Test Drove a W126 SD today
 

My friend is wanting to jump on the diesel benz bandwagon. We looked at a 1982 300sd owned by my friend and local MBCA president's brother.

The car presented well; black with beige interior both in good condition. Euro lights and rare euro 16" wheels, I'm guessing from a later W126. I did notice a less than silver dollar size bubble beginning to for on the left rear quarter, but the rest of the paint seemed in pretty good condition. The interior was the high point of this car, it looked nearly showroom. The front seats were replaced from an '85 500sel and look great.

The mechanical history on this car was very suprising. The brothers bought this car in 1999 with a broken timing chain at 150k. They immediately replaced the top half of the motor, as well as the transmission a few years later. The brakes were new, AC serviced and converted in 2001, and the car had almost no blowby. Barring a bad rear window motor or ?regulator? (not sure this is the right word) and a nonfunctional power driver's seat, the car was well sorted out and showing 220k on the working odometer.

Driving the car was a pleasure. Very even acceleration, excellent braking and turning. The suspension was also very soft, unlike my lumber wagon diesel needing new suspension. The car behaved just as well, if not better than my nice W123.

A few bad points I noticed were the slight over shaking of the engine at idle probably requiring new motor mounts and the tires seemed rotten. My friend the seller had a lift at his shop, and we got a good look at some scary looking jack points in the process of collapsing, but I believe not initailly from rust, though they are now corroding? It was enough to make me nervous standing under the car. The rest of the underside looked very clean. It seemed rather unusual for a car as solid as this.

Any theories on the cause of the jack points collapsing or opinons the car in general? They are asking $3,500 for it, which seems fairly reasonable, barring the scary jack points. His brother's plans for the money consist of a downpayment on a used CDI or new C class.

I'm kind of on the fence with this car and my friend is as clueless as I was 6 months ago. The jackpoints would need to be adressed immediately, and new tires. The price is firm and they just decieded to sell the car.

I guess I would ask myself if I could do any better for that much money. Remember it could sell quickly. Then it's too late. Prices on half decent examples have been rising.
The fuel cost crunch might hurt for awhile but people will adjust and prices will continue to climb. My best example is my cheapest cost unit. The circumstances caused the price. If I had gone looking for that quality of car in it's condition it probably would have been nine times higher than what I paid to find one if not more. It kind of practically fell in my lap. Not something to count on.

Seems pricey with the rust. Has he tracked the prices on ebay? I don't think a car with that description would go for 3500 on ebay and usually that will be the high end for prices for mercedes diesels IMHO.

I don't think the price is on the higher end for Mercedes Diesels in general, but I do believe it is slightly overpriced. The fact that the transmission and heads are new makes a huge difference in my mind. Without that little fact, I probably would have encouraged him to walk.

I do think a less educated buyer would jump on this car for the price, not noticing the jackpoints.

I would say the most any reasonable person should pay for a 150k to 250k Diesel Benz 617 sedan is $6,000 if its near perfect example. That's my opinion, though there are many examples of people who paid alot more or less for them.

Not a bad price, thats what we paid for both of ours.....depends on location etc....

W126's are so much more comfortable than W123's.....it was so relaxing to be back to driving my car after using the 300D for a few weeks.

*Flame suit on* :D :D

Take a pass on the car.
 

Rust at the jackpoints = run away. Sign of lack of body integrity - a deal breaker for a used car.

Think globally --- not locally

Go to SoCal and buy a better one. Most of them have no rust problems.

The ones in Flyover country, like Kansas and Missouri, usually do.

check the buyer's guide at www.mbcoupes.com

I agree. I would never buy a rusty car, but this W126 could be a very nice driver for my friend. Are jack points repairable?

I'm thinking he should wait it out, see if the car sells, and offer $2500 if its still around in a few weeks.

Yes, you can repair the jack points from what I've read but it may be cosmetic only. If he's really interested take it to a body shop for a professional opinion and adjust the offer accordingly. If you are dealing with reasonable people (sellers) they'll probably come around and sell for less.

Okay I might of been in error. I thought you were talking about deformed lift points a lift uses. Not the jackpoints in the rocker panels. Can you clarify? Rusting there is an issue unless just surface from the protection being worn off by use. Deformation of a lift point could occur by various poor unpadded lift applications. I am not familiar with the 126 under carriage to be fair as well. If indeed the actual jackpoints are collapsing from corrosion that makes the car a slightly rust bucket type of proposition maybe.

No, it was me and my lack of car vocabulary. It is the part where a lift would elevate the car. Not the jack holes on the rocker panels.

Learn something new every day I'm on this forum.

Pics of jack hole problem?

I always have my camera in the 300d, as opportunities for photos are numerous. Today was kind of damp and cruddy, so I drove the X5.

The rocker panels are unblemished, its the front lift points that scare me. They were dented in enough to crack the undercoating, causing rust. The areas were still strong enough to lift the car, but I was kind of nervous to stand under it. I noticed no crunching noises when the car was being lifted. I've never seen this on another car before, so describing it is difficult.

sounds like someone stuck a floor jack under the floor instead of the correct place, and did some damage. Damage could be hidden and on a broader scale. I'd walk.

I agree, I had an '84 300D for a brief period before going to the SD.

Yea, I had both a W126 and a W123 83 turbodiesel at the same time.

Loved the W126 ride, and fuel mileage was a wash. Would have kept the w126, but the condition of my W123 is darn near perfect, so I kept it instead.

Looking at how fuel prices have risen, wish I'd kept both!

Jim