I'm searching for a nice W124 and have been learning a great deal here, thank you. I've only been looking so far at '94 and '95's, but found a nice '93. I know Mercedes made several changes in '94 to keep them current like different tail light colors, maybe front turn signal covers changed color and I know the headlights were upgraded. The body cladding was already there prior to '94. What else changed in '94?

 

hood and grille...headlights...trunk...engine is a 3.2 and 4.2 litre DOHC as opposed to 3.0 and 4.0 SOHC. Also they put in really bad wiring harnesses that need replacement...just for everyones enjoyment apparently Also the transmissions after 92 start in first gear as opposed to 2nd..

Hope that helps

 

You mentioned a trunk change. I noticed some E420's had a chrome strip above the license plate and there was no plastic panel holding the plate or black horizontal plastic strip . I believe it was stamped metal with just a step from the line above the tail lights. I liked this trunk and wanted to install one on my 91 300E but the body shop and dealer couldn't identify it because I thought it was on 94-96 E320's and they only found the W210 body parts which were completely different. Any details?

 

96 is w210.

'94-'95 w124 trunk is what you are looking for ..... although it is a waste of money cause you can get almost the same look with the filller piece painted body color.

hope that helps

 

The "filler piece" Zorro AMG mentioned comes from the W124 Coupe (2-door) which never received the trunk lid change, but also has no chrome handle. To get the white corners and the smoke/red rear lights is simple. If found a good deal w/o them just get yourself a set either cheap after market from Ebay or originals from either Bosch or Hella. They fit all years since the body construction has not been changed for those parts.

 

Here's my 94' if someone posts up a 93 you can see the changes.





There's quite a few cosmetic changes that I've noticed, keep in mind my car is lowered and obviously has new rims and the previous owner told me he had slightly rolled the wheel well lip.

The first thing you'll notice is the front lights, the shape is different, in fact I think that the entire hood is different, as well as the rear tail lights as somebody already mentioned. I'd suggest getting a '94, it's one of the greatest cars ever made.

more PICTURES

 

I like the 94-95 trunk design on your car because it's closer to the smooth w210 rear trunk design. I have the filler piece on my '91 but the horizontal black trim is dated and tends to fade. The filler panel is better than the earlier cars without them but I think the one piece 94-95 is a better design. The chrome strip/handle is a nice touch and helps frame the license plate pocket. Although they are more rare, a used one shouldn't cost too much for the person who appreciates and wants the finer details. I was wondering if there were lock differences that would make the upgrade difficult or too much work.

 

the black bar on the rear was still used ont he 500e/e500 and 300ce/e320 coupe/convertibles... Only the e320/e420 94-95 got the updated turnk lid.

That being said, you can easily paint that black strip across the trunk lid on the older cars. I had mine painted before I was rear ended. so now I have a new unpainted one in there. looks just fine. Later I'll paint it again.

Alon

 

From '94 the Trunklid differs. Part# 124 750 2075

 

Here's a picture of my 1986 300E. You can see the difference with the 1994 face-lift. The headlights are not flush with the front and the chrome grill wraps over the front of the hood. Also, notice that the MB symbol is mounted on the chrome grill and not on the enameled surface of the hood.

Where do you live? Given that you state the face-lift occurred in 1994, I'm going to guess you live in North America so I'll use the North American timeline. I think the face-lift happened a year earlier in Europe.

The 1993 "300E" uses the 3.2L 24-valve engine just like the 1994 and 1995 (just pop the hood and look). If you don't mind the older look, this might save you $$$ while giving you the newer engine. The 1993 lineup also had a "300E 2.8" which was a smaller version of the 3.2L; that car might not have some of the "luxury items" such as cruise control, power seats, driver memory seat, leather, etc.

Starting gear... the 400E & E420 start in first gear. the 500E & E500 start in second gear. "Older" model automatic w124's start in second gear. My 300E starts in whatever gear the car is in when I let out the clutch. :-) I've driven a 3.2L w124 just once and don't remember which gear it started in.

Personally, I'd go for the 400E / E420 and add decent tires and shocks. (The 4.2L in the USA was sold as a "luxury" car and rides somewhat like a Caddilac instead of a 250 km/hour autobahn cruiser.) A stock North American 400E or E420 does indeed feel ponderous compared to the 300E or E320, but put them on a scale and you'll see the weight is only about 100 pounds heavier; the difference is in the wimpy suspension. If you are buying a car with 80,000 miles, you'll probably want to start thinking about replacing the wear parts of the suspension anyway--go with the to European spec. Fore tires, get 205/60/15 tires with a *Z* rating; better, upgrade to 16-inch rims.

If you live in California, I'd avoid the 2-valve (1986-1992 2.6L and 3.0L) engine altogether. My 300E is miserable with our fuel--significantly lower fuel efficiency (22 MPG verses 27 MPG), noticeable lack of power, and burns oil. On the other hand, my car was quite happy during the 4 years it spent in Washington state.

 

The 1993 300E (3.2) and 1994-1995 E320's share the same Chassis #, VIN #, and engine #.

Only the geniuses at Mercedes have a good answer as to why the 1993 300E is called a 300E. They should've called it an E320 (as in 1994 and 1995), or 320E (as in the rest of the world), or 300E 3.2 (like the 300E 2.8 or 300E 2.6).

1993 300E's have the same interior as 1994 and 1995's.

The differences are all exterior and cosmetic. 1994-1995's have: updated grill, european style headlights (not real euro's, though), clear / yellow front corners, painted front and rear bumper impact strips, clear and red tail lamps, and a chrome strip below the MB Star logo on the trunk in place of the black strip.

I have a 1993 300E (3.2), and I have installed OEM Bosch Euro headlights, clear and yellow front corners, clear and red taillamps, 1995 polished 8-whole wheels, painted the front and rear bumper impact strips, and even changed the badge to E320! I really like the larger grill on the 1986-1993 300E's. The chrome is beautiful and really stands out.

If you make the changes I did, you'll have a car that looks so much like a 1994-1995, that only the fanatics (like us) will be able to tell the difference.

And the beauty is, there is an unwarranted price difference between the 1993 300E and 1994-1995 E320's because people don't know that 1993 has the 3.2 liter engine.

 

Sugi, I think the only explanation for why they didn't badge your car properly is because they were waiting for the face-lifts to change the badge... they probably wanted a couple more styling cues/changes to make the facelift cars a little more unique....they shoulda put 320E on your car IMHO, whaddya think?

 

I actually read that the reason for waiting until 1994 was to coincide the naming with the release of the C-class in 1994, and the naming convention went to C class, E class, and S class.

I don't believe they waited for the exterior face lift because the W140 S class sedans went to the new naming convention in 1994 and they received no face lift, i.e., the 300SE and 300SEL became the S320 (they were always 3.2 liters so this model was misbadged, too), 500SEL became the S500, etc.

 

Yeah I forgot to mention that the Faccelift was because of the new C-Class Launch....The S Class got it's facelft in '90 or '91 I believe from the w126 style so it wasnt scheduled for anything and in fact kept the same style until 2000 or 2001 i believe with the introduction of the new S...

 

EDIT:

The '90 '91 S class was a model change (w126-w140), not a facelift as we all know...