Hi all,

what is the most common failure from this car, and which year is the best one (less problem and more power?)

what price do I expect to pay for one in good condition.

Thanks.

If you're in North America, the 16V really didn't change during its production run, however in the rest of the world, the displacement went to 2.5L in 1987 to conform to the change in racing rules for the DTM cars. As a result, for NA cars, it's mostly the condition of the vehicle that matters, although there were more color choices in the last year of production.

16V's, other than the engine, also have a unique rear suspsension, the SLS (Self Leveling Suspension), slight lower suspension, sport interior and the 16V body kit.

What to watch for . . . cars that have been trashed, first of all. The 16V makes most of its power on the high end of the rpm and it's not uncommon for them to have been abused, although MB did build in a rev limiter into the fuel pump relay to avoid floating those 16 valves into a piston. The exhaust headers are known to crack.

Around this time, you'd expect these cars to have anywhere from 60 - 150K miles on them, so expect some maintenence issues to start. Recent prices on good examples have been going for $6-8K,with some optomists asking for mid-teens, but most of the recent sales seem to be well below $10K