E320

I have a 1986 300E.I was reading in the Illustrated Buyer's Guide:Mercedes Benz, by Frank Barrett, about the '93 300E and '94-95 E320.It says:"Displacement was nudged from 3.0 to 3.2 liters,and a new four-valve head utilized variable intake cam timing.Power jumped from 177 horsepower to 217.Peak torque increased, and variable cam timing provided a flatter and fatter torque curve.The four-speed automatic transmission,which had previously started in second gear,was altered to start in first gear,improving take off.The transmission is electronically linked to the ignition system so that timing is momentarily adjusted to smoothen shifts."I was thinking of trading up to either a '93 300E of '94 E320. I assume the difference between the '93 and '94 is pure cosmetic changes.I just bought the '87 300E last year,and it had 72,000 miles, and it now has 82,000.Is there a dramatic difference between the old 300E and the new engined models?Is it worth trading up for?Or should I wait to get the '96 E320, which has even more changes?

[JCE]

Hello emr50 - let me be the first to welcome you to the forum! You might want to repost this under the Tech help forum at the top of the page, as a lot more people read that sub-forum than this one. There are some really talented experts on the tech forum, and you don't want to miss any of their possible replys. Also, there are a lot of earlier posts under the search button - if you type in words loke "engine", m103", m104", a lot of discussion will be revealed.

As a non-expert, my understanding is that the 300E body from 1986 to 1995 was the same, called a w124 chassis, and was gradually improved over each model year. I don't think that I want to trade my 1987 low mileage 300E for even a '95 E320. I would probably loose too much in the trade. If didn't own either car, wanted to choose between the low mileage '87 or an average mileage '95, and money were not an issue, I would probably go with the '95, just to get the newer engine design, improved fuel economy, and various improvements to the car made over 8 model years.

Hope this helps,