There are several threads in the archives about which year 124 cars were fastest, and what the differences were on a year-by-year basis in rear axlle ratio, weight, and transmission settings. ( example ) There are huge differences: For example, if you look under the 'CARS' tab at the top of the page, a review of the 300E says "The 1986 300E outperformed the 380 and 500 engined S-Class cars plus the contemporary Porsche 944 and IROC Z28 Camaro. A 300E is your best overall buy in a used Mercedes-Benz. Period. End of discussion." My 87 is a very quick car, and leaves my son's 93 E320 in the dust up to about 40, at which point he can accelerate away without any problems.

The downside is that it has such a stump puling rear axle that it pulls ~3500 rpm at 70 and gets 3-4 LESS mpg than my son's 93. So you can vary the performance a lot by choosing the model year.

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John

2003 Firemist Red/grey leather SL 500
2015 Palladium Silver/black mbtex GLK 350
1987 Smoke Silver/burgundy mbtex 300E Sportline (SOLD)

Click to see 87 300E