Due to garage space limitations, I am reluctantly starting to change my thinking from a big coupe (560SEC, S500, CL500 etc.) to a smaller car. I was thinking of a 300CE, but good ones meeting my minimal requirements (low miles, serviced properly, garaged, non-white) seem to be pretty rare around here (suburbs of NYC).

OTOH, there are a TON of CLK’s around, obviously all 5-6 years newer, with not much higher prices, than a good 300CE.

This will be a VERY lightly used car – maybe 2K miles a year – and therefore gas mileage isn’t a major concern. I would like semi-decent ergonomics for the backseat passenger (my son), and after 2 hip replacements, decent in/out and seating ergonomics for the driver (me).

Any thoughts on the CLK vs. a 300CE? If so, what years/models to avoid?

Any other car I’m missing? (Including non-MBs and non-coupes.) I was also thinking about a 400E, but these are also pretty rare here. (Forget 500Es).

Also...I would like to buy relatively locally, so unfortunately, I'm not shopping in SoCal.

Thanks
Al

Being a W124 and a W208 owner, I can speak with some experience.

Your choice of a 300CE would limit you to long-in-the-tooth, well-worn examples. After all, we are talking 15+ years age for that particular model, not to mention high mileage. There are a few creampuffs out there, but rubber and other components still fall under the law of entropy, despite meticulous care on some models.

The CLKs are newer, and can be found with relatively low miles and decent prices. Stay away from the ragtops though, as problem repairs are mega-expensive!!! Only real issue I know of is the digital displays on the gauge clusters get flakey, due to the deteriorating ribbon cable. Some folks do repair these for a few hundred dollars, but the dealer will only sell you ($1100) a new cluster!

Gas is expected to go up to $4/gal by the end of February, so you may consider the 320/350 6-cyl motors. The 430/500 V8s are thirsty buggers...

__________________
2009 ML350 (106K) - Family vehicle
2001 CLK430 Cabriolet (80K) - Wife's car
2005 BMW 645CI (138K) - My daily driver
2016 Mustang (32K) - Daughter's car

I'd go for the V8's since your not driving it at all really.

How long is your garage? How much space do we have to work with?

What about an SL500? I like the R129 a lot more than the CLK.

__________________
2016 Corvette Stingray 2LT
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

Former CLK430 and CLK55 owner here.

Rear seat room is pretty sparse in the W208 - don't know about the W209's. If your son is sub-6 years old, his legs are likely short enough to not hit the back of the front seats. Much bigger than that, and he'll be hit with the "my legs are too long to stick straight out and too short to bend at the knee!"

Getting teens in and out of the back seat is doable, but I'd have to move my seat forward any time I was carrying anyone on the driver's side.

__________________
1961 220b: first project car - sold.
2000 CLK 430: first modern Benz - sold.
2001 CLK 55: OMG the torque!!! - sold
1972 280SE 4.5: Baby Gustav
1991 300TE 4Matic: Gretel the Snow Bunny - sold
1978 300SD: Katz the Free Man - given away
1980 Redhead: Darling Wife

Thanks all of you.

We've got about 188" to play with.

My 430ML with front bumper guards fits (tight) at about 185". The 450slc with 5mph bumpers at 200" does not.

300CE is 184".

98-2002 CLK coupe is 180". 2003-2007 is about 181".

Whoa - 90-2002 SL is 177". You think the kid will mind riding in the trunk?

Alternatively - what's the backseat situation like in the 300CE? (G - I'm not ignoring your comments.)

The CE has two seats in the back, separated by a console and drop down armrest. I'm 6'0" and a person sitting behind me is squeezed a bit... or else my legs are close to 90 deg. bent at the knees.
For a full size male, it's more than a squeeze in the back seat imo.

Whats wrong with the passangers seat!

__________________
2016 Corvette Stingray 2LT
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

Forgot to ask - what's the build quality like on the CLK?

Having just gotten PO'd today (again) at the build quality of the ML, I'm wondering if I'll have the same reaction to the CLK.

I assume from that viewpoint, the CE is a real Mercedes, right?

Real Mercedes? Did you see this recent thread?
R.I.P my beloved 300CE
Real enough, but as GBenz said, they are all getting long of tooth! But the W124/300E was a superb car in it's day, and the coupe version was no different.

After checking the rear seat legroom, (and consider that compromises might be made between a right front seat passenger and right rear seat passenger with respect to where the front seat can be moved to), you have only one choice, and it is to check into a lightly used, well kept 300CE.

One of them could tuck very nicely into your garage, and the build quality is unparallelled on them, and they have LOTs of modern upgrades like ABS and airbags, yet still have a Benz which remains unparalleled as indisputably the very last of the E class untainted by compromise, is relatively easy to work on, not befouled
with electronic gizmos, and built to a cost-no-object standard.

If you look at the TexHoldem post and recent photos, here, in this section,
("RIP beloved 300CE" thread) from last week, of a recent high speed rollover in one, you will see just how sturdy even a hardtop CE will sustain a flip and multiple rollover and protect the occupants.


It is not that good ones abound, or anything like that, but if you are not in a hurry, or too inflexibly set on a particular color, and have patience in finding a good one with books and records that is not neglected in any way or rusted, and are willing to travel, you'll still be able to find a really nice one.

(Hint: The VERY best ones sometimes show up right here on places like these. For example, Kevin (Powerpig) has a gorgeous one, a light green, with the rare and coveted and rare "Sportline" package and a Remus exhaust, that he MIGHT be willing to part with (he is on the East coast near DC) as his collection is getting too big and he might be willing to thin the herd, a little bit, and know that he is a fine, respected, honest and very well known and liked, a trustworthy member who takes care to only own the creme de la creme of Mercedes in his collection)

A CE in a nice color with euro lights is a neat, nifty and nimble Mercedes coupe.

Definately the way to go in your situation....

late edit: I'd also note that in addition to the increased complexity, problematic reliability and build quality of the CLK relative to the CE, I once drove a CLK on a test run and was alarmed at the very poor rear visibility to the rear (due party to the design of the C pillar) of the car, and did not look at rear seat legroom at all. But they are nice looking coupes though

__________________
1991 560 SEC AMG, 199k <---- 300 hp 10:1 ECE euro HV ...

1995 E 420, 170k "The Red Plum" (sold)

2015 BMW 535i xdrive awd Stage 1 DINAN, 6k, <----364 hp

1967 Mercury Cougar, 49k

2013 Jaguar XF, 20k <----340 hp Supercharged, All Wheel Drive (sold)

Can you elaborate on this at all? My kid is going to be big enough in a year that I can use the child seat as a belt-positioning device instead of needing the harness, so I was going to trade in my C280 for a 2000-2002 CLK320 Cabrio, because I really want a convertible and I need four seats. What are the really expensive problems, and are they common?

__________________
Jonathan

2011 Mazda2
2000 E320 4Matic Wagon
1994 C280 (retired)

Intersting points regarding an R129 over a W208:

We traded our 95 SL500 for the CLK430. The lack of rear seating was the clincher. My wife also had trouble getting in and out of the SL as it is slung a bit lower than the CLK. We are getting creaky along with our cars you see...

I found the SL to be tighter, with a bank vault feel. However it is a heavy car. The CLK is nimbler, but the chassis felt less sturdy...not sure if the hardtop gives off the same handling cues. And yes, rear visibility does indeed suck...my wife only drives it top down!

I haven't ventured into the repair issues on the CLK, but I found the SL to be repair-friendly and pretty reliable. The only real expense incurred on the SL was replacing those wide meats on all four sides!

__________________
2009 ML350 (106K) - Family vehicle
2001 CLK430 Cabriolet (80K) - Wife's car
2005 BMW 645CI (138K) - My daily driver
2016 Mustang (32K) - Daughter's car

To the original poster, a 300ce or the 500e will be the two most collectilbe long range. I don't know of the length but I would go for a 500e myself if the length is there for it. They are probably the most affordible and most collectible of the era, not counting things like the Hammer...ultra low production models.

Tom W

__________________
[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

Not to mention, the 500E is the ULTIMATE Stealth machine. They were built by Porsche AND Mercedes Benz.

They have a strong cult following, already. therer is NOTHING quite like driving one of them, with verve and brio.

Here's a true story to show what cult cars they are.

I know a guy who is totally into them. The Porsche ad campaign slogan untill not long ago was "Porsche - There Is No Substitute".


This guy had one of them TOTALLY debadged, and had a small discreet chrome script for the trunk made and installed on the trunk.

It read, simply: "The Substitute".

500E fanatics and some Porsche car nuts "got it". They howled with laughter and glee when they saw it.

Most people didn't get it at all.

It was the ultimate "IN" joke.

__________________
1991 560 SEC AMG, 199k <---- 300 hp 10:1 ECE euro HV ...

1995 E 420, 170k "The Red Plum" (sold)

2015 BMW 535i xdrive awd Stage 1 DINAN, 6k, <----364 hp

1967 Mercury Cougar, 49k

2013 Jaguar XF, 20k <----340 hp Supercharged, All Wheel Drive (sold)

I have no experiance with the CLK you are looking at, but I have a lot of wheel time on a new CLK550 cab. Overall its a MB, very well built, perfect layout, excellent brakes, handling, and the 5.5L V8 is amazing. Its drunk on torque, yet will rev like a much smaller engine. The rear seats are quite usable, which surprised me.

Two things I don't like:
The 7spd trans is busy and not needed for the large V8, maybe the V6 needs it. But I would much prefer the old 5spd 722.6 behind this engine. As a result of having 7 gears its rather busy around town which I find annoying. MB is dumb having this contest with Lexus on who has the most gears 5-6 is all any car needs, after that more is just more. What I was starting to do is bump it up to 3rd at stop lights to stop all the shifting. The V8 doesn't care.

Secondly its a flexable car, which on a $75k Mercedes is simply not acceptable. The coupe version which my friends sister has is nice and stiff, MB screwed up when they cut the roof off. I probably wouldn't have noticed it as much except that I drove a cab 911 right afterwards which feels like its a solid chunk of metal. I was surprised having driven R129's before, I was expecting the solid chunk of metal feel.

I wouldn't buy one, the queston that kept popping into my mind was how much more do they want for the SL550? Why not an SL?

I'm 22 and couldn't give a damn about how low a car is, makes no difference to me, and I wouldn't want a back seat either. 2 seats plus room for a golf bag is fine, if I need more spaces the SDL has that in spades.

__________________
2016 Corvette Stingray 2LT
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200