Probably true. I've seen the trim in the newer 124 models and it looked better quality.

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DJ


84 300D Turbodiesel 190K with 4 speed manual sold in 03/2012

603!!! 603!!! 603!!!

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1987 300TD ( under resto )
1987 300E SOLD
1987 300D
1993 400E
1997 Dodge/Cummins 3500
2004 E320 Wagon SOLD
2006 BMW M5 Yes, they will go 204 MPH SOLD
2008 BMW 535i SOLD (POS)
2011 BMW X5 Diesel
2013 X5M Tuned to 700+ HP Stupid Fast SOLD
2016 Nissan Titan XD Cummins 5.0!
2004 Audi Quattro ( track car ) AutoX machine
2010 BMW 328i ( sometimes track, but the Audi is faster )


I own maybe 100 t-shirts and they all smell like Diesel fuel and test oil......

Me neither... either he's not talking about the 124, or he had a real lemon 124! The wood clearcoat does crack but it's the same (or worse) on the 123. And I was always less impressed with the 123 interior than the 124. Then again, I've upgraded all of mine to the late 124 stuff with pleated leather door panels, more wood, etc etc...

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Dave
Boise, ID
Check out my website photos, documents, and movies!

If I had to start over, I'd go with the 87 300D.

Oh yes, mine was an 87 300D with 250K. The interior was terrible.

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DJ


84 300D Turbodiesel 190K with 4 speed manual sold in 03/2012

The interior problems i have is the same i have with my dads W123 and my old 83 300SD.

pinkamino seats, cracked wood (only the center console wood), and sagging seats.

The 2 other problems i had that was different with the W124, the stretchy door handle inside the car. its stretchy due to brocken clips that latch onto the door. IMHO that was a pretty downgraded design, the W126 has a clip that is tightened to the door by screws NOT just slid into the hole in the door. And if the clips are broken you simply replace them. Luckily palimino interiors on W124's are easy to find so i grabbed some door handles from the junkyard with good clips and dont have the problem anymore.

But reid (dieseldiehard) has a red interior in his W124 which is a bit more scarce and had to buy the door handle from the dealer!! which isnt as cheap as your local junkyard.

Other problem with my W124's interior is the vinyl around the door pocket that came loose. Fixed it with gorilla glue And havent had the problem since. Im hoping to find a cheap enough 400E with a updated leather palimino interior to swap, the 400E's ive seen with the palimino leather are a bit darker toned and have the burl wood WHICH I LOVE over zebrano wood. And with the same mileage the leather palimino doesnt fade like the mbtex palimino does.

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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

I used to think that too... but really, it may be a diesel guzzling, blowby having, too expensive to rebuilt shaking engine, but I truly love my 300SD with the 617. it is powerful, smooth and basically a dream to drive. It does have a KKK turbocharger though, and I own no 603's with one.
The 124 body is way more sporty in feel, but usually needs all sorts of rubber and shocks sooner than the 126 or the 123 I think. And that #14 head, what a disaster for Mercedes Benz to come up with that crap. Or the Trap Ox.
I'ts personal, but for a keeper I'd rather have a 617. To sell, the 603 brings more, and you can get them cheap because at 200k they're mostly broken somehow.

Say what??? I believe there is a politicial correct word for that statement, but I will just stick with stupid and contradicting. I'm a CRANKY OLD FART!!!

Hummm, bought mine at 187,000 miles whith none of those problems. I have to say I have looked at four or five W124 in the last year and a half, and seen none of what you have described. Heck two of the cars were gassers I looked at and even tried to buy one local, but someone was quicker on the car then I was, it sure was a beauty and I still see it here in town. One diesel W124 603 was like a new car and I just didn't want to spend that kind of dollars for a car with 200,xxx miles on the thing. I have seen several at the MB dealer that were all in excellent shape, with none of the problems you listed, and they were both diesel & gassers. Most of the 123's I have seen in this area are having rust problems and for some reason not one of the W124's I have seen were showing rust or the tell tail bubbles of rust under the paint.

One strange thing is all the 124's I have been seeing has as much or more miles on them then the W123 617's cars. Doesn't make sence to me, but that is what I have been noticing.

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'10 Chrysler T&C Stow-N-Go White. Grandpa's ride.

'13 Chrysler 200 Touring Candy Red. Grandma's ride.

Age and cunning will always over come youth and vigor.

I guess magic faires must have blessed my 87 300D. My dad beat the bejesuses out of the interior for 15 years before he gave it to me, and it still looks rather nice. The coating on the wood is cracked along the area that covers the shifter and window controls. Dash looks beautiful black ... if you sleuth over it with a mag glass you can find two short hairlines near the defrost vents that have been there for a few years. Everything else looks great. MB Tex faded a little, but the seats don't sag ... and the door panels are bright, straight and uncracked/unwarped. I could see how it might seem more "plasticy" compared to a 123, because, well, it has more plastic in and on it. I don't know ... maybe all the coffee my dad spilled inside my car over the years formed some kind of force field that has protected it. It was never washed (inside or out) before it was given to me four years ago (was at about 190k at the time, just under 232k now).

I've never had a 123 so I can't speak for or against them. I personally love the look of a 123, just not as much as the 124. They are extremely different styles of cars, but I think most folks here who have had both would say each is a high-quality car and has its own merits. I don't really understand why someone would hate a style of car so much ... you'd think we're talking Red Sox and Yankees or something.

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1987 300D, arctic white/palomino--314,000 miles
1978 240D 4-speed, Euro Delivery, light ivory/bamboo--370,000 miles
2005 Jeep Liberty CRD Limited, light khaki/slate--140,000 miles
2018 Chevy Cruze diesel, 6-speed manual, satin steel metallic/kalahari--19,000 miles
1982 Peugeot 505 diesel, 4-speed manual, blue/blue, 130,000 miles
1995 S320, black/parchment--34,000 miles (Dad's car)

W123 looks somewhat like a spartan old-world taxi-cab. It is easily serviceable and dead nuts reliable.

W124 looks like a sports sedan. And performs like one, too. Aerodynamics are optimized, it has lighter interior materials, no more exterior chrome fittings. Everything was meant to save weight and improve performance all around.

The W126 seems to combine the good qualities of both the W.123 and W124 and wraps them together in a larger package.

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1987 300SDL (324000)

1986 Porsche 951 (944 Turbo) (166000)

1978 Porsche 924 (99000)

1996 Nissan Pathfinder R50 (201000)

The thing that strikes me as really odd on the 124's are the two different sized side view mirrors. I thought when I had mine that someone replaced one of the mirrors with a wrong one. I continued to think that until I saw a few others the same way.

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DJ


84 300D Turbodiesel 190K with 4 speed manual sold in 03/2012

I'll admit that is a little quirky ... although I never really thought much of it until a few friends pointed it out. Some of the 116/115s don't have a RH mirror at all, and I remember thinking my 115 was missing a mirror until I saw a few others with "one ear." Of course I like my 124's crooked mirrors, but I guess to someone who's driven a car with normal, even mirrors, it looks bizarre. I get a comment on that here and there. That and the headlamp wipers, which for some reason really amuse people.

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1987 300D, arctic white/palomino--314,000 miles
1978 240D 4-speed, Euro Delivery, light ivory/bamboo--370,000 miles
2005 Jeep Liberty CRD Limited, light khaki/slate--140,000 miles
2018 Chevy Cruze diesel, 6-speed manual, satin steel metallic/kalahari--19,000 miles
1982 Peugeot 505 diesel, 4-speed manual, blue/blue, 130,000 miles
1995 S320, black/parchment--34,000 miles (Dad's car)

Mrs. Nichols (my wife) feels exactly the same way. I told her it was made that way but I don't know if she believes me.

The car's headlights were pretty beat up, plastic 'doors' damaged and one wiper non-functional. I found a set of Euro lights here on this forum and installed them (didn't get the vacuum adjusters). The appearance of the car is much improved. It has a cleaner look, IMHO. Mrs. Nichols agrees so I know I'm right.

Jeremy

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"Buster" in the '95

Our all-Diesel family
1996 E300D (W210) . .338,000 miles Wife's car
2005 E320 CDI . . 113,000 miles My car
Santa Rosa population 176,762 (2022)
Total. . . . . . . . . . . . 627,762
"Oh lord won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz."
-- Janis Joplin, October 1, 1970

Replaced the cracked wood with used wood from salvage yards... cost is generally $50-$75 per wood piece, and if you call around (Silver Star, PGA, & some other wreckers with lots of MB's) you can end up with almost new looking wood for ~$150 (shift console, ashtray, and climate control). Make sure the wood you buy has at least the number of holes you currently have - if there are extra holes, you can stick extra switches in there (make a remote radar detector switch, for example).

Sagging seats: The 1986-89 124's did not come with foam boosters in the seats. The 1990-up models did. You can retrofit the boosters, it makes a HUGE difference. Photos are here (look at "seat_boost" pics). The factory PDF files are at these links for front and rear.

Only cure for pinkamino Tex, AFAIK, is to replace it. For leather, re-dye it. I've heard of people buying a complete interior from late model 124's for approx $1000. Yeah, it's not cheap, but if you're getting newer stuff that's all leather... it makes the interior look 10 years younger. Don't forget you need to treat leather at least every year or two, it's not maintenance-free like Tex.

Door pockets - yep, some cars have this problem - just glue it. Seems to be heat related, although my '87 never had any issues with it. At least it's an easy fix.




All 124's from 1986-1993 had Palomino as the tan/"date" color. From 1994-95, the color changed, it was Saddle, and it's slightly darker. It won't match your other Palomino items. I'd either get an entire Saddle interior (all carpet & trim too), or forget it. You can get Palomino with Burled Walnut wood from a 1992-1993 400E. If you get the seats, be warned that the V8 front seat frames are narrower, you'll need to swap your original 6-cyl seat bases. Also the 86-90 seat bases have different wiring than 91-95, and they must match with/without memory... if the donor is not identical, you'll need to swap bases. Not a big deal, takes an hour or so per side once they're out of the car. BT, DT while swapping an E500 Sportline interior into my '87.

If you REALLY want to get matching mirrors, it's possible - the opposites are available from right-hand-drive cars. Just be careful if you're putting a convex glass piece where there wasn't one before (objects closer than they appear)... I know a couple people who have done this. You can source the parts from eBay in Europe. It never bothered me that much.