esteemed posters:

Searched through the archives and can't seem to find any threads directed at W124 V8's and their poor-weather performance. An E420 will be near the top of the list for my for my next 'new' car, and I plan on (gasp!) taking it up skiing on occasion. My questions is, how well does the RWD w/ASR setup handle snow/ice on roads?

Most rwd cars can be quite a handful (to me) on slick roads, but the near perfect weight distribution of the Benz's, and the good things I've heard about ASR in foul weather, lead me to believe they're not too poor of handlers of these conditions. Can anyone share experiences? WIth similar cars even 300E's 500E's?

ALso, bing in the Pacific Northwest, I encounter slushy roads most frequently, but there are enough days when the mountain passes are compact snow/ice too....

Many thanks in advance

- Ryan

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'95 E420 - 'Shadowfax' 138kmi.
'92 Volvo 740Turbo Bard 193kmi
'74 240D - 'Ol' Green' 4spd Manual 104kmi. (sold )
'77 300D - 'Red' 223kmi (sold)
'75 240D - 'Bianca the Blue Bomber' (sold)

With ASR and proper snow tires, you can get through nearly anything one would expect to encounter on a paved road. Without ASR I'd think a 400E/E420 would be a handful, what with the torque available.

To date (knock on wood) I've never gotten stuck in any of my Benzes (and I've driven in truly horrible New England weather)

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"If God had meant for us to walk, why did he give us feet that fit car pedals?" Sir Sterling Moss

Michael
2014 E63S Estate
2006 SLK55
1995 E500
1986 Porsche 944 turbo

Diesel dude

If you are going to Crystal, Stevens, Baker or Whistler without chains you will be doing pirouettes in anything less than good conditions, plus you’ll be one of those folks holding up 20 others; if you’re going to the Pass you’ll be fine.

BTW, you might look into one of the E430 4-matics. In a word: Fabulous!

Hope to see you at Crystal! I’m going up tomorrow – 20” of snow overnight with more on the way. Talk about prayers answered!!!

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...Tracy

'00 ML320 "Casper"
'92 400E "Stella"

I wouldn't hesitate to drive an E420 in winter conditions. Get some premium snow tires, and you're good to go.

Talk to Dean Albrecht. He drives his E500 to the mountains and drives it all winter, here in the Frozen North. No problemo...

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John Shellenberg
1998 C230 "Black Betty" 240K

http://img31.exs.cx/img31/4050/tophat6.gif

Took my 500E out for a dance in the rain yesterday. It was fun to see how sophisticated this car is in bad weather. Put a little power to it in low-speed corners and you can feel a smooth transition into ASR as the tail starts to come out. Sort of like a nanny reining you in! The Bridgestone S-03's are really nice in the rain. I didn't encounter any standing water, but on the wet roads they were really nice.

But being in California, I can always "choose" when I want to go to the snow, instead of having the snow come to me. As such, I'll always take my Tahoe to the mountains! I may have a daily driver, but the Tahoe is made for ski trips!

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Mark Stetson
1995 E320 Wagon Moonstone Grey/Parchment 106K mi.
2007 E63 AMG Graphite/designo 75K mi

I have a lowly E320 :-) and I've never had a problem in the snow in Rochester,NY.

I throw on some Pirelli snow tires and I've never been stuck or slid off the road.

There were a couple times I felt the back end coming loose but there was ample warning to slow down and recover. You don't need F1 driver reflexes to recover.

Hope this helps,
Ren

PS I'm keen on getting an E420 also. I drove it in the rain pretty hard and it was nice and stable. I can't imagine it would be worse to drive in the snow as my E320. Yes the engine has more power and lots of passing power in reserve, but if you can avoid the stomping of the accelerator and drive the car smooth you should be fine.

Thanks all for the input! (especially Labenz's local info! The Pass used to be my regular hang, but just moved further north so Stevens will be my hill of choice when I don't want to strap on the snowshoes ) . While the E430 4-matic is pretty close to my dream car, the price point as compared to a W124 is over a %100 increase

Seems from responses that prudence on part of the driver and a good set of winter shoes makes the cars pretty predictable (more important to me than being able to crawl through drifts and un-plowed parking lots after huge dumps)

Used W210 E320 4M's are coming down in price too, but I really appreciate the build quality and more traditional solidilty of the W124 V8's...

Thanks again all,
- Ryan

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'95 E420 - 'Shadowfax' 138kmi.
'92 Volvo 740Turbo Bard 193kmi
'74 240D - 'Ol' Green' 4spd Manual 104kmi. (sold )
'77 300D - 'Red' 223kmi (sold)
'75 240D - 'Bianca the Blue Bomber' (sold)

Ryan,

Have you thought about the 300E 4Matics? These were all the six cylinder cars, and the 4Matic system differs significantly from the current version, but you do get the "build quality" you are looking for. Prices are considerably lower than the E320 4Matics.

I haven't driven the newer 4Matics, but I would expect the constant split, front and rear, to be superior to the older version (which, if I recall correctly, applies 100% of power to the rear wheels, except when starting up to 20kph), then shifts some power to the front wheels upon wheel slippage.

Has anyone driven both? What are your impressions?

Regards,
Bob

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'94 E500 Anthracite
'92 300E 4Matic (donated to charity)
'90 300TE 4Matic

well... I just thought I should chime in... I have a 92 300e, without ASR and such. It doesn't even have limited-slip... and let me tell you... its truly a handful in foul weather. The slightest accelretor input is enough to send one of the wheels into a spinning frenzy... which is quite annoying. But I think if you get a car with ASR you should be fine. Or... if you get a 4matic... you will not have any slippage problems....

We bought a 1995 E420 in May 2000. When it is wet on the street, the power of this car makes it very easy to spin the wheels. Our car does not have ASR on it. Last winter we put four Michelin Arctic Alpins on the car. My wife drove it daily for work and it got around very well in snow and ice with those tires. You just need to accelerate slowly to avoid wheel spin. I never felt worried about traction with these tires and we had a very bad winter last year. The Arctic Alpins also handle well in normal driving conditions. Prior to that she drove a 1983 300D with four Bridgestone Blizzaks and the W123 car probably got around better because of the diesel engine and less power. If you do a search for snow tires on this site you should find additional reports from E420 owners and driving in winter conditions.

Hi guys, just test drove a '94 E320 wagon, just to see what the wagons felt like compared to the sedans. This model didn't have ASR and we had a serious rain/wind storm yesterday. It was quite easy to break the wheels free from stop lights. With the additional torque of a V-8, (and from others comments) I don't think I'll consider one w/out ASR I was impressed with the six's power though!

Bob, I had considered the '91-'93 4m's, but further research revealed those older AWD systems to be overly-complex and maintenance-intenseive (read $$). Not to mention those years had the 177 hp six as opposed to the 200+ of the later model years (I do want a high-performance car afterall).

From you New-Englander's experiences alone (I've seen enough film footage of those winters), I'm not feeling too worried about a 124 with ASR and Snowshoes

Thanks again all, I'll let you know what eventually fills my garage.

- Ryan

__________________
'95 E420 - 'Shadowfax' 138kmi.
'92 Volvo 740Turbo Bard 193kmi
'74 240D - 'Ol' Green' 4spd Manual 104kmi. (sold )
'77 300D - 'Red' 223kmi (sold)
'75 240D - 'Bianca the Blue Bomber' (sold)

dieseldude:

With proper tires 4-Matic is not needed to handle ice and snow conditions in my experience. I use Blizzaks on my E500 to handle the ice and snow in the Northeast and they work well. I also used Blizzaks on a 95 E320 wagon with ASR. I used studded snow tires on a 90 300E with no traction control. While the traction was great in ice and snow they were very noisy on dry roads.

I was going to have my snows and rims put on this weekend but the temperature was 70 degrees on Saturday so I will wait a few more days. The soft rubber compound wears out quickly on dry roads.

My old 92 400e with asr and blizzaks was almost undriveable here in Rochester NY . I finally gave up and bought a fwd junker for the winter. Just for the record I used to hold a rally licence and ran rallies for years.
The ASR is a problem if there is a hill or if you build up snow on one tire tread. The car just stops with the wheels kicking on and off.

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John
92 500e, 85k, silver/gray,all stock.
96 Club Wagon,Hypertech chipped( College Hauler)
97 320 SL 50k
1980 BMW e21 323 Baur conv.
1990 300GE 99k

I am in Michigan and I see lots of snow in the winter.

I have had no problems in the last five years by using a full set of snow tires and two bags of water softner salt in the trunnk. No ASP, no ETS, just plain differential.

Even w/out ASR,w/four winter tires all
around and an educated foot,you will
be fine.