

The AMG has every feature/option you could want from ventilated seats, sun shade. dimming lights,dual chrome exhaus, etc. The E500E is spartan in comparison.

Each AMG is a very unique and special car, each engine is hand built and tested to perform prior to leaving the factory. The E500E is an ordinary 300E with flares and a very inefficient engine at todays gas prices. The AMG is averaging 21 MPG with 25 more HP. The E500E averaged 15 MPG a 30% decrease in mileage. Lastly the E55 AMG is faster than the E500E.

Just my two cents. I don't want to start a war, I'm just speaking from experience.

Oh I don't doubt for a min that the E55 is the better car especially by today's standards. Porsche/MB went through a lot of trouble to get that 300E to 500E status that car having been modified in many ways, but yes it pales in ability next to today's cars. Sports Car International did a piece comparing today's E500 (pre-E550 FL) to the old W124 E500 and the W211 E500 buried the old E500 on the track and in most other performance measurements so of course a W210 E55 will do the same. My thing with the W124 is that it had a unique body, interior pieces and was extremely rare relative to today's AMG cars which are everywhere and share their body panels with the regular models. The 500E was a more "bespoke" car by far.

M

[CynCarvin32]

The 500E is my favorite MB ever made. It was a true sports sedan with drastic upgrades to all parts of the vehicle. I could go on for days about this car but there is no need!

Only buy 1992 and early 1993 production cars as those were the ones truely built by Porsche. These cars also have the "closed deck" motor which is much stronger than the open deck version. This is more important if you want to bore the motor out but why not go with the stronger design in the first place.

Porsche built 1992 and early 1993 cars because MB had production capacity issues and need to out source production to Porsche (who had excess capacity). After MB fixed their issues with production capacity, they quietly moved production back over to MB and ended the joint venture aspect of the vehicle.

For a collector, the 1992 cars are the most impressive and valuable even though the 1994 looks more modern. I personally like the older style as it was more "old school MB"

Fantastic car. Will likely always be the best 4 door sports MB made.

[schwarzwagen]

Originally Posted by JLP

The 500E (W124) is also heavier than our E55's (W211) and the old torque converter sucked alot of the engines 326 BHP.

this is wrong. the 500e was 3800 lbs. the e55 is a pig at 4k and change.

[schwarzwagen]

Originally Posted by fireice

Orig. owner 93 E500E and new owner of 2001 E55.

There is no comparison between the E500E and the E55 AMG other than it's genes. If you prefer the old body style with questionable Porsche heritage (built in the same plant)then the E500 is for you. If you prefer a car that is better equiped, better balanced, and more reliable, get the E55.

The AMG has every feature/option you could want from ventilated seats, sun shade. dimming lights,dual chrome exhaus, etc. The E500E is spartan in comparison.

Each AMG is a very unique and special car, each engine is hand built and tested to perform prior to leaving the factory. The E500E is an ordinary 300E with flares and a very inefficient engine at todays gas prices. The AMG is averaging 21 MPG with 25 more HP. The E500E averaged 15 MPG a 30% decrease in mileage. Lastly the E55 AMG is faster than the E500E.

Just my two cents. I don't want to start a war, I'm just speaking from experience.

amgs are about as unique as a ford. have you talked to vadim lately? he has so many amgs its sad. the 500e is certainly more rare than any amg after the w202s.

[schwarzwagen]

Originally Posted by CynCarvin32

The 500E is my favorite MB ever made. It was a true sports sedan with drastic upgrades to all parts of the vehicle. I could go on for days about this car but there is no need!

Only buy 1992 and early 1993 production cars as those were the ones truely built by Porsche. These cars also have the "closed deck" motor which is much stronger than the open deck version. This is more important if you want to bore the motor out but why not go with the stronger design in the first place.

Porsche built 1992 and early 1993 cars because MB had production capacity issues and need to out source production to Porsche (who had excess capacity). After MB fixed their issues with production capacity, they quietly moved production back over to MB and ended the joint venture aspect of the vehicle.

For a collector, the 1992 cars are the most impressive and valuable even though the 1994 looks more modern. I personally like the older style as it was more "old school MB"

Fantastic car. Will likely always be the best 4 door sports MB made.

remember that R&T or C/D i showed you with the 500e test? it pulled higher skid pad numbers than the c32 and the e55k. that was amusing. slalom speed was also higher i think.

[vixapphire]

Originally Posted by Vetluver

As I recall the motor was actually built by Porsche and reworked to have significantly better performance.

BTW it did start in 2nd and would shift to first if you knew how to nudge it into gear.

no, your recollection is incorrect. the engine is the 5.0 MB v8 taken out of the SL's of the era. the bodies were sent to Porsche to have the Porsche-built front end suspension and steering installed, and then returned to MB for the engine installation. according to the plethora of "authoritative" MB auto-line books out there, Porsche's contribution was in suspension and steering, not in engine, body or other componentry. The body was widened and flared out by MB to accommodate the larger engine, but that's about it.

as for who assembled what in which years, CynCarvin's probably got a better idea than I do; still, it's more a design/engineering question than one of assembly, since at the time, MB was still top-flight in their quality (except for those awful 124 HVAC units that seemed to fail once per 20k miles or so...).

what i wouldn't do for a nice, lo-mile e500 in the gun-metal grey color on black, though... love is a many-splendored thing!

[fireice]

I gave the 500E to my son for his 16th birthday,and I'm actually impressed it took so long, almost 2 more years before he crashed it. Not his fault, a Toyota (failure to yeild) pulled out in front of him.

Yes, the car was ultimately totalled. My Insurance Co. heeded my warnings that my local Mercedes dealership would love to repair the car. However, it would cost a small fortune and chances are it would never be correct.