Anyone clued up on 80s mercedes?

I know a bit. In general first of all, they are the best built mass-produced car I've ever come across, the quality approaches hand-built stuff. They are great to drive in their own way, very refined and quiet, smooth ride, well insulated, and usually have a good chassis as well, although the steering never has any feel and so spoils the drive on a B-road slightly, although that isn't really the point. The manual boxes aren't great, very agricultural and notchy, and very high-geared making for great cruising, but the autoboxes are some of the best around, incredibly smooth. All 80's MBs can rust, and as far as I've seen it's their only common weakness, unlike the later cars which took a sharp dive in quality and were ridddled with problems.

As for that one, there's good and bad; In it's favour, it's cheap, and it's a pre-facelift W124 which tend to be better built than later cars, and it looks to have good history. It's also a low miler, but that doesn't mean much with these, they'll go forever if looked after, I wouldn't think twice about one of these on 500k if it had history and drove well. A few downers, it's a bad colour (like mine), and basic (also like mine), but that's personal choice. Only thing that'd bother me is the model. W124s are big, heavy cars, and that one has a 109bhp single carb engine. Even the 200E with 122bhp is slow and thirsty, no better on fuel than the E220 or 230E, with a carb it'll be even worse. Even the injected cars aren't good on fuel, my smaller 190E 1.8 only does 20-25 mpg round town and that's a smaller car with a smaller fuel-injected engine, this will be worse. Myself, I'd keep an eye out for a 230E, or if fuel isn't an issue I'd be looking for a straight six 300E, the big six totally transforms the car and you'll still get 30mpg on a run.

I'd be after more like this to be honest:
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1990-G-Reg-MERCEDES-BENZ-230E-AUTO-124-SERIES-MOT-NOV-2015-NO-ADVISORIES-/321619386212?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item4ae2025f64

Or if you'd consider a W201 190 like mine this looks a decent buy:

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mercedes-190e-Automatic-/141524768830?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item20f388983e

Hope that helps

Problem with that is budget, cheap W123s are very hard to come by these days. As for the W124, the pre-facelift ones were every bit as well built as the W123, but post-facelift there was a noticeable dip. Far nicer to drive than a W123 as well, they feel a bit agricultural to me.

It seems to be a Mercedes thing, I thought there was something wrong with my 190 until I drove some other MBs

Cheers for the input everyone, I'll give that one a miss and keep looking around.

I ran this beauty for several years and it was a true tank, built like Mike Tyson. I have regretted selling it badly and believe it is now in car heaven, 190E's are going to increase in value if you find a good,rust free one and qualify easily for classic insurance.

Agreed ! I'm looking to get back into a 190 asap

Having owned both Mercs and BMW's they are a totally different drive, admittedly I owned W124's but a good friend had two 190E's and whilst they were far stiffer (especially his 2.6 Carat Duchatalet) they still didn't have the connected feel of an E30. That said the Mercs are class leaders in what they do, if you want a cruiser a Merc is the choice. As for looks, the 190E is a very handsome car. I actually like the mid range cars, I do like the old simple wheel trims. I had steels on my 230E with their factory trims and thought they looked amazing, just screaming 1980's, like the earlier chrome trims instantly dated the cars.

Then there's image, think back to the 80's. The average E30 buyer was generally a lot younger than the 190E buyer, it was pin stripe suits in a wine bar vs blazers at the local Rotary club. BMW's marketing behemoth aimed the E30 squarely at young up and comings. This perception still exists to a certain extent, goes to show the power of marketing.

Another vote for the 190 from me. Had three of them over the years and they are just great to drive. Only thing I would say about them is that I have found them a bit awkward to get in and out of. For me there's not a lot of room between the steering wheel and the seat.

probably totally out your way, but there is a lovely looking black 190E manual (spotless) for sale next to Whitley Bay cop shop (up North). Might have been £595.