Greetings all,

I have a 1988 190e 2.3 with around 261xxx miles on the orig. driveline. I am at a crossroads with this car though, as in I am in a position where I am ready to either fix eveything that is wrong with her (within reason), or part ways for a better cared for example.

A little history on this one; I only paid $800 for it over a year ago, and is has never let me down. The car runs beautifully at speed, but has an extremely rough idle.

My question is; is it feasiable in terms of longevity to sink the $$$ to fix all of the little (read: non-mechanical) and not-so-little (windshield, a/c overhaul, front struts & mounts) things on this car, or to sell it for something in a little better shape.

Honestly, the car has been pretty abused most of its life, and other than a rust-free body with like-new paint, it is in weak cosmetic shape inside and out. I just dont want to sink, say $1500 in to upgrades in her only to have the transmission fail, or face some other mechanical disaster and be forced to sell it for next to nothing.

Any advice/suggestions you have would be appriciated.

-Daniel

Germanstar1983@comcast.net

Yeah, it's tough. These are not inexpensive cars to fix up, and yours has achieved the milage where things go wrong....

It's getting on to tranny time, especially if it's not been serviced regularly, and that alone will be $1500 or more, to say nothing of front and rear shocks, rear suspension links, subframe mounts, interior stuff (the seats seem to wear out fast on these cars for some reason), and so forth.

Depends on whether you want to have a different car for the money, really. A decent shape Toyota (used) will run you $4500 and up, and at equivalent milage will be much more expensive to recondition.

If you simply cannot spend the money, you will have to replace it with another car, but I doubt if you can beat the deal you already have!

Peter

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1972 220D ?? miles
1988 300E 200,012
1987 300D Turbo killed 9/25/07, 275,000 miles
1985 Volvo 740 GLE Turobodiesel 218,000
1972 280 SE 4.5 165, 000 - It runs!

The question is, do you like the car? If you like it then it doesn't matter, if not, get one that you do like. I find myself month after month reviewing expenses and discovering the cost of driving my roadster, but I love the car, so that makes it alright. Good Luck and Hapy Benzing!
Brian

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Brian W. Heitman

www.MBCA.org/northtexas

Join MBCA!!!

I think your concern is too premature. I will not try to fix things until they actully go bad. Since you only paid $800 for the car, it depends on how much you like it. If you think it worthes your money to fix it up, then do it. Fixing the car up is still cheaper than buying a new one.

I am in the same situation. My '87 300E has about 300K on the clock. Part of me want to get something new, and the other part of me want to see how long the car last. Well, the other part won so I will keep driving the car till it leaves me stranded, then scrap yard it goes.

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95 R129
04 Infiniti G35.5 BS
10 X204

I would not sink any money into a car with 260k miles on it. You can buy a Benz with 1/3 the miles of that car for about the same amount of money you would put into fixing the big things you mention (ac overhaul, struts, etc.). I see late 80s/early 90s 190E/300E in good shape with 80-120k miles on them all the time for $4-5k asking prices (which you could probably get for $3-4k; (they will probably need $1k of work to fix everything broken on them, but you would still have a car with reasonable miles with a reasonable life expectancy).

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2005 Mercedes C230k sport sedan, 6 speed
1987 Porsche 924S - 968-engined track car

I agree with this post.

On the other hand it sure would be fun to see how many more miles you can get out of your present car.

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1994 C 280 117.5k, White (Good as new)
1997 Toyota Camry 149k Miles (Not so pretty anymore)

1990 190e 2.6 95k (Sold-Should not have)
1981 240d Stick ??? Miles...sold