I'll try this again. Just purchased a 94 E420 w/60k this week. I know about E500s and Porsche, etc. Is there anything trick about the 420 over the 320 besides the motor? Does anyone have some performance stats on this car or know where to find it? Gets great MPG compared to my 560. Got 23.8 on first fillup and that was under a pretty heavy throttle(wanted to see what it would do).

Check for a general overview of the model under the "cars" tab at the top of the page. If you need more detailed info, reprints of the Car and Driver tests of 400E MBs were done 11/1991, 4/1992, and 3 1993, and are available as reprints at http://www.spacebears.com/zines/cardrive.html . Hope this helps.

Here's a page with some overall general information:

http://home.earthlink.net/~patglenn/m.html.

Nothing flashy, just scroll down until you find you car.

Brian W.

Thanks guys, Believe it or not I can't break them loose in a straight line. It breaks loose for a second and then hooks. ASR? If so I would like to know how to shut it off. The tires seem skinny but like I said, no boiling the hides.

I believe the only way to shut off the ASR is with a switch like the one at http://www.precisionauto.com (they don't list it online, but it is in their paper catalog). I may be wrong on this, as a V8 E is still just in the planning stages for me.

Hard to launch?
 

The 400E/E420 (without ASR)cars were hard to launch but get great mileage due to the fact they all had an autobahn rear ratio of 2.24-1 Fat chance we'll ever get to use all that gear on the interstate! Best to change to a 500E ratio or lower as I plan to do to my 400E which is third in line to be worked on. My new limited slip 3.08 diff is sitting on the floor now waiting to be driven!

TobiasMB
4 MBs

So it does NOT have ASR, correct. It gets good enough for a grocery getter and is a joy to drive. My 560 will smoke them up if locked in 1st. this starts in 1st and justs grabs the pavement.

I have a '93 400E and love it. Yes, there are many differences between the 400E/E420 and 300E/E320. MB publishes a short booklet detailing these; call 1-800-FORMERC and they can probably figure out which one you're talking about. I do recall that the antisway bars and springs are larger diameter than the standard W124 ones, but there are many, many other little differences.

Went on a 200 mile trip this weekend. Got over 25 MPG and I was running 80+ the whole time. Did a nice burnout(50 ft +) pulling out yesterday too. So much for good traction.