what W124 year model do you consider the best of all W124 models and why?
 

What model of W124 do you consider to be the best?
what year?
and why?
:cool:

Re: what W124 year model do you consider the best of all W124 models and why?
 

500E/E500


1992-1994

I don't think any explanation is needed.

:)

The 500E/E500 is clearly the best, but for the average person I feel that the 400E/E420 is the best bang for the buck. I would go for a '94 or '95, they have the facelift.

but...i AM average :(

j/k :)

I have to say 1994, since it is the year when MB and AMG started to market jointly developed cars with the 3.6 engine.

As W124 they made the Station Wagon, Coupé and Convertible. Not the Sedan since they already had the V8-models.

Personally I like the Coupé best and I was lucky to find mine three years ago with only 12.000 km:s on the clock. It is now 50´and still feels like a new car. The performance is all you need, when you need it, the sound is great, the handling gets better the faster you drive and I love just to watch the lines.

My car has a little flaw in that it doesn´t like hot ambient temps, and I am trying to find out why. It probably has to do with the little use, causing a bad contact somewhere. Annoying but not a major problem since it works just fine under all normal conditions.

These cars were produced as 94 models and on order as 95 and 96 as well.
L.

Personally I'm biased towards my 95 E320. Excellent fuel efficiency, updated looks, lots of power, and the smoothness of an inline 6 cylinder. Gotta love it!!

OF course the last cars of a production run are the best, as all of the "bugs" have been filtered out. However with some of the WIRING problems(& throttle actuators) in the late 1992 thru 1996 cars, I think that the 1992 cars might be better.

I do like a car with a dust (microfilter) system, so that would include the 1994 & 95 cars. Also the re-designed hood & headlights make the later cars look better.

Also the 1993 & later cars have better brakes.

I think it is very interesting to contemplate a question about "the best." The best WHAT?

When you ask what is the BEST car, what category are you asking about? There are zillions of different parameters that could be judged or measured.

Are you asking which is the most reliable, which is the best handling, which is the fastest, which is the best looking, which has the best fuel mileage, which is the most difficult to work on, which has the most failures, etc......

When posing such a question, I ask that you be more specific with your parameter questions.

Have a great day,

1995 E300D, it just runs, and runs, and runs,,,,,,,,,,

As said before, it all depends on BEST for what?

OVERALL BEST: E 500
BEST DESIGN AND SEX APPEAL FACTOR: E 320 CABRIOLET
MOST RELIABLE: E 250 DIESEL
BEST RESALE VALUE: E 200
BEST NO-NONSENSE IDEAL: E 320 T (STATION WAGON)
BEST COMPROMISE POWER/ECONOMY: E 280
MOST ECONOMIC: E 200 DIESEL

I prefer the '91 CE, but I suppose I am biased ;)

The next 124 I will look for will be one that has the 104 motor and R134 AC. I believe this is the 93-95 models.

The 104 motor has 217 HP and gets better MPG than the 103.

My 2 cents.

Haasman

....appears all the W124's have their bright spots!...for sure choose one that has been maintained to death/lowest miles/no accidents, non abusive owner, little to no mods, and the color combi of your choice

Easy to see the W124 NAmerican version favorities can be all of them:

500e500
400e420
300e320: sedan,coupe, cabiolet

remember....as these are aging machines- even the garage queens need ongoing re-freshing here and there...$

hope this helps

-fad
'92 300e 2.6 (251,600 odo & a/c ice cold w/ R12)
'94 e320 coupe (109k)
'94 e500 (42.9k)
etc.

My opinion on the best W124 model is the 1987 300E. The straight six and that 7.5 second 0-60 are a definite plus. Although I heavily favor the 1994 E320 for its facelifted looks. I have the best of both worlds. My 1987 300e is quick and it is facelifted to look like the 1994 E320 :).

The 1994-1995 E500 is great also, but it is rare and not that cheap!!

I'd say 95 E420.. here is why..
 

.. cause it was the last year for the W124 for that size and many of the bugs that were found earlier were fixed.. beside i really enjoy driving this car everytime i am behind the wheel and pass those "expensive" Japanese cars like wind... solid machine and it'll always be special

when I said best it means in overall
that include value, fuel economy,looks,most trouble free,ect...
In some cases a car with a lot of power like the E500 would not get a top score because of the cost to own this wonderfull car.

I'd agree with others that say the W124 with the 4.2 liter V8 would be the best W124 model OVERALL.

That would include the 1992-1993 400E / 1994-1995 E420 (the 400E's have the same 4.2 liter engine as E420's).

1. They all have R134a air-conditioning.

2. You get 90% of the power of the 500E's w/o the premium price tag.

3. There is almost no mileage penalty with the V8 over the 3.0 liter / 3.2 liter 6-cylinder engines.

Most everyone seems to like the updated hood / grill / headlights of the 94-95 models, but I think it's largely over-rated. I actually prefer the earlier grill, but no one will argue that the early headlights are prettier. The early U.S. headlights are ugly and put out little to no light.

You can upgrade the look of 92-93's by installing the Euro lights, adding the clear / yellow corners, and installing the clear / red tail lights.

Having own a 89 300E, and currently owning a 95 E420 and 94 E500, I would say the best overall value is my 95 E420.

When I sold my 300E and bought my E420 I was afraid of the gas mileage issue, going from a 6 to a 8, but that was never an issue. Truth be told I get the same gas mileage in both cars 300E & E420). The E500 is another story. That is a gas guzzling son of a b----!!! :D

1987 300D turbodiesel.

Outstanding performance, nice handling, 32 mpg, and relatively rare. Can't be beat, last non-electronic diesel (except for idle control, and that can be bypassed).

Peter

Middle of the model run
 

I would suggest the middle of the model run. Experiences of other club members here (and my own) suggest the earlier W124s are actually more reliable, especially considering they have covered greater distances. The later M104 (2.8 & 3.2) powered versions give the most trouble here. My father's '93 E320 coupe is no exception. With only about 130,000km it has been more troublesome than our '90 300TE with 175,000km (and more difficult to work on). Friends with earlier versions (late '80s) have had even less trouble. I much prefer the appearance of the late '89 update over the early models and (like Paul S) even prefer it to the '93 update. I like the ease of working on the M103 and its quiet, smooth, unfussed nature. The 3.0-24 M104 does have a potent top end though and the 3.2 M104 adds useful torque (as well as more noise). I cannot comment on V8 versions as we got only fours and sixes in Australia. Locally, the fours are accepted as offering the best handling with less weight out front. Unfortunately, they come up a bit short on power and aren't as smooth as the sixes. If outright power is not of greatest importance then my vote is for a '90 to '92 with an M103 (3 litre).

They never got the 300E-24 in the US at all, only the 300CE-24 (badged only 300CE). In Australia we got the 300E, 300CE, 300E-24 and 300CE-24 (all badged that way), but all had cats here. We had quite a good W124 model range in Oz. See:
http://forums.mbworld.org/forums/showthread.php?threadid=39199

I'd have to agree with Paul on this one. Although there isn't anything wrong with the face-lifted styling of the later models per se, i wouldn't go out of my way to get one. Nor would I spend the 1000s of dollars to modify my pre-facelifted W124s to look like something it's not.

You are right on the money. That’s what best means after all.

Stay away from the early M104 with Mercedes on the engine cover. Parts are impossible to get to keep those on the road.