Show Us Your Motors!

Associate
Joined
22 Mar 2014
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47
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England
Thanks for the warm welcome. I have a bit of a soft spot for older cars.
This is my partners car, a great workhorse and dog carrier.



I will get the camera out for some proper shots soon.

The Alpina is one of the last 3.2's Its number 181 I think. In Alpina blue over black leather.
I've not really used it much due to lack of time, bit of a shame really. But I tend to have an old luxo barge to sit in the daily traffic jams etc and something lively for the weekend.
 
Associate
Joined
22 Mar 2014
Posts
47
Location
England
:D Its a 230TE. Slow but gets the job done.

I had some old school Alps and they where mad, ballistic and complete animals. The B10 is actually very civilized and easy to drive, but the feel and turn in is more like an E30 M3!
 
Soldato
Joined
26 Mar 2006
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11,612
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United Kingdom
230TE :cool: They weren't bad back in the day. I grew up in one for a very long time. It was beige/yellow or whatever the colour was. Amazing car, didn't die at all. I think the estates Mercedes made in that era were the best. They were absolute workhorses. Modern estates don't do it for me anymore. :(
 
Associate
Joined
22 Mar 2014
Posts
47
Location
England
230TE :cool: They weren't bad back in the day. I grew up in one for a very long time. It was beige/yellow or whatever the colour was. Amazing car, didn't die at all. I think the estates Mercedes made in that era were the best. They were absolute workhorses. Modern estates don't do it for me anymore. :(

I'm with you on that, its 24 years old and has no rattles from the interior and no wind noise! The quality in these really is very good. I went to pick up some ebay finds and the guy had a bright red 124 AMG E36 wagon!:eek: I couldn't believe my eyes! Probably a bit nice for a dog wagon though!
 
Soldato
Joined
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11,612
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United Kingdom
W123's were great too. Polished bumpers :cool:. Like I said, any wagon Merc made in that era late w123/early w124's were the best. The facelift w124's weren't bad, but I still think the pre-facelift's are the one to have.

Everything after that was cack. Not sure about the new wagons, might go try them out sometime.
 

Jez

Jez

Caporegime
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
33,073
I wouldn't say anything after that was cack really? The W210's were immensely reliable and very spacious if prone to rust, but the 124 was prone also. The 211 is still a great car to this day and has aged very well indeed. Only the early 211's were unreliable which was quickly resolved. I'd say they are all pretty good :)
 
Soldato
Joined
28 Sep 2012
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3,887
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Monterrey, Mexico
I wouldn't say anything after that was cack really? The W210's were immensely reliable and very spacious if prone to rust, but the 124 was prone also. The 211 is still a great car to this day and has aged very well indeed. Only the early 211's were unreliable which was quickly resolved. I'd say they are all pretty good :)

Agreed. I don't really get the way people seem to be so obsessed with W124s. Don't get me wrong, I like them, but people on PH spend W211 money on them which seems ludicrous. And of course, after purchase they then bang on about their amazing reliability whilst replacing panels left right and centre and rewiring the entire car :p
 
Associate
Joined
22 Mar 2014
Posts
47
Location
England
Agreed. I don't really get the way people seem to be so obsessed with W124s. Don't get me wrong, I like them, but people on PH spend W211 money on them which seems ludicrous. And of course, after purchase they then bang on about their amazing reliability whilst replacing panels left right and centre and rewiring the entire car :p

The facelift 124 has the wiring loom problem as the insulation breaks down over time. Not an issue on prefacelifts. If they are not maintained properly then the rear windows leaks water, it sits in the back and causes corrosion to the rear lower corners. The rear subframe mounts suffer corrosion on some cars, and so do the front wings on most. They are made of metal and so will corrode at some point. Doesn't really affect reliability! For the age of the car they still fair quite well. Just compare them to all the other late 80's cars still in daily use after two or three hundred thousand miles!

I have recently bought a C4 Audi in a deal that just couldn't be ignored. In the Audi world they are thought of in the same light as that of a 124 is in Merc land. Not had it long but its should prove to be an interesting comparison!
 
Soldato
Joined
26 Mar 2006
Posts
11,612
Location
United Kingdom
I wouldn't say anything after that was cack really? The W210's were immensely reliable and very spacious if prone to rust, but the 124 was prone also. The 211 is still a great car to this day and has aged very well indeed. Only the early 211's were unreliable which was quickly resolved. I'd say they are all pretty good :)

They just don't seem as well built. The w211 isn't bad at all, but it's not up there with the w124. The 124's just seem to be much better, ok they're not great lookers but for the task at hand they cannot go wrong, 4matics were great too.
 
Associate
Joined
22 Mar 2014
Posts
47
Location
England
The 210 can be picked up for peanuts now, the 430 V8 being a huge amount of car for the money. The problem is, they are quite complicated and get expensive to fix as they get older (design life really is 10 years max) Also, the common corrosion point is the spring seats and they cant be checked properly just looking under the car, it needs to be on a ramp.
The 211 is a nice place to spend time and they ride very well. Just the usual Merc rust issues again.
 
Soldato
Joined
18 Nov 2011
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2,535
Location
Kent
Put a deposit down on this last night for the better half. Its a 1.5 Sport. Convinced her that a Corsa was crap and luckily she fell in love with this.

Its actually a really nice little car and has a cracking gearbox, reminds me a bit of my old EP3. It's also quite well specced for a little car, Climate, Cruise, Folding Mirrors, Projectors, Auto Lights and wipers, Steering controls. Bad phone pic with the light fading.

 
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