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  #16  
Old 01-05-2015, 10:46 PM
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Both of the cars look way better than serviceable - the E is the best, and looks only a couple years old, no dents or door dings, pretty much like the sig pictures below. But they are old cars, like Paul pointed out.

Never plan on being a Cadillac, Lincoln, or Avalon owner, not in anywhere near their present configuration. De-emphasizing sporty driving is not the same as eliminating sporty cars, or burying myself alive in a rolling marshmallow.

I can afford many of the new cars available from most manufacturers, but all the cars I would normally be interested I seem complex, boring, and overpriced - packed with 'features' I don't want. I may end up selling both the C and E as Paul suggested, but would probably lease something instead of buying anything I have seen so far - wouldn't want the repairs after the warranty is up. (But, if Chevy started making the '67 El Camino again...)!

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  #17  
Old 01-06-2015, 12:28 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JCE View Post
Both of the cars look way better than serviceable - the E is the best, and looks only a couple years old, no dents or door dings, pretty much like the sig pictures below. But they are old cars, like Paul pointed out.

Never plan on being a Cadillac, Lincoln, or Avalon owner, not in anywhere near their present configuration. De-emphasizing sporty driving is not the same as eliminating sporty cars, or burying myself alive in a rolling marshmallow.

I can afford many of the new cars available from most manufacturers, but all the cars I would normally be interested I seem complex, boring, and overpriced - packed with 'features' I don't want. I may end up selling both the C and E as Paul suggested, but would probably lease something instead of buying anything I have seen so far - wouldn't want the repairs after the warranty is up. (But, if Chevy started making the '67 El Camino again...)!
Besides a few horror stories that we read on the internet which is more prevalent today than it was in the 124's time, do we really know if they are more unreliable? I agree that more things mean more things can potentially go wrong. My house has more POTENTIAL problems than my ancestor's who lived in caves. As an example, I head all kinds of horror stories from the old timers when I bought my W210. Today, my highest expenditure (thanks for all the salt you dump on the roads, WI) has been paintwork, worn out head and an AC failure with over 450K on the clock. I have a very low level of electronics failures as opposed to worn out part from the mileage. Yet I hear a lot of "complex is bad" from old timers who cannot and/or will not bridge the gap between what they know and what is new. Much like Fuel Injection in it's infancy vs carburetors in their geriatric and senile phase.
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  #18  
Old 01-06-2015, 11:14 PM
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Most horror stories I hear are from my relatives, neighbors, friends, etc who buy new cars every 3 or 4 years - none want one that is out of warranty. They love all the convenience but hate the failures and trips to the dealers. Most cited is the central display system. Cars are everything from hyundai sonatas to bmw 8 series.

I dont like to think of myself as opposed to new technology. 50 years of studying, researching, publishing and obtaining patents in biophysics gave me , I think, a pretty fair grasp of tech in computers, linear acclerators, ftir/quadrupole mass spec, etc instrumentation. I did acquire a pretty fair sense of when equipment manufacturers new offerings were useful innovations, or changes to make things cheaper to manufacture (and usually more expensive to maintain), or just done differently so that old spare parts and expendable supplies were no longer available and required new cap equip expenditures.

at any rate, it can be argued both ways. New cars are complex, old cars have hard to find parts and more difficult diagnosis. My brother told me today that one of his fav shops in san diego cant work on his 300d any more. Apparently they feel it is too difficult and time consuming to get parts, to difficult for the younger crop of mb techs to diagnose, and too often multiple issues, all leading to unhappy customers and low profits. So they arent doing 85 or older mb or bmw cars anymore.

thanks everyone for the input, probably selling the 202 at this point as a first step.
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  #19  
Old 01-07-2015, 01:41 PM
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I would keep the W124 but if you do decide to sell it please let me know. I'm looking for another but I want one that is rust free and yours looks amazing.
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  #20  
Old 01-09-2015, 06:48 PM
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Jalonpik did a list of the 10 worst German cars built. The W202 and W203 made the list.

The Ten Worst German Cars Ever Made

The W201 generation Mercedes 190E was known for it's excellent reliability and over-engineered brilliance. It's successor the W202 C-Class was not known for either of those things, rather, it was known for dodgy electronics, and it's propensity to rust. The cheapening of Mercedes began here.
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  #21  
Old 01-09-2015, 07:03 PM
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OK, the Trabbie made the list.

One of the comments:

Quote:
I would like to nominate the SmartBusa for best German/Japanese car ever made in the universe ever.
For those not in the know, thats a Smart ForTwo with a Hayabusa engine. Happy fun.
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Last edited by Skippy; 01-09-2015 at 09:47 PM.
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  #22  
Old 01-09-2015, 08:08 PM
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The W202 is an entry level car so they are built to a price and generally are handed down to uncaring owners that want a Mercedes but can't even care for a generic econo box.

I'd hardy call the electronics any more dodgy than any other MB from 95 to 00 as many of the parts are the same.
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  #23  
Old 01-10-2015, 06:16 PM
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Wow, I must be really lucky. 220,000 miles and minimal surprises once all the trans issues were worked out at 30k miles (warranty), and the silly lcd display was replaced (warranty). No rust even though we live near the beach, and really nice gas mileage. We did have to do the front suspension fix that seems to plague the 202 model, out of warranty about 150,000 miles. The neighbor around the corner must like the 202 as well, they have a C36 and two 230s. I see some really beaten ones around town and a couple clean ones - not much in between. I take your word that as a class they have lots of problems, just glad I escaped them. Pretty amazing since both kids drove it a lot and my wife loves twisty road driving.

We sold our C230 yesterday for $3000, having it look nice and all the records helped the sale. Local autotrader numbers for a 98 C in our county went from $900 listed as a 'mechanics parts car' to $4900 on a really clean extra low mileage example.
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  #24  
Old 01-11-2015, 01:05 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JCE View Post

We sold our C230 yesterday for $3000, having it look nice and all the records helped the sale. Local autotrader numbers for a 98 C in our county went from $900 listed as a 'mechanics parts car' to $4900 on a really clean extra low mileage example.
Interesting question about which car to keep. I had to think about this for a bit........ I've been a serial W124 owner since 1993, and my daughter has a 2000 C230 we purchased from my cousin who owned it from 30K to 190K. We've had it for almost three years now.

The big thing I do not like about the C230 is the engine. It's a fine running, reliable car, but the big 4 pot is just a bit too unrefined for a Mercedes. Offset that with the side airbag advantage and the kompressor makes up for the smaller engine. Our family experience has been that the W202 is a low cost vehicle to run. A 1986 W124 is a good car as well, but it's a ten year older design, and it really shows in many ways. Having owned nearly all the permutations of the W124 (except the 500E), I favor the late models (94-95) as by far the best of the series.

I think I would choose it (W202) over an early W124, but I would definitely keep a late W124 over the W202.

Jim
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  #25  
Old 01-11-2015, 01:43 PM
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Having owned nearly all the permutations of the W124 (except the 500E), I favor the late models (94-95) as by far the best of the series.
Jim
Also include the '93 300E as one of the "late models".

The chassis change occurred in '93 to 124.032. For some reason, Mercedes didn't change the badge to 320E as they did in the rest of the world.

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