Whilst the W201 and the W123 were well made I think the W123 will be shown to be longer lasting. But saying that both suffer from rust problems.

My personal choice would be the W123 because it is a nicer car to work on. I find the more modern W201 cramped and a bit awkward. You see I'm all about fixing cars and not really driving them...

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1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!