As much as i like MBs and station wagons, the simple reality is that the best family vehicle is the minivan. Seems to me that you are stepping past what for me would be an obvious solution.

With a family of six, id get a 7 passenger minivan with 4 captains chairs. Move back to the MBs later.
You can pretty much pick your manufacturer. Instead of a vanagon style get something on a modern style FWD van arrangement. They still drive pretty much like a car, and the things are dirt cheap in the used market.

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I have a standing request with several military buddies to shoot me dead if I ever buy a minivan. However, I have four less kids and one less wife than the OP. A minivan may be the solution. Large-ish SUV (much as I hate to say it) may be another. My sister (with long-time partner and two kids) went with a full size van for a number of years. That requirement for seating six rules out a number of otherwise great vehicles. Big station wagons used to be common, and they're still around, but the newest are the same age as a 124 and will need to be worked on a lot. Maybe a Jetta or Passat Tdi wagon? How many do they seat?

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Whoever said there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes never had a cheap Jaguar.

83 300D Turbo with manual conversion, early W126 vented front rotors and H4 headlights 400,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 22,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.

Me too.

The more I drive them the more I like the W211 cars though.

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Jim

They seat five. If a six seater is a requirement then a seven seater van is a minimum. I still say an older Suburban would be superior. 8 or 9 seats, better cargo capacity and way more versatility. And a lot cheaper. Easier to work on too than vans with their transverse mounted engines in cramped little compartments.

- Peter.

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2021 Chevrolet Spark
Formerly...
2000 GMC Sonoma
1981 240D 4spd stick. 347000 miles. Deceased Feb 14 2021
2002 Kia Rio. Worst crap on four wheels
1981 240D 4spd stick. 389000 miles.
1984 123 200
1979 116 280S
1972 Cadillac Sedan DeVille
1971 108 280S

I actually disagree here. You would take a huge fuel economy hit, and some of these full size SUVs that are body on frame derived from a truck design do not have the internal space layout a minivan has. For sure you pay more for an older suburban than you pay for a large number of used minivans.

For example the family vehicle growing up was a series of dodge caravans. I remember being shocked once getting into a twice the size expedition and discovering i barely had any space in the 3rd row.
It had no advantage over the caravan in the cargo compartment either. So for being able to say you were driving a 4x4 vehicle, you were driving something bigger, with less space, less cargo capacity, and half the fuel economy.

As far as versatility, the vans win there too, with two rows of seats easily removed, sliding doors on both sides (depending on model) providing excellent access, and lower which is easier to load.

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Not around here you don't. Not unless the minivan is a wreck.

Not to be pedantic, but an Expedition is not a Suburban. I agree that the 3rd row in an expedition can be cramped. It's equivalent to a Tahoe, which is a Suburban with it's ass cut off and in my opinion a pointless exercise in futility. An actual Suburban, not a Tahoe, or expedition, has a longer chassis, greater room in the third row, and more cargo space behind said row. And of course you can get 2WD versions as well. As for he fuel economy hit. That's true. There are few vehicles worse than a Suburban. But it's not just about fuel economy. There's ease/cost of repair if they develop problems. And I've had it up to the wazoo with "economy" vehicles where things are stuffed into tiny cramped spaces where half the damm vehicle has to be disassembled to get to do simple repairs. Suburbans, especially older ones, are traditional vehicles, large engine compartments, properly oriented engines and some are RWD. And as I said, if you get a front bench you can seat nine.

That is true. I have actually considered mini vans myself. They are versatile for sure and may very well be a good choice for the OP. But ultimately it comes down to his needs and his cash and his ability to do his own work vs having to send it into a shop.

I still think having a few old 123's lying around are hard to beat.

- Peter.

__________________
2021 Chevrolet Spark
Formerly...
2000 GMC Sonoma
1981 240D 4spd stick. 347000 miles. Deceased Feb 14 2021
2002 Kia Rio. Worst crap on four wheels
1981 240D 4spd stick. 389000 miles.
1984 123 200
1979 116 280S
1972 Cadillac Sedan DeVille
1971 108 280S

Suburban's are great vehicles, nothing runs longer for less money than a GM truck.

You could buy a new Suburban when your kid is born and send them to college in it 18 years and 200k miles later, great trucks.

Minivans can be good but are harder to work on, and lack 4wd which around here is very nice.

Than buy a nice W123 for weekend fun use.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

If you move up to a modern 5.3 equipped truck fuel economy is not terrible, they do mid teens. GM's Vortec series of V8's the 5.3, 6L and later 6.2 are some of the best V8's you can buy. They are leaps and bounds better than the old 5.7 and 7.4's!

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

Wow, lots of great replies that I was not expecting.

To clarify a few things related to the original post...

* It does need to seat 6. BMW's wouldn't work because afaik their wagons don't have 3rd row seats. I like BMW's though, I've owned a '72 2002 and a my dad currently drives a mint '81 528. I had a hard time driving the 2002 responsibly though, and it had to go once we started having kids.

* 90% of the time I will be the only one driving this car, and the times when we would employ the 3rd row seats would be even fewer. However I would still like to have that option in an emergency, like if our van breaks down. For these reason I don't think I would ever drive something like a Suburban as my daily driver.

* We owned a new modern minivan for a few years and really didn't like it, except for the warranty. As soon as the warranty was up we sold it and bought a vanagon. We love the vanagon, it's easy to work on and paid for.

* At the moment I'm leaning toward keeping the w123 for while longer, fixing little problems when I can until i can sell it for a reasonable price (and in good conscious that I am not selling a car with lots of 'issues'). In the meantime though I am looking at a few w124 wagons to get a feel of whether I like them or not.

Thanks all for your thoughtful feedback.

BTW, do the m103 and m104 both need run on premium gas?

All gas MBs call for premium.

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Jim

What about another Vanagon, since you like the one you have so much?

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Whoever said there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes never had a cheap Jaguar.

83 300D Turbo with manual conversion, early W126 vented front rotors and H4 headlights 400,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 22,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.

If you have no problem having one of your family members facing backwards when driving, an S124 should be fine. Other people have difficulty facing the back when in a vehicle - it makes them dizzy.

Otherwise a minivan is still the best option, IMO.

Like a lot of you I too had qualms about driving one - let alone owning one - but after weeks of looking for a suitable minivan, we decided to get a certified 2010 Honda Odyssey because it's the one that looked the best, handled the most car-like, had great NHTSA safety ratings, and had a lot of nice convenience features.

And this is from somebody who has had experience owning and driving a 1990 300TE. In all honesty, the Odyssey reminded me of the 300TE - just more modern, Japanese and has a FF layout (even the spare is vertically mounted in the same position as in the 300TE). Everybody gets to face forward too.

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I've had three w123 wagons and still have one. I love them but they are no longer a daily driver. I bought a w124 wagon- a 95. Loved it but it still needed work- but I did buy a cheap one. It's a good inbetween until you get a better car; unless you really fork out the cash for a nice one or stumble into a winner for cheap(which we are all looking for all the time). You can buy a nice w210 wagon for $5K and even nicer w211 wagon for $10K. If you can afford it I'd go with either one of those.

I just went over to the gasser wagon side too.
My 123 diesel wagon has driven me to seek out a 124 wagon. First off I have a good friend who drives a 210 wagon and I like it but its not a 124, the 124 seems more rugged or perhaps its less delicate and having had to rebuild the tranny in my '99 E300D I didn't want to go down that road again. The 5 speed is great when it comes to cruising and good mileage but its just not the reliable 722.3 trans.
My '87 300D has a tranny that the PO rebuilt, at around 225K miles I figure it was time. It shifts strong and I can modulate the shift point by the accelerator pedal and on hills engaging lower gear. The 722 transmissions feel stronger by comparison but I know - they all fail eventually!

Based on wanting a M104 engine in a clean low mileage 124 wagon I set out last Fall to find one.
So far I have looked at 4 wagons that were f.s. and seen a dozen or so on Craigslist, Ebay etc. that I wouldn't waste time on due to high mileage.
I drove a gold wagon that felt like it was going to lose control on a curve the suspension was shot, sadly the owner wasn't aware of that owner took it in for services rendered (a landscape/gardener).

I saw a black one that was pretty cherry but for $8000 even with some wiggle room it was too high for me, and although the engine harness had already been replace it showed over 220K on the odometer. And I don't care for a black car.

Then recently I saw another black wagon that had been lowered (pimped was the seller's terms) with one tire showing over 2" of steel belting hanging out of the outer edge from rubbing on something, I couldn't believe anyone would continue driving a car like that

Checking CL last weekend I finally found a nice 95 wagon but the seller had someone who was planning to take it to their mechanic today (Tuesday) so thanks to Monday being MLK day and the shop was closed I was able to make an offer and nab it before they had chance.
The wagon is not perfect but with a little work it will be far better than average. Whats wrong? it needs a new engine harness. Owner paid $650 for a shop to check every avenue, not the Neut sensing switch (wouldn't that be nice if that was all it needed?) the insulation on the wiring was the last thing they just have looked at. I did a close look and confirmed the insulation is cracked and missing in a few places just as it always does in the late 90's Benz.
O/W the car is as clean as a pin inside, it has one small scrape on a fender and the paint (smoked silver) is still good! I have a small budget for the work to make it look good. Needs both bumper pads (painted though, well maybe I need to raise the budget a bit for that).
Basically a one owner car, it was part of an estate and a friend of the family drove it a while until the engine harness failed.
Included is a huge folder of service records going back to day one and the factory window sticker showing it sold for $40K new. No leather. No lumbar support or heated seats. The sunroof works 100% !

The car has recently installed engine mounts, a new serp belt, recent shock tower supports (haven't looked but suspect the front shocks might be new also) and no rust in the shock towers. Wheels show only a trace of curb rash, that being an indicator I use to determine how the PO drives and what care they may or may not have for tire alignment and the front suspension.
More important it has no body rust.
It has almost new brake discs (no lip) and (tadaa!) an AC that works that was the clincher!
This wagon has 129,000 mostly freeway miles on it.
(Before anyone asks, I paid $3700 including the towing bill to get it home)
I think I did good.. time will tell though after I take it on a long drive later in the year, loaded with stuff maybe even aluminum tower sections strapped to the roof rack.... no SUV;s for me, thanks.
DDH

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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!

if switching from old benz diesels, I really cant see who anyone would be intent on gasoline benz's