Wanted Diesel Mercedes Estate - Ideally E Series

[messerschmitt owner]

Wanted Diesel Mercedes Estate - Ideally E Series but I will go for a C seriesHave about £1500 burning a hole in my pocket - PM me if you know of any up to that kind of budget. Am looking at the Bay of Hell, Autotrader and Mercedes car finder alreadyDon't care about colour or mileage but do care that it has a decent length of MoT and evidence of a service history.

[Peter C]

£1,500 might just about be enough to buy a half decent W124 estate. Watch out for corrosion of the rear self levelling suspension pipes and check the condition of the rear shock absorbers (very expensive to replace).At that price front wings will be rusty and the driver's seat side bolster is likely to be worn.Good luck!

[messerschmitt owner]

Peterlast one I had (a W123) was like that and I fixed all of the issues it had - thanks for the advice on what to look for. Am looking at anything from a W124 to an E-class up to about an R/S reg.I can pick up a petrol easily within budget but a diesel is harder to find and I want something that averages 40mpg.

[Peter C]

MS,Last year I had a W124 200TE and a W124 230E. Now I have a W123 230E. The year before I had a lovely 190E.... you get the picture.Problems I had with my W124s:SRS pipes on the estate - was quoted £500 by an independent to replace but have since found out that they can be fixed (by cutting out rotten sections and connecting up new pipework.Noisy manual gearbox - knackered bearing of some sort.Corrosion - externally just front corners of front wings but the front suspension lower mounts were rotten on my 200TE!Knocking shock absorbers.Loose baffles in the exhaust.Non functioning rear electric windows.Worn side seat bolster.Petrol models tend to idle unevenly, but diesels should not suffer the same faults.Squeaking brakes.Now, I know that the above faults can affect most cars, but considering how tough old Mercs are meant to be, the list of defects that my cars suffered from was quite long.I am not a fan of the W210 cars. Bodywork is often corroded, electrics aren't great, trim is fragile.... they were a poor replacement of the sturdy W124.My W123 is not without its faults, but when they get that old they warrant investment.Let me know what you find!Peter C

[messerschmitt owner]

if I was buying a petrol one, I think this would be on my driveway

 

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/MERCEDES-E220-AUT ... 35a778e449

[bigstraight6]

How about a BMW oil belcher wagon? from personal experience the BMW straight 6 diesel is a truly superb engine, this one looks worth a look at a long established Westcountry dealer....

 

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1993-L-BMW-525-2- ... 53e0189999

[Milford Cubicle]

Does your mileage justify buying a diesel? Those old-school diesels are little more economical to run than the petrol versions, and in the Mercedes W124's case, much much slower, yet petrols are so much cheaper to buy.

[messerschmitt owner]

the diseasel is cheaper if you're keeping it for more than a year and doing 10000 miles a year - not just in fuel but maintenance too

[Milford Cubicle]

I like diesels, but I think that's a fallacy.

Those old IDI diesels have short service intervals, so you might be changing the oil and filter twice as much as in a petrol car.

 

A 300D averages 37MPG and will cost £1423 to fuel over 10k.

A 220E averages 32MPG and will cost £1647 to fuel over 10k.

 

The savings don't stack up when you consider how much of a premium diesel Mercs hold over their petrol equivalents.

Unless you really want a diesel for its simplicity for example (which I'd agree with) it makes no sense.

[messerschmitt owner]

Its the simplicity, you may do twice the oil changes but rarely do you have to change glow plugs - six (sometimes twelve) plugs at £4 a pop every 20,000 miles adds up. Service interval is 10,000 miles IIRC on an E Series.The residual values are also always better so if I wanted to sell, I would in theory get more money.My Merc sprinter does 21mpg But I do think I could push a diesel merc over 40mpg.I also want the size of a Merc estate - it has to carry three people plus 1/3 ton of stuff too on a regular basis.

[dieselnutjob]

some people (such as me) prefer diesels and think that they are worth the premium. People who don't like diesel assume that the only reason to run one is to save money, but for diesel fans there are other advantages.The engines last longer and are more dependable.They don't suffer from damp in the electrics or fuel vaporisation.They don't need need a choke and run just as well cold as hot without the stalling etc that seems to happen with carby petrol engines unless perfectly adjusted.They never need tuning.The torque characteristics are more suitable for ordinary driving, driving in cities and bad traffic, and driving in snow.They are definitely better for towing.Being able to go at least 25% further on a tank of fuel. Do you really like stopping at petrol stations?I understand that many enthusiastic drivers don't like the noise or (lack of) performance, but those of us who want to chug around in a relaxed, reliable, utterly dependable kind of way, diesels tick many of the boxes.If you don't like them then none of these points will make any impression on you at all, but for me it's the other way around. My first car was a diesel and most since have been. Accelerating upto 6000rpm in a V6 or V8 petrol is nice, but I can only drive like that 1% of the time and the disadvantages of petrol engines are not worth it overall for me to get that 1%.

[messerschmitt owner]

you save £200 a year on fuel, servicing probably comes in at 25 per cent less, the engine is simpler and probably (but not necessarily more reliable), will last longer (and I know we're talking mercs here, but, it will).A decent petrol Mercedes will cost £1000, a decent diesel £1500!You will, for a T&T'd car get a better price a further two years down the line, so you save £200-250 a year and have a car worth more money, thereby cancelling out the extra you paid.I don't think you lose anything over the petrol car, and probably still come quids in. Everything improves the more mileage you do, so if I did 20k miles, I'd save £400 on fuel per year plus perhaps £100 on servicing (the cost of the plugs), making a saving of £500 over the petrol car.Don't care if it is slow, I have a sports car for driving quickly, I want reliability, ease of maintenance (as I'll be doing it) and economy.With a merc, more so than any other car, the owners tend to look after them and keep them a long time, making it easier to buy a car with a proper history.

[Milford Cubicle]

See, those are the reasons I like diesels... I just think the "they are 'x' amount cheaper to run" arguments fall flat.

[pogweasel]

I have been recently looking at similar vehicles for us, though with a slightly bigger budget... the gulf between pez & dizzle ones to buy is quite large at the sort of cash I want to spend... but I am still struggling to convince Er Indoors that it doesn't HAVE to be diesel.Things on the list 'cars' wise are E-class Mercs, Audi A6 & Volvo V70... for £4-£5000 you can get an intergalatic miled 9 year old version with a diesel, or a FSH, 10k a year 5 year old pez flavour. Plus as we no longer doing huge mileage in the family fare as I have my van for work, do we need to pay more for fuel?I doubt I am going to win the arguement though. Or end up with one of the nice things from the list above as she keeps eyeing up dreadful PSA MPV things, which are guaranteed to snap the cambelt as soon as you drive of the forecourt, or comically fall apart like a clown car within a month or two.

[dieselnutjob]

actually....I have a Peugeot 806 HDI and it has done over 200,000 miles now.My wife mostly drives itThings that have gone wrong with itdual mass flywheel replaced twice, now has Valeo solid flywheel kitIntercooler and various boost pipes splitNeeded new injectors at about 130,000 milesMiddle and back boxSteering wheel got sharp edges on it so bought a new leather oneLast year it needed a new steering rack, though actually I think a track rod end would have been enoughPower steering pump was stuffed when I bought it and I was stupid enough to buy a recon. The next used one is still fine.The gear change is still sweat and it goes between 12000 mile services without needed an oil topup.The newer models (like 807) are less comfortable in the back because the seats are too low, and are hugely more complicated.The 806 has an engine ECU, and ABS ECU and an airbag ECU, and everything else is done with traditional sitches and wires. None of the ECUs interact with each other. The 807 has either VAN or CAN wiring and some have particulate filters, and there are about 12 ECUs that all chat to each other. Some functions require multiple ECUs to work properly.The handling of the 806 is crap though. I tried to go round a roundabout a bit quick once and nearly ended up sitting on the floor.

[dieselnutjob]

oh and the rev counter is now shagged

[messerschmitt owner]

actually, I've been looking at various things:My criteria is capable of carrying 1/3 ton of antique postcards plus wife and daughter to shows, being economical and reliable plus delivering 40mpg or better!here's the list of cars I've been looking at:Synergie/Ulysse/806 - can't find one without stellar mileage and all seem to have some problems and none are cheap for what should be old bangersMultipla - some nice 51 plate cars in the money but too weeRenault Espace/Grand Espace - the old ones all seem to be old crocksToyota TownAce/Lite Ace - all too old even if they are as funky as it gets!Toyota previa - not enough doorsam ignoring the Sharan/Galaxy/Alhambra totally and a VW Caravelle is too dearI keep on coming back to the Merc as I know from experience I can find a good 'un in the budget and it will cope with stellar miles.