Advice on a purchase of a Wagon - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

cphilip · #1 11-21-2008, 09:35 PM

Put this here for no better place to do so. Originally had posted in wrong place for certain.... but I digress....

I am sort of toying with two different era's here in a W126 and a later E class wagon. Gassers both of them...

Situation is:

The wife wants a grocery getter for her normal Saturday outing with her mom. Thats when they do all their grocery shopping and all. And daily, she takes her SLK 230 as her daily driver to work and back. Good fuel mileage and fun. About an 8 mile trip each way. So she only would be using this car once, and rarely, twice a week for round trip of perhaps 30 miles or so. Currently she has her old 1996 Nissan Pathfinder she uses for that. It has about 135K miles on it. No problems with it. But she thinks it would be a bit more comfortable to have a Wagon for this. So I am game.

Me? I would be looking for an old W123 300TD if it was me. But I have a W123 300D - turbo that I use for my daily driver. And I do have the huge F350 Crew Cab dually for towing toys so I don't find that one appropriate for them to try and park in various shopping Malls etc. Plus her mom is probably going to have trouble getting in and out of it too. So thats just overkill and not workable. And I also think that one "tinkering car" (aka my 123) is enough in the family. So I have ruled out a TD for this (although I personally would rather have one)

Currently thinking about a 300TE and a later E320 (but something else might come along too in the search). The TE is an 89 with about 171K on it. Leather and 6 cylinder and the E320 is a 95 with 143K on it and also a 6 cylinder with leather too.

So which variant would be best. Fuel economy is not too critical since its only a once a week car. I think the W126's were very reliable too. I am leaning this way right now because I can pick that up a bit cheaper. About 2 grand cheaper for that matter. Similar condition but a tad more age wear on the TE. However I am currently open minded about any reliability problems some of you might can tell me about. On either range of them. No rust on either of them. Both Southern cars.

Another reason I am leaning to the W126 is that my Father in Law has a 91 420 SEL that has 250K on it now with not too many repairs and still going strong. I think he had the Tranny rebuilt just recently (at around 200K I think it was but he never changed the fluid on the old one... EVER!) and some sort of fuel controller module rebuilt is all the major things he has done to it. Perhaps a couple grands worth of major repairs into it in the entire time he has owned it and he is the original owner. The rest have been minor and routine.

One more thing about the TE over the E320 is that the TE has stamped records from MB up until 145K of its life. So a lot of it. The E320 does not.

So what say you. Whats good about the older 300TE that has it over the later E320? Or visa versa?

94Wagenmeister · #2 11-21-2008, 11:53 PM

The E320 isn't even broken in yet. Go for the other one.

C280 Sport · #3 11-22-2008, 12:02 AM

Funny I have been looking at wagons also. I would say go with that 1995 E320. The E Class has always been a great car

cphilip · #4 11-22-2008, 12:49 AM

The main thing made me lean to the older TE is the records. And of course the price is attractive allowing some 2 grand difference for repairs.

So far the lean from you guys is the E 320 though.

Ferdman · #5 11-22-2008, 07:20 AM

I would opt for the 1995 E320, but have a PPI (pre-purchase inspection) done by a MB-trained tech so you are aware of any imminent major repairs. I prefer the ride and handling of our 1995 E320 sedan over our 1998 E320 sedan. They are exceptional automobiles.

cphilip · #6 11-22-2008, 11:51 AM

Interesting. I have heard that the TE variant had a superior ride to its cousin though. Not certain what is different now why it is called the Estate. Can't seem to find much detailed descriptions of it.

Let me ask you this... did the earlier 6 cylinders have less propensity to have head gasket issues than the later variants?