shdoug

Depends on which BEER you're referring to.

Q: How is American beer like making love in a canoe?

A: They're both f***ing close to water!

Keep the Bud Light; I'll take the Coke!

Eliot

Not to discount your experience but I have not seen those so commonly mentioned here.

The three most prevalent issues by posting volume are

- Biodegradable Wiring Harness (which biodegrades oh by the way)

- Head Gasket (on the Inline Sixes)

- A/C Failures (Vacuum Pods or Evaporator)


In a year and a half of ownership (123,00 miles to 155,000 miles) I have had the following required work.

Replaced the arms of the rear multi link suspension.

Replaced the Expansion Valve.

I need to do the following.

Replace the thermostat (piddling I know... just need to take an afternoon)

Refresh the sunroof components (potential nightmare)

I should mention though that I do have a leak in the evaporator and possibly the heater core. I'm saving that job for warm sunny weather.

124-Fan

I´m referring to Coca Cola, just for the record.

-And I´ve also owned a Honda, several years ago. Not one, but two of them. I won´t make that mistake again. Busted transmission at 150.000 km in both cars, bad timing belt and damaged valves and pistons. Bad mileage, rusted from A to B, no fun to drive, underpowered, bad suspension( concussion every week) and no good bodywork. Door hinges a mess, bushings in front suspension worn out, ruined CV joints and dashboard malfunctioning with all kinds of electrical gremlins.. etc. etc etc.. The list is endless and extremely expensive parts !!
-Just no good cars.. sorry. No more Hondas for me. Thanks.

Cheers,

bjay51d

Im sorry how can you dog out a honda and not a berz....everything you named is fairly cheap to repair other than the busted timing belt.Which was probly neglected in the first place.My car has 200.000 miles on the original clutch and runs as smooth as a top.I do have little rust in tthe rear bust not bad.

myfirstbenz

124-Fan

Well., maybe I´m a bit judgemental. And maybe not all Hondas are bad, but the two ones I owned didn´t serve me well.
-As to be expected there are always bad and good examples in every brand. But nonetheless, Honda parts are VERY expensive where I live.
-The fact remains the same. I´ve had my share of Honda and much prefer a Mercedes to any Honda. But perhaps I´m just eccentric..

Cheers,

appatula

Speaking of the devil! My good friend Sam has a 1999 Civic, and he just spent about a grand for a new auto tranny. I personally have a 93 LX 5spd as a beater car and it does the job. There is no quality in that car though, my door handles keep cracking from cheap plastic the dash is primitive, ect. I mean how do you compare a car with a plastic dash to one covered in wood grain? The seats are Germans have engineering and looks on their side, Honda holds its own for a "Cheap car".

ksing44

The most predictable thing is that you will fall in love with the stupid thing and then spend much more than you should to drive around in an antiquated vehicle that has too many problems to count.

Just try not to get married to the thing like I did!!!

“F” anyone that even thinks for a minute that they love their car more than I love mine. I think I would be willing to bet just about anyone here or on any other W124 forum that I will be here when they are long gone. That doesn’t mean, however, that my wife’s Honda isn’t amazing or that I will most likely get my son a Honda and that my wife will buy another Honda.

I will drive my beast. As for being rich and being able to buy the new BMW coupe, well the reality is that it will probably cost just about the same thing to keep my car up to the standards that I am willing to keep the thing. I guess I am a rich MFer after all!!! It just pisses me off that that is what it takes!!!

shdoug

^ It all comes down to what you are willing to spend your money on. Nothing lasts forever, and though the W124 is maintainable to a point, there comes a time when it is no longer cost effective to keep it. We all have to retire someday and with the American economy like it is throwing thousands into a car (yes, it's a car. Awesome but still just a car) that might bring $8,000 tops just doesn't make sense for middle to upper-middle class people. Bill Gates can go ahead and throw whatever $$$ he wants into his W124 and won't even notice it but he is probably not interested. At this point most W124s are more of a hobby. If you bought a 300E brand new in 1991, drove it for 15 years and traded it off I would say it was a great "investment".

The bottom line for 4N6ARCT is that you should plan on spending at least $2,000 per year on breakdowns and repairs. Some you can do yourself if you are extremely motivated, but from what I tried to do to mine, I would say DIY repairs are limited because there are so many parts crammed together in a small space and it's hard to get to things. Sorry for the