Ha Ha, yep!

Good to hear from you Glen. The day I picked up the "E" from Bergwerks my friend (in his SL500) and I had a little go at it. As it turned out, whoever jumped on the pedal first, pulled away and there was no catching up.

Craig

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1994 E420, Pearl Black/Black. 2.82 rear diff., AMG front spoiler, painted lower half. SOLD

1972 & 1974 BMW 2002tii's.

LOL...Craig, sounds like a challenge!

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Glen Tokuhara
Beauty & the Beast and the wagon that could!

Let's see - an E420 with a 2.82 vs. an E500 with a 2.82. Hmmm-I'm thinkin' that the E500 will pull on you, just maybe not as hard as before

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"If God had meant for us to walk, why did he give us feet that fit car pedals?" Sir Sterling Moss

Michael
2014 E63S Estate
2006 SLK55
1995 E500
1986 Porsche 944 turbo

It might, but not by much. My E is about .4 Sec slower than a E500. Sorry

Craig

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1994 E420, Pearl Black/Black. 2.82 rear diff., AMG front spoiler, painted lower half. SOLD

1972 & 1974 BMW 2002tii's.

I think DCraig is right.

Stu Ritter wrote about this in one of the past issues of The Star Magazine.

A 400E / E420 with the 2.82 differential is so close to the performance of a 500E that differences in performance measurements are such that fall within the variability of different outputs of 500E's.

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Paul S.

2001 E430, Bourdeaux Red, Oyster interior.
79,200 miles.

1973 280SE 4.5, 170,000 miles. 568 Signal Red, Black MB Tex. "The Red Baron".

Uhhh guys, there is more to the 500E than a bigger engine!

I certainly would not ever denegrate the very excellent E420, but isn't this an apples and apricots discussion?

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Dean Albrecht
"Lead, follow, or better yet, get out of the way!"E500 owners motto

I'd say more like Granny Smith to Red Delicious.

need2speed- You are right, there is more to a 500E/E500 than speed. I think my point was is that the E420 can be made to look and behave just like a E500/500E for a lot less. The mods I want to do to my E420 (suspension, etc.) I'd never do to a E500 because I wouldn't mess with a limited production car. But, finding a great example of a 500 is difficult these days, even if prices are falling.

I'll keep my E420, and add a perfect example E500 to my garage someday.

Craig

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1994 E420, Pearl Black/Black. 2.82 rear diff., AMG front spoiler, painted lower half. SOLD

1972 & 1974 BMW 2002tii's.

I imagine it would be a pretty close drag race. The 500 is a bit heavier and the stock tires are a bit taller...with the same final drive, the lighter 400 should be very close to a stock 500.

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Glen Tokuhara
Beauty & the Beast and the wagon that could!

Please don't assume I'm cutting down on 400Es-I like those cars a LOT, and almost bought one. I just don't think one will keep up with a 500E (which assuredly is underrated at 322 HP), even in a straight line.

But when someone shows me a timing slip under 14.0, I'll saute up some crow...be happy to

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"If God had meant for us to walk, why did he give us feet that fit car pedals?" Sir Sterling Moss

Michael
2014 E63S Estate
2006 SLK55
1995 E500
1986 Porsche 944 turbo

I had intended to buya 400E, then do the rear end mods, but what made me lean toward the 500E was that the car was really modified to handle all that HP: and torque. I feel that 400E's are 300E's with a V8, where the 500E is a totally different car Since I do not buy cars very often, I felt that it would hold up better, over the long haul. Also, I hope it will not depreciate quite as quickly as a 400E.
I don't want to start any thread war, but I did not want to have that wxperience of "if I'd just gotten what I really wanted". I'm really glad I got what I wanted!

Tom
92 500E

Tom and Michael, I agree with both of your sentiments. The 500E is a totally different car, and was specially modified to handle all the HP and torque.

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Paul S.

2001 E430, Bourdeaux Red, Oyster interior.
79,200 miles.

1973 280SE 4.5, 170,000 miles. 568 Signal Red, Black MB Tex. "The Red Baron".

Come on.........the 400 is basically a 300??? No way. There have been many threads in this forum regarding the breaks on the 400 vs. 300 vs. 500's. The breaks on the 400 are bigger than the 300 but not as big as the 500 (If I remember). Suspension is different. Just two examples.

It sounds like you're saying that the 400's weren't made to handle all that power. BS. Mercedes Benz over engineers EVERYTHING. The 400's can certainly handle the power.

Like I said before, I plan on getting a 500 some day, but for now, all in all, the 400's are excellent cars for the price. My E420 has held it's value in the last year since I got it, where the 500's have dropped by a good bit.

Nobody really knows why MB and Porsche co-built the 500's. Perhaps sales were lagging and they thought it would boost them, maybe a marketing ploy? Maybe huge profit? I don't know. But what does seem to be evident is that if MB did put a 2.82 into the 400's the performance data would be very close and I don't know if people would shell out another $30k for a few tenths of a second.

But like I said before, I'd never want to mod a 500, my 420 is a perfect choice to play with.

Craig

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1994 E420, Pearl Black/Black. 2.82 rear diff., AMG front spoiler, painted lower half. SOLD

1972 & 1974 BMW 2002tii's.

So, in other words, it would still pull you.

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1994 E500

actually, people DO know why: it's because Porsche was in dire financial straits at the time and was in danger of being bought out by a foreign corporation.

MB needed to do something to prove that they could hold their own against AMG - the "anything they can do, we can do better" mentality.

the timing just happened to work out for both companies in that Porsche, who had excess production capacity in the form of the old WerksII plant which assembled the 959, would get some (much needed) cash flow and MB (whose production lines were at capacity with the regular W124) could get their factory Hammer.

Audi also assisted by handing production of the RS4 over to Porsche.

I can't remember where I read it, but somewhere there's n article which states the above along with how Porsche actually saw limited involvement in engineering the 500E - most of the actual engineering was done by MB engineers and Porsche was limited to a more advisory and assembly role.

In contrast to that arrangement was the Audi-Porsche partnership which saw Audi basically give Porsche free reign to develop the RS4 as Porsche saw fit.

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'94 W124.036 249/040 leder; 8.25x17 EvoIIs
'93 W124.036 199/040 leder; 8.25x17 EvoIIs, up in flames...LITERALLY!
'93 W124.036 481/040 leder; euro delivery; 8.25x17 EvoIIs
'88 R107.048 441/409 leder; Euro lights
'87 W201.034 199/040 leder; Euro lights; EvoII brakes; 8x16 EvoIs - soon: 500E rear brakes
'70 R113.044 050/526; factory alloys; Euro lights

Thanks for the info Yhliem.

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Make it a great day!
Jay E.

E55 '00 (Silver)
....SOLD

E500 '94 (Pearl Black)
...love my E500 so much!

Toyota FX-16 GTS '87 (Very Red)
...stored in my garage

Audi 4000CS Quattro '87 (Alpine White)
...Totalled

Mitsubushi Montero '91 (Blue)
...my daily ride