What makes it stupidly difficult when to tell what year the changes arrived is due to the fact that Benz made the chassis change in 1993, to 124.032, but left the badge the same, 300E.

1993 300E's have the 3.2 liter M104 engine, have the bigger brakes, and have the interior upgrades that all 1994-1995 Mercedes E class cars have. 1993 300E's just didn't get the exterior upgrades.

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Paul S.

2001 E430, Bourdeaux Red, Oyster interior.
79,200 miles.

1973 280SE 4.5, 170,000 miles. 568 Signal Red, Black MB Tex. "The Red Baron".

Yes, but that assumes that the exterior upgrades are appealing.
Personally, I dislike the mono color thing where the lower cladding and
the bumpers are all the same color. I like the contrasts of the pre-94 exteriors.

Interior upgrades can be similarly challenged. You gain the passenger airbag and loose the glove box. You gain the flip top arm rest. You gain the remote control of the drivers mirror. Nice but no big deal. I have swapped the driver's seat from the '93 to the '92 and so I have the glovebox and the arm rest box.

'93 up have bigger brakes. So what, I have absolutely never come close to
maxing out the brakes on the '92 300E or my former '90 300E.

I have read that '94 - '95 have softer suspensions and more sound deadening materials. Both mine are factory sportline. I have driven a couple of '95's and they felt very tippy, if that's a word.

On the M103 versus M104 comparison, I prefer the M103 to the M104 that I specifically have in my '93. However, most of this is due to the slight hesitation from stop that the '93 exhibits. I suspect this is abnormal, but I bought the thing on a whim, and don't really drive it. My mechanic says that the M104 is virtually bulletproof. He has never had to do a valve job on a M104. My '93 has 254,000 miles on it. It has had a head gasket, but no
valve job. Runs great.

Steve

Here's my take on the issue. I like both engines but one more than the other. My pick is the 103 for several reasons. There is less valvetrain mass and less parts. The 103s single row chain is still just as durable because it's 'single cam' load is less. There are a lot more cam advancer issues with 104s than distributor ignition problems on the 103s. I've seen a few 104s with pronounced piston slap around the 100k mark I've only ever seen one 103 with bottom end problems. (that wasn't the result of being a moron) The #1 exhaust valve broke (blame the valvetrain for the failure) and it took the piston off the rod and put it in the oil pan. Meanwhile this car drives to the shop with a loud knock. Upon disassembly I found the rod whole with the pin still in tact. It had beat a 1 inch groove into either side of the bore. I remember being impressed

FWIW Although I'm biased towards the 103 my boss at work often jokingly refers to me as "104" given the sheer volome of those that I work on.

I guess that my biggest bias to the 103 has to do with the pair of turbo manifolds that I have which are 103 specific