I love the 124's classic looks and I always always adore the W124 E500. I still stop stare and drool whenever I see the gorgeous Silver 94 parked near Newbury St.

However, at their current price, the W210 E55 AMG is so tempting I still think my next car will be American (Pontiac GTO or one of the future Chrysler LX cars)

I drove both the 320 and 500 w211's... and I was really impressed. They felt really nimble for a Benz (compared to the older ones) - I guess I see how that teutonic feel is lost.

 

i say this to those who scoff at the "old" 124 chassis and think we should join them in the new century; im glad my car was designed, built and engineered before lexus, infinity and acuras inception. it means my car was engineered and designed, and then priced accordingly. it wasnt built to a price.

a 300E was about $40000 back in the early 90s. a new E class is a little over that. how have they kept the price nearly the same ten years after the demise of the 124? adjusted for inflation im sure were looking at about $70000 for the 124. and that begs the question, which is the cheaper car?

 

Maybe MB should have a look around their parts store. I'm sure they could build a new W124 with the 320CDi engine.

 

My 92 300E Sportline rang up at $52K I believe which was the same price as my 88 300SEL. Both have depreciated but I don't believe there will be near the market for the 210 or 211 that there is for the 124 and 126. Maybe just for parts cars.

OVERBOOST: You mentioned the rust on the back of the early 210, that is not a suprise, that is a feature. Nearly every one of those cars has had that problem. It mainly occured as assembly scratched the paint/undercoat off when unstalling the ir receiver for the keyless entry. Problem went away somewhat when the keyless system changed in 98.

 

My '91 300E was $48,000 sticker and then an additional $2,000 sticker for the 15" BBS rx rims as an extra the dealer had already put on. I have had trouble thinking of finding something new to replace it...I really like the '94 E500 but I dunno...20G for a 12 year old car is a tough sell regardless of "collectibility"

 

well, the 500E is a limited production hand (porsche) built car. you wont lose money on one.

just dont get stupid milage on it.

 

I truly think the E 500's will and are worth what they are asking within reason. If you look at the American muscle cars and their appreciation. Yes its apples to oranges but to a Mercedes collector or a German fan they will pay for what they are getting. Can you think of a regular production car that does all things as well as the W 124 with any power combo. Performance....durability.......safety....timeless good looks.


Yeah thats our cars

Brian

 

I agree that the E500 is a classic and will retain collector status if you don't put many miles on it. My problem is that if I get one, I will drive it to every show and not worry about miles. The car is too cool to not drive. I would rather have it as a E500@500K than a collector garage queen.

 

me too

im thinking of biddin on a genuine alpina head on german ebay for a BMW 2002 and basically recreating one.
twouldnt be no garage queen. it would be very familiar with race tracks, canyons, public roads, and probably get real close to armco many many times. in fact i can guarantee theyd "kiss" more than once.

 

I just bought my last car (I'm 77.) It is a 20 year old 1987 300D Turbo with 138,000 miles on it, and believe it or not, it is still almost like new. It came from California and I drove it back to Georgia in 58 hours, staying two nights in motels. My first Diesel was a 1964 190D, followed by '72 300D and a '96 E300D. My favorite is the last one, 148 HP and 29 mpg at 74 mph. With careful driving I can average better than that. I just love the way it rides and handles and could not agree with you more.

 

don't blame the chinese for cheap parts...they were ordered that way.

the chinese are very capable of making quality products including very high end optical electronics and equipment. most of the products i've seen broken on MBs are not "made in china" - has anyone one seen one?

the true blame belongs to the bean counters at MB for both selling too many cars over the past 20 yrs while trying to keep the costs down. they care more about short-term profit than long-term prosperity. 20 yrs ago MB and BMW laughed when they heard about Lexus and they said Toyota could not build a $40k luxury car...not laughing now. currently the claim is that Lexus can't build a driver's cars...just wait. if MB and BMW do not improve their long-term quality issues, it will not be long before Lexus develops a car that can have a "german driver's" feeling that also is reliable.

 

^WHAA??? Reliability and performance figures aside, Japanese and American cars will NEVER have that "it factor" or style of a German car.

Nope. Never.

 

Chineese making good ****? are you kidding me?! LOL that will be the day. A guy I knew bought an engine stand that was made in china... not the reason he bought it, those ****ers can't weld worth ****. I could do better blindfolded. Chinese products are a waste of this planet's resources.

 

I dunno, Zorro. Look how far the Japanese car makers have come already. The german road-feel, class, hype, whatever you want to call it. All they need is to get a better understanding of the engineering and physics behind the road feel, make classy-looking cars (some of the lexus's are pretty hot, I think), and do a little bit of marketing.

In 10 years, they might have the "it factor". Who knows, but I definitely don't think it's impossible.

 

Oh boo on you, hater. LOL

 

My view is the W211 is light years ahead of the quaint old W124.

There was NOTHING on our previous W124s better than ANYTHING on the W211.

There is no problem with owning a W124, as it's a great car.

There's no problem with not being able to afford a W211.

There is a problem with self delusion as a crutch for feeling bad about not having the newest thing.

Mercedes invented the automobile and Mercedes invented the internal combustions engine and Mercedes continues to lead the automotive industry. To think its latest models aren't better than those they replace is silly.

Yes, there are problems with electronics. Not having the electronics is not the preferred solution.

 

id say the relative mechanical simplicity of the 124 gives it and edge over the 211 anyday. you cant begin to diagnose anything on the new one without a fancy computer thingamajig.

and even for having a seven speed transmission, it still gets about the same fuel economy as a 95 E320 which manages to get by with a four speed.

time will tell if the 211s will hold up as the 124s have. my cars interior looks new if i take it to a car wash. its 16 years old. the seats arent sagging, the shiny paint isnt peeling off the plastic parts. it doenst vibrate or squeek or rattle. the headliner is still as new. time will tell.

and i must say that i am a fan of the 211. its a better effort than the 210 was.

 

Yar w211 is kinda nice. The interior is very well done, and very comfortable. But then again, the w124 is also well put together, just much simpler.

 

True.
I don't know what all the commotion is about...just different animals at different times. Enjoy your MB's and let it go.

 

nobody is saying don't have electronics. but when you put them in a car, make sure they work. lexus and infinity have insane amounts of electronics on their cars, but they consistently rank at the top when it comes to reliability and quality on new cars, benz is now on the absolute bottom.
not being able to afford a w210 or 211 has nothing to do with it, and we're not deluding ourselves. zorro has a w124, but he also has a 2006 porsche. most people on here drive w124's not because we have to, but because we want to. if you really think the latest models are so much better than the old ones, read the 'best and worst' thread. these new cars are f**king embarassing us. you can see how many people on here who have owned both 124's and newer E's still prefer the 124, and have gone so far as to go back to the 124. basically it's come to the point where if you want a new mercedes, you better be leasing it, not buying it.

i think this post sums it up nicely!

 

I'm not sure where my perspective ranks in this discussion, as the car I recently purchased ('95 E420) is my first and only MB to date. Before I offer my perspective, I should say that I am a mechanical engineer with 20 years experience and have worked in most facets of industry...aerospace, industrial and automotive. I have also concours-restored several classic & muscle cars over the years. I believe I am qualified to evaluate mechanical things...autos included. That said, I offer this:

I can afford to purchase a more modern car costing 10 or 15 times what I paid for this particular car. I feel strongly that I cannot get a better, more solidly built car for said money however. The overall hue or patina of this car is very much like other cars that were built in such a way that if cared for correctly, may not only last a lifetime, but also provide a quality driving experience in doing so. While it's true that technology has made the driving experience as a whole more enjoyable as time has marched on...notably through the aforementioned electronics, ergonomics and multimedia, it should also be noted that the car as a product is not immune from the same design/manufacturing lifecycle of all things mechanical.

Aerospace and semiconductor have continued to push the envelope of technology because those industries are not burdened with the same issues found in production automotive manufacturing. In those industries, they can build ever increasingly advanced (and perportionately expensive) products through the use of advance materials and insanely controlled production invironments that allow for new and improved ideas. Typically a production run of anything in the aerospace industry never exceeds 5000 units. Even then, they are hand built, and in many ways represent the very best that is capable of being produced for the time they are created. Semiconductor obviously builds millions of units over a production lifespan, but the product is almost never touched by human hands, and the machines that build them are often more sophisticated that the arospace hardware I previously mentioned. Auto manufacture does not enjoy these luxuries.

Then there is the car business. The car as an invention is just over 100 years old. In that time, the car has been built in just about every way possible, from the most crude early examples to the most incredibly, sophisticated and meticulous handbuilt exotics of today. Of course, with the exception of the most exclusive, the majority of cars, regardless the price point must be conceived, developed, manufactured and serviced similarly in terms of being built to a budget (so as to be profitable to the manufacturer) and designed to provide the eventual owner the car the product that he/she expects based on what they spent. it cannot be overbuilt or the margin is shot.

On occasion, rare as it may be, the sum of the parts winds up being greater than the original design intent. Unfortunately however, as the refinement of automobile manufacturing has reached scientific perportions, there are almost no cars that fall under that catagory because of tight monitary and technological controls. Every car design must meet a specific pricepoint, must possess the prerequiset number of "bells and whistles" and be backed by a satisfactory service/warranty program. The compression of the car buyer's ever expanding expectations is being met head on by the need for each auto manufacturer to preserve some profit margin to stay in business without too agressively raising the price of it's cars. MB is not an exception to this phenomenon. I believe that any/every car being built past 1972 has suffered to some extent because of this. The obligatory gas crunches always help to alter auto manufacturer's decisions about what/how they build cars for that given time. Thus, the "hayday" of the automobile is gone. What used to be chrome plated steel is now chrome plated plastic...etc, etc, etc.

luckily, the W124 is one such car that somehow is a better vehicle than the original designers, engineers and accountants working at MB at the time intended. It is a true classic with real staying power. Much like a first generation Ford Mustang or an E-type Jag, the lines are pretty classic and somehow the car manages to look fairly modern among cars only a few years old. The car was built right, and the high milage examples and enthusiastic owners are proof that the car is the real deal. I am happy to have recently jumped on the bandwagon.

The coolest thing for me was that the car I bought was not the car I was looking to buy per'se. But now, after some time with the car and time to research all I can about the car, I feel very fortunate to have stumbled upon it. I appreciate that it is still a car I feel comfortable doing some maintenance on when the need arises, and that most knowledgable MB mechanics praise it as being one of the best platforms MB ever produced and is rediculously reliable. That makes me feel pretty good about my descision to buy an 11 year old car with over 100K miles that I really think I will enjoy for another 100K miles. I am supremely confident that there is not another model MB of the same vintage (save the E500) or even 10 years newer that I think looks or drives better.......never mind any other manufacture's car offering.

Interestingly, my boss drives a very nice 2003 E55 AMG and while it has more gadgets and more power than my car, it also has a couple a squeaks from the interior from time to time. Mine doesn't....not one! Let's see how his car is holding up in 2014? Better than a comparable domestic or BMW or Volvo or Toyota? Probably. Better than a Lexus or Acura or Infinity? Maybe. As well as or better than my W124 has thus far? Not likely.

 

Wow, I feel smarter after reading that.

In the end, some of this is a matter of opinion... so it's not arguable. But some is a matter of fact- especially the quality ratings. I won't buy newer model MB because of the facts. They are not reliable cars. That's indisputable.

However, my boss drives an new E class. Oh man, that car just feels nice when you sit in it. It's dead silent on the road, shifts very predictably and smoothly, and has nice, even power delivery. Really really cool gadgets too. I drive a w124, and I have to say... when the new cars work properly, they are much more fun to drive that my 124. I would be surprised if you guys disagree with that.

Would I fork out the change in light of the maintenance problems and the steep, steep depreciation curve? Hell no. The build quality of a W124 is better than a w211 if you believe that build quality is synonomous with reliability. But the initial build quality of the new lineup of MB's is fantastic.

 

I've spent a lot of time driving my father's W220 and in NO way does it feel like a driver's car in comparison to my W124. Ok, it has more power and is quieter smoother etc but that does NOT equate a nice drive to me. My W124 is WAY more responsive and you feel the road much better. The 211 and 220 feel like yachts cruising around on stilts. I will take ANYONE here with a W211 W210 or W220 for a ride and prove hands down that my car will outhandle, out corner and have much more of a road feel than the newer MBs. That being said I am always a loyal MB fanatic, loving every new car that comes out of the MB lineup (except for the R, GL and ML..uggggggg) I just know that mine is a more fun car to drive. Rattles? Come on, comparing a car that can be anywhere from 11-20 years old versus a 0-3yr old car, of COURSE they will rattle and squeak a bit more....take a 16 yr old W124 next to a 16yr old W211 and THEN you will see cracked plastic and squeaks galore. The proof is ALL there.

/comparison

 

Bring your W124 to my house and I will prove to you that my E63 or better yet a S550 with ABC will outhandle your W124. We can have beers afterwards too if you want.

You have to remember that the new cars interiors are more environmentally friendly versus the previous generations. Something like 80% or more of the interior can be recycled, which IMO is good for the environment. I have seen W211's with over 150K miles still going strong with zero problems.

 

I will tell you that your car will not have the road feel or handling like my W124, mine is not stock though so it's an odd comparison, Honestly your car is way more technologically advanced and powerful but that means nothing on a corner. I have not driven the 63, but if it is at all like the W211 55, then I know what I am talking about having driven 3.

This isn't a pissing match..Don't get me wrong I LOVE your car and I am looking at buying an E55K this year but not as a replacement to the W124, as an addition to the MB stable....PLUS I just NEEEEEED that ungodly POWER!

I would love to take you up on beers I will be moving to LA in a year or two then I'll show you what I mean with the W124.

As for the envt friendly interior...I did not know that! Time is the only way to tell though, mileage on a 2003+ isn't the same as years of sun, changes in temp, etc...

I'd love to see pics of your E63!