jrmd01

Thinking of getting either a 96 or 97 E320. Currently I'm driving a W124 300E and I'm going to keep it. I want to stay with the inline 6 (hence my choices 96-97) I'm leaning towards the 96 because it's basically the 94-95 E320 with the new exterior styling. I don't read much about owners of the 94-95 having major problems with thier engines.

The 97 has a new transmission. 1st year it came out....so...should I avoid this model?

Someone mentioned to me that the suspension on the 96 is not good. Can someone confirm that.

Please give me your inputs. I know this is a W210 forum, but be objective and honest. If you say stay away from the 96 model I will take your argument into consideration...but give me specific reasons to consider or not to consider a particular year.

Thanks.

jrmd01@yahoo.com

deuce zer0

I have a 97 and am on my third transmission. The dealer replaced it in 98 with 30K and i replaced that one last winter at 160K. I dont know about 96 but had heard that they were not the best.

jrmd01

Duce,

Why did you say the 96 is not the best? Other than the transmission, isn't the 97 the exact same car as the 96?

Damn, you changed your transmission twice @30K then 160K? Other than the transmission problems, did you have any other problems with your car? If you knew then what you know now, would you still buy a 97 vs 96 (or maybe a newer model....98,99?).

scorchie

My experience is from people I know who have owned W210s, and the W210s I have worked on personally, and not from ownership as I have never owned one.

Selecting something that is "best" is very subjective, but the only criteria you've stated seems to be reliability (which is your choice for selecting the M104 engined cars).

However, I would say that the M104 has its same share of problems as the M112 you're avoiding, and some that are often age-related more than mileage related.

Anyhow, the 4-speed transmission is going to be a much better choice than the 5-speed in the 1997, when only reliability is concerned. If you don't take care of the 5-speed, it will certainly die. With proper maintenance, I do believe that the 5-speed overall is a better choice, but it definitely is not as robust.

As for the rest of the car, I would certainly choose a 1997, because of the difference in electronics. There were very large changes in the car's electronics from 1996 to 1997, and that would be more important to me. However, I don't see that as being important to you, so maybe 1996 would be a better choice for you. Do remember that 1996 was the first year though, so many things were not quite ironed out yet. Interesting that the electronics changed so drastically after only one year of production, but this was because of a change across all the lines and to prepare for further changes for the 1998 models.

-s-