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Pros/Cons of buying a W124 E300 with 400k miles on it?
This '95 W124 is being sold locally for $2000. Has a short in the wiring (affecting the dash and driver's side window) and 400k... Thoughts/Opinions?
The car in question:
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- 2013 VW GTI - 2004 Volvo S60R - 1988 BMW M3 |
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Wow, 40K miles/year. That is doing some driving! It seems cheap enough, however, electrical problems are never my favorite.
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Jimmy L. '05 Acura TL 6MT 2001 ML430 My Spare Gone: '95 E300 188K "Batmobile" Texas Unfriendly Black '85 300TD 235K "The Wagon" Texas Friendly White '80 240D 154K "China" Scar engine installed '81 300TD 240K "Smash" '80 240D 230K "The Squash" '81 240D 293K"Scar" Rear ended harder than Elton John |
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No kidding, I get to work tomorrow on my uncle's '96 cavalier with the 4cy 2.2 liter eco-tec, its been having "sputtering" probs when idling and threw a service engine code for the "sparkplugs/ignition wires/etc...." Ah well, I'll fix the thing. 112,000 miles on it and burns no oil, has never had any mechanical failures except a bad rear brake drum(rusted) and a minor issue with cold starting around 90k, a tune up fixed that.....our van is 32,000 miles shy of that, and its had its service engine light on over half the time. J-u-n-k.....
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-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life- '15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800) '17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k) '09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k) '13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k) '01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km) '16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k) |
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The pro is that it is broken in?
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01 Ford Excursion Powerstroke 99 E300 Turbodiesel 91 Vette with 383 motor 05 Polaris Sportsman 800 EFI 06 Polaris Sportsman 500 EFI 03 SeaDoo GTX SC Red 03 SeaDoo GTX SC Yellow 04 Tailgator 21 ft Toy Hauler 11 Harley Davidson 883 SuperLow |
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I hated working on my aunts 00 pontiac sunfire (cavalier) 3rd time the engine mount snapped i guess GM decided to make the design easy to break so the owner can buy new ones to make them more money. 120K on that POS and starting to burn oil. shocks are shot so when it runs over a pebble your bouncin in the seat. transmission started leaking god after seeing that im not going to buy any chevy or GM car. they really are pieces of *****. goodluck on that cavalier!
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Current: 05 E320 CDI 07 GL320 CDI 08 Sprinter 05 Dodge Cummins 01 Dodge Cummins Previous 2004 E55 AMG 2002 C32 AMG (#2) 1995 E300 1978 300D 1987 300D 2002 C32 AMG(blown motor :[ 1981 300SD 1983 300SD 1987 300SDL 2002 Jetta TDI 1996 S420 1995 S500 1993 190E 2.6 1992 190E 2.3 1985 190E 2.3 5-Speed |
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Buying one of these cars with 400K might be a reasonable thing to do IF; the price was REALLY cheap (cheaper than $2,000) and the car was otherwise in perfect shape. Even then I would have to be convinced that the engine uses no oil, the transmission is in great shape etc. Any one single major component will require you putting more money into the car than it would be worth even if it had much lower mileage.
The engine in that car is NOT inexpensive to rebuild and it will indeed need rebuilding at some point. A high mileage car is different if you personally or someone that you know REAL well put those miles on so that you know how it has been cared for. Buying it blind, with an unknown electrical problem to boot, is a big risk. My $0.02, |
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maybe take it to a dealer for a PPI- pre purchase inspection and send a sample of the oil out for analysis... Would be money well spent
Zack |
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I would like to second what Mr. Bible said. For $500 maybe, $2K, no way. RT
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When all else fails, vote from the rooftops! 84' Mercedes Benz 300D Anthracite/black, 171K 03' Volkswagen Jetta TDI blue/black, 93K 93' Chevrolet C2500HD ExCab 6.5TD, Two-tone blue, 252K |
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I think this could be an awesome deal actually. How else could you get a '95 E300 for only $2K? That seems below the typical market value even for that mileage. To me mileage is only a small factor when it comes to purchasing a car. Condition is what you want to evaluate. I'd rather take a well-maintained high-mileage car than a low-mileage car with questionable maintenance history. I suppose this is a high-mileage car with unknown maintenance history. In that case a very thorough inspection is essential. Check the fluids, check for residual pressure in the cooling system, blowby, abnormal noises, shifting, AC/heater, steering/tracking, braking, smoke output and power (these engines don't have much power, but should be smooth). I don't know about the electrical problem, but if everything else checks out, I'd snatch it at that price right away.
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2004 VW Jetta TDI (manual) Past MB's: '96 E300D, '83 240D, '82 300D, '87 300D, '87 420SEL |
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If the suspension has not had any rebuilds, then you could easily spend more than the selling price. The drivers seat is probably mush as I would imagine most of the rest of the interior. Weather stipping will probably be bad. Look for rust as well. While you could rebuilt the engine for a reasonable price, you've still got accessories that will need replacing and that be expensive. Oh yes the ABS. Make sure it works as that is $$$ to fix.
If you want a 124 bad enough, you can find older ones with half the mileage for the same price. A 124 is not a 123. I've never heard of a 124 reaching 1000K.
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DJ 84 300D Turbodiesel 190K with 4 speed manual sold in 03/2012 |
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speedy300Dturbo is right, rubber mostly wears with age, not mileage. If the 400K is almost entirely highway mileage, and I imaging it is, then the suspension and the rest of the car could still be in good shape.
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2004 VW Jetta TDI (manual) Past MB's: '96 E300D, '83 240D, '82 300D, '87 300D, '87 420SEL |
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The head is aluminum, im sure there is some warpage. The w123's had cast iron heads which made it very difficult for them to warp, and cause damage. The 606 is not as robust of a motor as the 617's or 616's, I would highly doubt that this car is in good condition. There is a reason he is selling it for 2k and if it was a creampuff at 400k miles, I am sure he would have said so. The electrical problems are also something to take into consideration, it is very rare for a w124 to have these kind of electrical problems unless they were invloved in some sort of accident.
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On a car with 400K I would expect that these certainly would have been changed and maybe even twice! The front steering components wear with how much the car is steered, ie. in lots of city driving where parallel parking is used it will wear the ball joints. You should also look at possible worn wheel bearings, things like that all add up to expensive repairs but hey, if the car is in good shape its the love of restoration that makes it worthwhile! That said, I have seen some nice gassers in fine condition like a '90's 300E going fairly cheap it seems. $3K or so. That seems cheaper than one that costs $2000 but needs $2K worth of parts.
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'95 E320 Wagon my favorite road car. '99 E300D wolf in sheeps body, '87 300D Sportline suspension, '79 300TD w/ 617.952 engine at 367,750 and counting! |
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