My SDL would be an eight.

The only thing I hear is the leather stretching.....

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Enough about me, how are you doing?

OK.. I'll jump on board..


89 300 SEL I'll give it an 8, something about the front doors squeaks on rough roads, but on most roads, it's pretty quiet.

92 Park Ave Ultra W/ 200K still gets a 10.. Solid as a rock, a little wind noise above 80, but not bad..

88 Jeep Wagoneer (Cherokee) well it's a Jeep.. It's noisy, it rattles, and squeeks, it's lifted SOME.. But at highway speed, the tires, and stereo drown out all other noises. And since it's been totaled once, and I have no money in it, and it's WAY dependable, I'll give it a 5...

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89 300SEL Money Pit

92 Blown Buick Ultra Pimpmobile 220K and adding 1K per week

88 Wagoneer Slightly modified (Not for soccer moms)

04 Kia Sedona with every option... NICE

84 SD: Squeaks from doors where wood has delaminated from aluminum substrate; squeaks from front seats; don't feel road bumps, but do hear them.
83 SD: Only hear road bumps and some wind noise.
88 Lincoln: Lots of wind noise, nothing else.

Jerry

My 1994 C180 has a door rattle recently possibly due to loose locking cable from a door panel repair work done last November. May open up to sort this out soon. The other noise is the squeak from the seatbelt retracting assembly in the door pillar when I move around in my seat. Recent squeaks coming from the rear sus. possibly due to shocks reaching expiry date(some liquid looking leak visible on the pistons). This squeak comes only when I run over the road speed bumps, otherwise they are silent.

'98 E320 - 10 (with one exception). The front passenger used to squeak when it rubbed against the seat. I placed a discreet piece of velcro (the fuzzy side) on the seat belt recepticle and problem solved.

'01 Ranger w/ quad doors - 5. The quad doors squeak with every irregularity in the road! Otherwise, it is quite good.

'94 Ranger - 8. Suprisingly squeak free.

'98 Civic - 8. Lots of small squeaks that my wife never noticed. Remarkably well-built car for the money.

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1998 E320 120K mi
1991 Miata 80K mi
2001 Ranger 109K mi

My 190e which is 14 years and nearly 200,000 miles old
has a rattly passenger door lock, a squeeking
ventilation blower bearing and ocassional rattly from door trims BUT the door rattle is only over bumps, the bearing is usually quiet and the trim is'nt secured at the moment as the rear door windows don't work (a job on hold!) So its not bad at all really....7/10

Mike.

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http://img4.photobucket.com/albums/0...nd_sig_pic.jpg

1990 Euro 190e 2.0l Petrol Now Sold Maybe a w116 280se next

Duke,

My wife 87 16V has that groan in the C piilar. Drives me crazy. Other than that, its pretty tight for a 17 year old car with 150k. Although it rides like a truck, but handles great. I would rate it about a 7.

Tinker

Well, other than that rare rattle, my 92 Buick really does not have any other rattles, but rather some "ticking" sounds from some of the plastic interior trim- if the interior is cold. Its pretty impressive for a 11 year old American car with 152K. The strong, southern sunshine seems to have hardened a lot of the interior vinyl in this old car. The padded panels are no longer very soft, when the interior is cold, like they were when it was new.

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2004 Toyota Sequoia Limited 4wd
1991 Lincoln Town Car Executive
1991 Cadillac Sedan DeVille
1988 Mercedes 300SEL
1972 Chevrolet Caprice Kingswood Estate 9-passenger wagon
1973 Pontiac Grand Ville
(Prior MB's: 1974 240D, 1985 380SE, 1984 190D, 1993 400SEL)

'87 300E #8 - minimal rattles/squeeks
'92 400E #9.5 - solid as a rock and quiet as a church mouse

I have driven several 126 body cars 420 SEL 560 SEL and I noticed something with all of them..."creeking" I wouldn't categorize it as rattles or squeeks but more the sound of the various leather surfaces and other upholstry fabrics rubbing as the big ship turned or accelerated.

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Jeff
'87 300E
'92 400E
'06 ML350

1984 380SE. 147,000 miles. No rattles or squeaks. No squeeks or creeks, either. The other day, I had to give a neighbor lady a ride to the doctor, and she commented on how nice the car was. I thanked her ... and didn't charge her for the taxi service.

I like the "BIG SHIP" part.. AKA "land yacht".. Floating down the road..

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89 300SEL Money Pit

92 Blown Buick Ultra Pimpmobile 220K and adding 1K per week

88 Wagoneer Slightly modified (Not for soccer moms)

04 Kia Sedona with every option... NICE

I'll jump in, and restrict my comments to the Benzes I've owned or driven in:

1. (currently) '77 450 SEL (W116-Euro)....10.5
Best overall car for structural integrity I've had. Honestly. Although only 69K on clock and only 2nd owner, all life in Southern climes, NO interior sqeeks at all. Also, car quieter when closed up than with windows and roof poppped open. Any road noise quite muffled. The best, hands down.

2. W126 cars...I've owned 300SD, 560 SEC, 420 SEL..all with varying mileages when purchased. All had the plastic noises and upholstery issues previously mentioned........7.0
Also noticed cars accentuated road noises and translated them when closed up; chassis less balanced than on W116. Clearly, vs. W116, a tradeoff between classy styling (126s) vs. total quality but utilitarian styling.(W116). I'm convinced that the 126's, unfortunately, were the early harbingers of MB moving to too much hard plastic on interiors and cheaper laminated wood trim.

3. W123 (230; 240D; 300D-TD sedan). Great cars; good integrity; few if any interior noises. '83 240D with manual gearbox was best. 9.0

4. R107 cars ('85 380 SL; '84 380 SL). Solid, with no real interior noises. But with tops on or up, lots of noise. But overall good.

8.0

5. '98 E420. Owned by a former boss. Rough riding; translated more road irregularities through structure than I would consider consistent with the true MB 'feel'. Lots of panel plastic noises.
Sorry folks, the new ones aren't Benzes in the old tradition.

6.0

My car get noisy in the cold. Plastic on plastic squeaks from the doors, leather squeaks from the rear seats and the wind noise is not acceptable. I have cars that are three times it's age and they're much quiter all around. Other than that, can't complain too much. So I'd give it a 6.

First off, never had a car as quiet as my last, a 90 Lexus. All I could hear was a slight ticking from the mechanical dash mounted odometer, the rest of the car was so quiet that this ticking sound almost drove me nuts! Lexus gets a 10!

As far as the Mercedes I've owned,

The loudest was the 450SL with the top down of course! With the hardtop mounted it wasn't much quieter though but I did get rid of a lot of noise by resealing the side windows, a common problem it seems. BTW, it was one of the loosest handling cars I've ever had, downright scary at times. 450 gets a 5

My 380 SEL had numerous creaks inside, mostly plastic trim and petrified leather sounds. 380 gets a 6

The current 420 has been the quietest so far mostly at highway speeds, but at low speeds in town on rough roads it has a bit of creaking at the front doors, probably the sill plates and door panels. It is one thing I need to address, other than the Lexus being sooo quiet I really don't miss it, the Benz is by far much classier. Besides, the Lexus kinda bored me as nothing ever went wrong with it. Sounds crazy, huh?? 420 gets a 8

Chas

I agree 100%. I currently have a 90 Lexus LS400 and despite 226,500 miles- it is still 100% rattle and squeak free. About the only real noise heard is where the leather seats will sometimes make a "tick" sound from time to time when I go over sharp pavement expansion gaps. This may be in part that the car is 14 years old and the weather (heat/sun) can really shrinken the interior (leather seats and vinyl trim and dash pads), despite the fact that the interior still looks like new and the leather is still soft. The only other interior sound I hear is something in my frot suspension clunking occasionally over some bumps. Maybe time for new struts on the front or some bushings. Luckily I do not have the odometer "ticking" sound nor have heard of any other LS400 owners on the Lexus forums mention this, so it must be rare. As far as wind and road noise- these LS400s are extremely quiet- even at 80+ mph. Someone on the Lexus site said that they have had their LS400 to 145 mph and you could still hear a whisper.

The last 84 300SD test I drove had 336K and it was virtually rattle and squeak free on wavy pavement.

I am a fanatic when it comes to rattles and squeaks or any other unusual interior sounds, which is why I posted this topic. I am trying to find out which Mercedes has the quietest interior, so I will have a better chance of buying a rattle-free Mercedes and have good chance of it staying that way.

Thanks again for all of the replies. It has really gotten a lot of responses.

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2004 Toyota Sequoia Limited 4wd
1991 Lincoln Town Car Executive
1991 Cadillac Sedan DeVille
1988 Mercedes 300SEL
1972 Chevrolet Caprice Kingswood Estate 9-passenger wagon
1973 Pontiac Grand Ville
(Prior MB's: 1974 240D, 1985 380SE, 1984 190D, 1993 400SEL)