How Does Your 300D Take Rough Roads?
 

Well, after an evening out in the NYC, driving through the upper west side, I couldn't help but relish how well my W123 takes rough roads... I'm curious as to other's rough road going with their W123s... Are rough roads a detriment to these fine cars? (Any more than other cars???)

The 123 car IMHO is not a great handling car from a spirited driving perspective, but if there is another car that handles rough roads any better I have never driven one.

You can go over railroad tracks, speed bumps, potholes or whatever and hardly even know that they exist.

Other MB's are almost as good, but for some reason the 123 seems to me to be King in this category.

Have a great day,

My '83 300DT is amazing when it comes to this, I can fly down any dirt road at any speed and the ride is smooth, RR tracks what RR tracks... For comparison I have recently had the suspension overhauled on my wife's 97 Volvo 960 wagon. Dieter does the rough stuff much better.
I remember how bad those roads can get up there Iam sure that is the real test, driving in and around NYC...

I have been driving on rough dirt roads all my life and think the W123 has got to be the best handling/driving for the types of conditions that dirt roads present. Like I said in another post the 123 is the best riding truck I have ever driven:). Too bad it does not have a pickup truck bed.

Surprised nobody has sliced up a 300TD yet.. It's closer to a truck than a 300D....
;)

Actually, I saw a picture somewhere in the past of a TD that had been made into a pickup, it looked pretty good too.

That said, don't think that you can haul anything heavy in something like that for long runs or long periods.

Have a great day,

I live about 1-1/2 miles from the nearest paved road. We have been getting a LOT of of development lately (fastest growing county in the country), so our dirt road is getting torn up pretty good by all the construction traffic. My 1985 300D handles the rough roads exceptionally well.

As much as I like my W123, my wife's 1997 Subaru Impreza is a beast on dirt. It has a nice aftermarket suspension kit made by Prodrive, the same outfit that builds the WRC factory Imprezas. There are a few stretches of dirt road near me with good sight distances and no driveways. You can put that car into a turn, juice it, and it just slides through pretty as you please. Just like on that WRX commerical with Lance Armstrong.

I've taken the 300CD down some rough Forest Service roads before, and didn't have a problem...

How do they do on smooth roads? I really enjoy the roads here.... ;) Anyway, I've rode in smoother cars but all in all I'm quite pleased with the way it goes over big bumps. From December to April I drove my talon which has a horrible ride, but after getting used to that going back to the MB was quite a treat. My 84 went over them a little different but I think the rear shocks were getting tired or something, the 83 handles very well over bumps no matter how big or small.

Got to jump in on this one. We live five miles off the pavement on a gravel road in the costal Mts. of Oregon. In the summer the unpaved roads here turn to washboard from the logging trucks.

My 81 SD with Bilstiens handle the rough roads pretty good my 81 SD with KYB shocks is not as good my 86 Euro 500SE is down right scary and my 74 240 D manual is by far the best car I have ever driven on on bad roads.I take the 240 on some jeep roads during hunting season that you have to see to belive. It is very controllable on gravel and can be tossed around much better than the other three.

The 500 SE taught me an early lesson if you hung the tail out even slightly on gravel upon correcting it it would oversteer dramatically and dive for the left dicth, I think part of the problem with it is that it hangs in much longer and at higher speed than the other cars.On paved curvy roads it handles quiet a bit better than the SD's.These roads really tear up lesser cars, I rebuilt the front ends on all but the 240 when I got them............

William Rogers..........

You know I didn't think of this when I wrote my first post, but probably more amazing about how well the 123 handles rough roads is the fact that at 500,000 miles it STILL handled rough roads and felt exactly the same.

That was after 500,000 miles without ever changing so much as a tie rod end. The ENTIRE front end had never had a repair of any kind beyond shock replacement!

A little after 500,000 miles I got a parts car that was relatively low mileage. I bought it for the engine, but I put both of them in the air and swapped the entire front suspensions. The ball joints were a little loose, but most everything else was amazingly tight.

I wonder how tight that Subaru will be at a half million miles.

Have a great day,

Since I am crazy...I like to "rally" my 240D. There are a few gravel roads by my house that I like to go and drive fast on. I must say...going 60 on gravel in that car is so smooth...the only problem is that it isn't very predictable when it comes to drifting, I have found that the 123's like to go their own way, and once put into a drift, don't necessarily like to come back :D

my subaru is at 250k with no suspension parts replaced, and it handles 100% better than the benzes on the dirt roads that i drive. you might feel the potholes more in the subaru, but i know that it was built to take the abuse (rally chassis) unlike the benzes..

but that said i dont think it could make it to 500k without some replacement of parts.

Mine takes on speed humps quite nicely. There are these speed humps on one street that I drive down regularly that I don't even need to slow down gowing over them. The car has the just the right wheelbase combined with a very forgiving suspension system that make going over those speed humps really easy.

My non-offroaded lady owned 300D's suspension was worn out at 200K. And the boots on the OEM lower ball joints that don't have 50K on them are split already. Lot's of things effect front end wear.

My A1 VW is plenty tight at half million miles. And get's 40mpg.
:)

I've broken 60 on the gravel roads around where we live in pretty much every one of our vehicles. I routinely go for high-speed drives on one road in particular in my Fairlane. 70+ speeds are typical, but the really fun part is the courners. It's predictable and drives quite well overall, the steering has surprisingly good feel to it (manual steering) and it's easy to catch when you slide the back end. The KYB shocks on it make for a fairly firm, but not unpleasant ride. Most of our vehicles are fairly close in terms of ride quality. I remember about a week ago driving our van out to a friend's house and then driving his F-250 4x4 over the same strech of road, and it felt like a cement truck comparatively. Oh, and I rebuilt the front end on the Fairlane a couple years ago, the ball joints (don't remember which ones, but at least two of them) were more or less shot, and now the boots on the new lower ball joints are coming apart. Meanwhile, the ball joints and tie rod ends on the 300D (never been replaced to my knowledge) look almost new. Grrrr.

My 300D's lower control arm bushings and tie rod ends were shot when I replaced them at just over 218K miles. I think my lower ball joints might need replacing now as well. I've read replies by other members not too long ago saying the same thing that the front suspension components are usually in need of replacing by 200K miles.

Not very tight, I would imagine. On the other hand, one of the best things about the Impreza is its structural rigidity. IMHO, Subaru got it right when they came out with the Impreza. It is a really sweet car with a lot of personality.

I've been inside some of those new Subarus and as nice as they are, they don't have much room for those of us 6'-0 tall and up. I could barely fit comfortably with the seat all the way back and I'm 6'-3. I'd have to forget about carrying any kind of passengers in the back seat. I have no problem carrying adult passengers in the back seat of my 300D. They can still sit comfortably since I don't need to put my seat all the way back.

how about this?? :D

anyway.. my 300TD rides well in rough roads.. i love it.. it seems to just skim above the roughness on the road....

that's not my ride though.. just got it through the net.. hehehe

Or adults in the back seat! My buddy (5' 10", 250lbs) has an Impreza wagon and no matter who else sits in the front, it is always a VERY VERY tight ride in the back.

As for my 300D handling rough roads, it does so roughly. I think it may be the Toyo sport tires on it that make road vibration so noticeable. They do seem to handle quite well, though.

with HD bilsteins, there is sometimes quite an impact on really big raised bumps in the interstate. But nothing could take them at 75 without bumping up a bit...

I am amazed how composed and together this car is when hitting big road bumps, etc.

JMH

With studded snow tires, my 300D rides horribly, but so would anything else.;)

300d w123
 

I just bought my W123 within the month. . .and it was CHEAP.

I livin in Winter Park, florida (I know the city should be called winter park while in florida but lets keep focused shall we!!) About 6 miles NE from Orlando were recent events have caused the cities to start bricking all the roads arround here. The other car I own is a 2k Chevy Blazer with the factory off road suspension package. In my Benz driving these bricks is like Butter!! Any other car I have ever been in they act like you are driving over road reflectors every two inches. I figured the ride to be similiar to that of a full sized Cadi of the same era (If you could find one). And this ride over these damned bricks is nothign shot of hell in the "off-road" Blazer.

I would like to add that I dont think anyone is doubiting the Subaru line of cars (I may have seen a voice or two but I discounted them as having never "met" one). The thing which i didnt see mentioned in this thread which makes them truely a superior "rally" type car is the AWD, which if I am not mistaken, was introduced in the mid 80's. Comparing this car, to that of a 2WD Vechicle that had such standards in the age they did is like comparing apples and oranges.

I can also tell you that about a decade ago I worked for a dealership that sold Subaru's and Dodges. . . .And the difference in the body were again, apples and oranges. Where any Dodge you could push a door panel in with your pinky. . you could not at all on a Subaru; and where you could sit and swing on the open hinge of a Subaru, you wouldnt be closing the door on a dodge. Although i am just getting into mechanics (my new car mentioned is a big start), and know nothing about the longevity of the Subaru's engine it has always been my opnion that for their time and price they would be the vehicles of their era to survive.

J

I don't think dodge made many good engines lately (unless it was just cost), fortunately Mitsubishi has made the motors for most of their fleet for a while now.

I've rode in smoother cars, but the MB isn't all bad. I ended up complaining to my road commission via email about the worst earth creter in my travel, in the next week or two it was better. :)