Hello,

I'm thinking of ditching my '88 BMW 528e for an older MB as my daily driver. what are your feelings on using a w108 or w114 280 as a driver. Some other questions:

How are the gas engines compared to the diesels?
Are they injected or carb'ed?
The w108 seem to be selling for $3-4k and up? Why is such a beautiful car so (relatively) inexpensive?
Are there any pros or cons of a w114 over a w108?
How is part availablilty?
Are there any sites with purchasing tips, tech info, etc... on these models?

Thank you,

Peter

I know that they have Bosch Mechanical Fuel injection, which goes out, and despite what people say there are only a couple of guys in the US that can recalibrate the pumps. This is a really expensive problem to have. Parts availability is really good actually, you can buy most parts you need at a dealership. Leather interior parts are exoensive and usually need replacing, and good luck with the becker mono radio. Both body styles are really slow, gas or deisel.

For both the W108 and W115 both injected and carbed versions of the gasoline motors were available, the injected versions produced a little more power. I don't think there were any diesel versions of the W108 avialable - probably since it was the "S-class" of its day, diesels were generally used on the lower end models.

That said, for an older Merc I'd probably recommend a diesel over the gasoline motors. The diesel motors are extremely reliable. Most usually run at least 500,000 miles before needing a rebuild. However, I've heard these cars aren't difficult to work on (both the diesel and gasoline engines) if you're a reasonably competent mechanic - MB is usually pretty good about keeping the parts available necessary to keep these babies running.

The downside to the diesels in the W114/115s is that they weren't particularly powerful, I think 80 hp/130 lb-ft torque for the largest 3.0L diesel motor. While a 2.8L gasoline motors were around 185 hp/175 lb-ft. Keep in mind that these cars aren't exactly rocketships - a W115 280 E will do 0-60 in around 10 sec, while a W115 240 D 3.0 over 17 sec. (The 4.5L W108s also take around 10s to get to 60 mph.)

The reason the W108/115s go for only $3-5 grand is because they're thirty years old and here in the US they don't have much nostalgia value associated with them (compared to say some of the muscle cars from the same period might).

Cheers, BT

I have to opportunity to grab a W114 for $500. The engine turns over but it isn't running because of bad fuel delivery. The body needs some work, but it's not terrible. Probably $1000 to make it spotless again. Are there any good enthusiast sites for these cars. This site doesn't seem to have much info on Classics.

Thanks!