[Thermodynamics]

W124 or W126, very very difficult to find a neat car. But if there is any left, I would surely buy because these won't depreciate and if you hold on to a good piece, it may very well appreciate.

There are folks who just love these pieces madly. Remember the South African politician who was buried in his E500 (a rare W124 with Porsche's 5 liter engine). https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/inter...edes-e500.html (SA politician buried in his beloved Mercedes E500)

[vikramvicky1984]

I have driven a few nice cars- range rovers, mercs BMWs Skodas audis jags’ W140s w123s jeeps gypsy Honda Mitsubishi etc

Absolutely nothing felt as complete as the w124 220 I owned. I still lust over them. W123 is more comfortable but boring while w140 is insane but much bigger and complex for everyday use. W124 is the perfect all rounder

It looks timeless , superbly comfortable, great visibility, drives beautifully between 80-100 with great FE and can go crazy if you floor the throttle. It’s elegant as stock and gangsta if you wish with some tints and rims.

I still remember my first test drive of a terrible condition w124 at a dealer which tugged my heart.

My favourite memory remains of driving in empty palm beach road with the three pointed star in line with the white road markers- increase speed at curves and the car won’t wont deviate a cm

you’ll be surprised by its deep engineering years after owning it - small thoughtful features here and there.

Hope to buy one again, a deep blue 6 cylinder petrol or the 500( in my dreams)


Urge to drive and keep one for few days before posting a No

[ajmat]

Originally Posted by Thermodynamics

W124 or W126, very very difficult to find a neat car. But if there is any left, I would surely buy because these won't depreciate and if you hold on to a good piece, it may very well appreciate.

There are folks who just love these pieces madly. Remember the South African politician who was buried in his E500 (a rare W124 with Porsche's 5 liter engine). https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/inter...edes-e500.html (SA politician buried in his beloved Mercedes E500)

Just to correct you, the E500 came with Mercedes's own engine but Porsche built it. Also the South African's politicians "E500" is right hand drive, all E500 were left hand drive as the steering column on the right side fouled the engine mounting

[grosserimperial]

Voted No. People come to associate W123 and W124 as pillars of reliability. This is not the case however- constant niggles and repairs are commonplace. Also when the time comes for buying parts from the Mercedes Benz website, often it will be a situation where the cost of the spare makes the person to lose enthusiasm to carry out repairs.

I also remember reading a lot about possible head gasket and wiring loom failures.

[ads295]

Voted YES.
Anyone who buys a W124 would not be buying it for outright practicality, would not be buying it based on the assumption that current Merc dealers and any random garage would be able to maintain it.
People buying W124s would buy them if they specifically had mechanics or DIY experience. I'm part of this gang and have lusted over W123s, W124s and W140s for a long time. Over engineered cars will last you for a lifetime and it's frankly not that hard to find good examples, just that you should be willing to pay up for those.
Even if you added the total restoration cost of a W124 (decent example, not a mint one) to the cost of buying the car, in the long term (say 10+ years) it will definitely work out to be cheaper to maintain than a modern car such as an E280CDI. Granted, you will not ever get the refinement that comes with a modern common rail engine, but the simplicity shows multiple advantages elsewhere.

The ones with adventure in their hearts should go for the E300 diesel (very rare to find in India, I have only seen two on OLX so far of which one is currently on sale for Rs 6.5L) and budget roughly Rs 6L on mods for the OM606 engine to have a BHP monster that can slay even Ford Mustangs and the like, literally leaving them behind in a cloud of (black) smoke. Google "OM606 Superturbo" and you'll see what I mean.
I personally know someone who has undertaken a turbo OM606 project in north India but unfortunately he wants to use the engine in a Mahindra Thar chassis.

[chieftain]

Voted YES-- Other than the points raised already, there's just a certain charm about old Mercs. Unfortunately these cars cannot be registered in Delhi, so maybe I should have voted NO...

[jagzrk]

Voted No.

Primarily because of the current situation with emission norms and upcoming scrappage policy. It seems the government may be insistent on replacing >15 year old cars with new cars, no matter how nicely you maintain them, no matter replacing a perfectly good car with a new one will cause exponential environment impact considering the emissions in manufacturing a car are greater than what the car will pollute in its lifetime.

Knowing the babus and their intellect, I'm pretty sure after you spend a good amount restoring this car or any car to her glory and ensuring she runs in top of condition, you may still have to scrap this car which is just heart-breaking. Of course unless you have a private property on which you could run without registration, in which case nothing said here would make sense to you. Unless the government policy is clear on usage of old cars, its impossible to consider any old car however great an icon it is.

[acdcnippon]

Voted YES, for all the above reasons already stated by the others who too have said Yes. Timeless design. Nearly bought one for myself last year from a known person in Delhi until a last minute glitch.

[Raghav96]

Voted YES.

If I have the money(to spend without thinking twice) and time to spend on maintenance, I will surely get this car For weekend runs. It is more of “want” than “need”.

Now back to practical world, I neither have the money nor time(read patience) to maintain this car.

[vasanthjn]

I have owned a single owner used W124 for nearly 5 years. This was a 1996 E220.

After completing 25 years it is next to impossible to find a well maintained W124 now. Many are beaten down and the prices being quoted are unrealistically high. When I was looking for a W124 in 2008 / 20099 few of the examples which I saw, have even visited the race track in Irungattukottai.

On the maintenance side, W124 is not pocket friendly even as a 14 year old car (When I bought it). You need to earmark atleast Rs. 1 Lakh for its yearly maintenance considering it age.

The W124 had its own pros.
1. Highway Milecruncher. Have done many 500/600 KMS trip non stop without feeling any tiredness.
2. The rear bench (as it is called in old Mercs) is nothing but an absolute pleasure to sit.
3. Highway fuel efficiency was around 14-15 kmpl is good, considering that it was a 2 tonne vehicle with 150 HP.

Cons:
1. As a daily driver its very painful to drive inside the city
2. Even though its a 25 year old car, the replacement parts are expensive. In 1995 the on road price was around Rs.25 Lakhs.
3. The rats just love the wires in W124. The biggest issue with W124 is that the wires were bio-degradable (I think so).
4. The city fuel efficiency was not more than 5 KMPL.
5. Monogram was highly prone to theft. (Have changed more than 10 monograms in 5 Years).

As many said in this thread it's a good car to own for show purpose but not possible to have it as a daily drive.

My Vote is NO.

[kraken]

Voted No.

Why ? Because if you're employed or self employed or the nature of your job is such that you need to work specific hours everyday, the kind of time you'll need to restore and maintain this in pristine condition will either eat into your job time or family time. And if it does there's no way you'll come out looking good. But the good news is you'll have the car, a piece of automobile history, a standing example of German auto finesse.
Or if you have the money and I can't emphasize this enough - an absolutely TRUSTWORTHY garage/person who'll take care of this gem like his own, it's worth a shot. Still I would still say it'll be a garage beauty. If you intend to use it regularly, it'll be outshone by many hatchbacks and you'll start developing a liking for previous generation Octavias, Jettas and Lauras. Simply because they offer a much tighter package (for the lack of a better word) at the same price. As they say never meet your heroes .

[Reinhard]

My vote - NO

I would buy one only at peanuts price just to keep it in the parking & look at that timeless design & body. This particular model was probably one of the LAST cars made that looked like a "car" when a child draws one at early age. Thats the design I love the most.

Otherwise - I don't see myself ever spending on an old Mercedes. The MBs from the 80-90s don't exactly age too well & aren't bullet proof like we consider the German cars in general. The shortcomings will be quite high & so will be maintenance costs for such an old car. Future repairs might end up being jugaad with replacement parts not exactly spec-ed as original car parts. That further reduces my liking for the car.

[DudeWithaFiat]

Wow. Nice timing. I have two offers for my daily drive '96 W124 E250D, one of which I am happy with and said yes over the phone just before the Lockdown. Waiting now for the Covid-19 situation to be stable in MH to start with the paperwork and hand-over the car once I am back at Pune.

(Someone has said on this thread that the W124 was built only till '95. That's not right, it was put together and sold in India till '97).

However, about two weeks ago I drove the W124 from Pune to Kochi (again, due to the Covid-19 situation) with my wife and kid. We took the very picturesque route (Pune -> Hubli -> Uduppi-> Manjesharam -> Thrissur). With no much traffic, it was a fantastic 1200 km drive. We kept mostly at 90-120 kmph and the car returned a mileage of 15.4 (tankful to tankful). We also slept in the car for 5 hours near a police check-point after we crossed KL border. After the drive, now I am not sure whether to keep it or sell it. Heart says don't sell, while mind says sell.

Things that make my heart says 'don't sell':

1) Road presence, looks.
2) Space.
3) The 'safe' feeling you get once the doors are shut.
4) Recently drove a close friends Ecosport Diesel, but my W124 felt more silent and put together inside.
5) Yes, its slow, but there is something different about the car when you get on the highway and drive at 90-100kmph.
6) An American colleague, after he got into the car, looking at the dash and interiors - "Whoa, you drive a real car!'.

Things that make my mind says 'sell':

1) That huge expense that may come in case some major component fails (like the AC).
2) Lack of mechanics willing to actually fix the car than looking for work-arounds. Recently I found someone really good (Mr.Amin Tehrani, Federal Auto) in Pune though.
3) Parking is a pain, except when you go to malls or places with designated parking space.
4)That constant worry about an upcoming niggle.

Here are some of the latest pics of the beauty:

A few hours back at the local Community Health Center to get the Quarantine Release certificate:



En-route KL from Pune couple of weeks back:







I don't mind keeping the car and getting newer car as a daily driver if I was always here in my hometown Kochi, where I have space and no problems keeping the car as a weekend drive. But I work at Pune, and having two cars at our apartment complex would be head-ache.

[salilpawar1]

The first step lies in finding a good car. Most of the horror stories come from those who buy clunkers at super low prices and then spend an arm and a leg restoring them. A better option is to find a clean car owned by an enthusiast who has already replaced the parts that usually go wrong in the car.

If one can sail through the first year of ownership, then the car doesn't ask for much in the long run. Of course, if one is gonna use it daily, then the probability of failure is much higher.

To own a car like the W124 with some satisfaction, one has to build a "network". This is true for any classic/vintage vehicle you buy. Those who master this, have a relatively hassle-free experience:

1. A good independent garage or mechanic who has experience with this car. Every city will usually have 1 such garage. Most of them are old-school guys who are not social media savvy and will not have fancy setups. So, you have to find them through contacts.

2. Contact in the official Merc service centre for tips or sourcing parts or carry out complicated jobs which an independent garage cannot.

3. Join a local club or community which can help with tips.

4. Contact of a reliable parts shop in cities like Mumbai or Delhi (in case you are from a smaller city) who keeps a supply of parts. Most of the serviceable parts like filters, bushes et al are easily available.

5. "Internet": There is an ecosystem of reconditioned parts, decent quality aftermarket parts built by reputed brands and official Merc spares (Merc still makes most of the spares). All you need is the VIN and/or an Electronics Parts Diagram of the car handy to find the part number. Then finding parts is a breeze. Every problem that you have faced would have been faced by some guy in one corner of the world. So there are dedicated YouTube channels and forums to address that (There is one thread in T-BHP itself)

[vinay kamath]

Voted Yes! Head turning good looks, nostalgic , good German engineering and design ! I think that they would also command a great value after a decade. My heart rules over my head !