Gotta sweet new w201! - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

todds · #1 12-09-2008, 11:34 AM

New member of the family, an 88 190e from saudi arabia! (w201/m102)

Yeah, I know it's not exactly vintage, but it's enabling my 67 230S to stay off the roads during the winter months here in the frozen north eh. Also most of the people I recognize on the board are in the vintage forum. It's interesting because it's about the most bare-bones 190e you could imagine. It's got the 4-cyl, but it's a 2.0L instead of a 2.3L. It feels a little more powerful however and revs VERY smoothly, being an "everywhere else" model instead of a US model.

Some cool minimalist features include:
Heat only! (odd for saudi arabia)
Strange wool-like tweed pattern seats!
Manaul sliding sunroof!
No woodgrain!
Cool wheels!
Cool headlights and taillights!
Original Becker casette radio!
And, this cracks me up: electric pass mirror only, driver is manual!

I'll post some pictures of this stuff soon. One remarkable thing about this little car is how quiet and well behaved it is! You can't even hear the thing run from the inside of the car at idle, it's a very smooth little vehicle. It's solid as a rock as well, I can plow over really bumpy roads with no noise whatsoever from the car. I can definitely feel the family resemblence to my dear departed 240D, only more responsive and much more silent. While this car is poverty-spec it sure doesn't feel like it. It's "austere", but that's exactly what I like about it. I'm hoping at 96k miles it's just about broken in and it ought to give pretty good mpg. The factory service manual is stamped every 10k km right up to 150k km with the official servicing stamp from about 5 different countries including sarajevo

! The only previous owner was in the UN.

I looked up the options list on the Russian VIN site and it has the following:
411 mechanical sliding roof (с 01.10.1965 по 31.10.1993)
506 outside rear view mirror, left and right, heated (electrically adjustable on the right) (l.h.d.) (с 01.10.1983 по 31.03.1989)
outside rear view mirror, right, convex, taxi export version
518 Becker radio Avus cassette, full stereo, Kurier, AM/FM (с 01.08.1986 по 30.11.1990)
591 heat-insulating glass, all-around, heated rear window pane, (single-sheet safety glass), Germany
green heat-insulating glass all round, heated rear window, single pane safety glass - Germany (с 01.01.1972)
And that’s all she wrote! Have you ever seen a car with fewer options?

Drives like a new car and I only paid $2700 for it!

JeffreyNMemphis · #2 12-09-2008, 11:52 AM

Congratulations on the birth of your new car! Yes, it does look like a good deal.

There is a lot to like about the car. Manual shifting is rare for a USA model, but probably not ROW. I like the hand crank windows too... Electric windows are heavier and expensive to repair. It probably feels faster because the car is lighter than you vintage model. You can probably live without air conditioning in Boston, but here in Texas you would suffer 9 months out of the year.

And the price? I would have bought two or three at that price. I am officially (though rarely) JEALOUS.

Enjoy you new ride.

Jeffrey

Oracle12345 · #3 12-09-2008, 04:15 PM

saw it for sell was going to look at it. It would really nice if it had the inline 6 with the 5.

todds · #4 12-09-2008, 04:51 PM

Actually, I prefer the little 2-liter. The gas mileage should be excellent for a Benz and it's actually a pretty decent little performer and handles quite nicely as well. The six would just add weight right where I don't want it and drink more gas. This version of the m102 is one of the last with sequential EFI instead of CIS, the engine is one of the nice parts about the car.

TX76513 · #5 12-09-2008, 04:54 PM

Cool wheel covers. Keep you from messing with brake dust!
Nice Catch

todds · #6 12-10-2008, 05:09 PM

Bleah, well one problem I'm encountering is trying to mount my US plates on a euro bracket in the front. In the rear it was no problem, I just drilled holes into the outside edges of a standard plate bracket and bolted it to the car then bolted the plates on as usual.

The front isn't so easy, the holes for the plates are really far apart and a standard plate bracket won't reach. Any suggestions? MA is pretty strict about this unfortunately, I don't think they'll let me pass inspection without it.

kalpol · #7 12-10-2008, 05:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by todds

Bleah, well one problem I'm encountering is trying to mount my US plates on a euro bracket in the front. In the rear it was no problem, I just drilled holes into the outside edges of a standard plate bracket and bolted it to the car then bolted the plates on as usual.

The front isn't so easy, the holes for the plates are really far apart and a standard plate bracket won't reach. Any suggestions? MA is pretty strict about this unfortunately, I don't think they'll let me pass inspection without it.

hang it like a picture...get some steel cable and use the existing holes for screws to hold a loop at each end of the cable so it's very taut. thread it through the license plate holes. paint to match, if you like.

nhdoc · #8 12-11-2008, 10:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kalpol

hang it like a picture...get some steel cable and use the existing holes for screws to hold a loop at each end of the cable so it's very taut. thread it through the license plate holes. paint to match, if you like.

That probably won't pass inspection - as Todd says they check things like this and give you a hard time unless the mount looks stock. You might have to drill a couple of holes in the bumper to mount your generic bracket but I have found the ones which are solid plastic work well. When I bought my E300 it had no front bracket and to mount the OEM one I had to drill holes too! I would have thought they would come pre-drilled but no.

Nice car, good luck with it.

LUVMBDiesels · #9 12-11-2008, 11:56 AM

Cool car. It is not as rare as you think. Many FSOs (Foreign Service Officers) buy taxi versions of MB or VW cars. They need relatively cheep transportation that will hold up in spme pretty off the beaten path places like Dushambe ot Tashkent. My wife was stationed in Central Asia and she had a stripped out Golf, while the boys from CIA tooled around in MB Taxis W123 and W201 models. They lasted on some pretty stinky fuel and almost nonexistant roads. That would be my only concern. If this car has been around the world, who knows what fuel it was burning.

alabbasi · #10 12-11-2008, 12:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by todds

And, this cracks me up: electric pass mirror only, driver is manual!

That's quite normal! Do the US spec 201's have electric mirrors on both side? I think the same applied for the W124's and the W126's in Europe.

It makes sense also because it it's actually much easier to adjust the mirror with the inside hand control on the drivers side then it is to mess with the electric buttons.

bluebenz · #11 12-11-2008, 09:38 PM

Nice car! I really like the headlights and small bumpers! Congrats! Great price too!

acesfull · #12 12-13-2008, 08:32 PM

Hi All

Good luck with your new friend. The wheels are great and different.. Never saw them before. Take care.

acesfull

bgkast · #13 12-13-2008, 10:45 PM

Wow, it was just imported It still has the saudi plates. Strange. Looks like a nice ride

Tomguy · #14 12-14-2008, 08:50 AM

Suggestion: Rather than drilling holes into the bumper, just drill holes into the plate to mount it in the front bumper. Car looks too nice to mess with!

cheapold280ce · #15 12-14-2008, 06:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tomguy

Suggestion: Rather than drilling holes into the bumper, just drill holes into the plate to mount it in the front bumper. Car looks too nice to mess with!

like he said take off the saudi plate center you plate to it making sure you don't cover the saudi plate mounting locations and drill and pop rivet your USA plate to it and remount saudi plate and your done.