Learn me some Mercedes.

I have no experience with them besides my Beater Sprinter I bought with 400K miles for the state of Michigan a few years ago.   It has been unbelievably reliable, but I think it was pretty well maintained.

My CL trolling inevitably turns up a few cheap 300TEs, along with an occasional 450SLC, a 500 SL or two, and various Diesel wagons from the 80s.   

Plenty of people love the Volvo wagon, and they can be found cheap, too,, but I never hear about the Merc. How much heartache am I in for if I were to buy a Challenge Priced 300TE?  Those are the ones I have the most difficulty resisting.  I almost bought one for a two week vacation with the family around Lake Michigan, but hedged my bet with a Roadmaster wagon instead.  I'm not sure if that was the best choice, either.   

Is there anything in particular that should make me run away?  I have heard that the little things can be problematic, and parts aren't as cheap or as available as some other makes, but are they truly awful to live with/work on?

The 300te is a w124. Known to be very reliable.

Im assuming the diesel Wagons from the 80s are w123 with the om617, 617 is like mercedes most reliable engine ever. I owned a 240D with that engine. Could never die. 

450SLC will have the m117 v8 which is also reliable just learn k-jet, beautiful cars. 

500sl, r129 probably the least reliable of the ones you mentioned but still wouldn't say they're unreliable. They feel slow could benefit from a different set of gears.

Honestly my definition on reliable might be skewed. 

W124s and old diesel wagons are plenty reliable.

450SLC has a few common failure points including the pricey climate control system.

If it is a 500SL R129 and not an SL500 it predates most of the biodegradable wiring harness issues. They're pretty reliable although you might want to do the upper timing tensioners. They're cheap and actually pretty easy to do. Early R129s are also less maintenance-intensive than R107s.

I really thought I would hear horror stories that would scare me off.  

I'm not sure if it is good or not that I am hearing otherwise, but I really love me some 300TE

I believe the one thing you have to watch out on the 300TE would be the transmission. They tend to lose reverse, Yupididit probably knows more about this than me. 

 I’ve owned two 300TE, a 4matic and a rear wheel drive. Both were sub-$500 cars due to trans issues. One had no reverse, and the other had...no reverse and slippage everywhere else. Both were treated to $200 junkyard transmissions and driven for a season and sold on cheaply. At no time did either require any other work beyond standard 200000 mile car work. Interiors hold up very well and electronics are solid. Good cars.

i have a 300ce now that I bought for $500 because....the trans was broke. I’ve got 9000 miles on it since putting a $100 junkyard trans in it.

I'm a little biased. OM617 is amazing, OM602 is amazing, OM603 with the correct head casting is amazing. And that's just the 80s diesels. The gassers are strong, powerful and smooth. The cars are comfy, sporty and have some kinda weird front suspension (except the SL). Idle Clatter's fleet includes W116, W123, S123, W124, another W124, W210 and W201. Two of the cars have over 15k miles combined on track. 

I'm not sure what my dream Benz would be from that era would be. I think OM606 swapped C107 with ZF320. Mmmm

In reply to chandler :

That's a handsome automobile.

The trans have a bad rep but they are very strong. The issue is they leak and don’t get topped off so they lose reverse first. Cheap to rebuild and everything is well documented. The newest W124 is 24 years old so leaks are to be expected. The “new” trans in my coupe is leaking also but I have all the seals here to reseal it.

The latest Merc I would consider in the reliable camp is the W210.  My ex wife's E300TD went to 203k before we sold it and the only thing it needed was a radiator and a duovalve (climate control thing that controls hot water to the heater cores)

The interior looked almost new when we sold it.

I grew up worshiping the brand and have owned 2 60's era SL's. For the past 5 years my wife has driven an '02 E320 wagon. I despise the brand now. Something happened between the 70's and now. I will never own another Merc. Dozens of stupid design and/or execution mistakes. Constant electrical problems. Idiotic lack of concern for repair friendliness. "World class automobile"??? I call BS.

Whew, I feel better now!

Watch out for the decomposable wiring harnesses--I think those started in 94? Curtis may think the W210 is bulletproof, but he is about the only one. The diesels were probably way better than the gas IOCs at that point. 

The W124 and the W126 were the last of the over-engineered vehicles. Truly world class. The difference in my dads 93 W124 and his 99ML was astounding. 

mtn said:

 

The W124 and the W126 were the last of the over-engineered vehicles. Truly world class. The difference in my dads 93 W124 and his 99ML was astounding. 

The ML sucks. But the W140  and R129 were very well built infill the end of their cycle. The w126 is probably the most well built though. To be honest I like any mercedes from the late 60's until the end of 90's. 

yupididit said:

Honestly my definition on reliable might be skewed. 

... said every person who ever posted on GRM ... 

Don't be afraid of the W124 biodegradable wiring harnesses. Replacements are readily available from multiple suppliers and the swap is maybe two hours tops. A harness isn't exactly cheap... I paid like $850 for mine a handful of years back, but it was money well spent given how little the car has needed.

If you get an M104 engine, that thing is a beauty. It'll need a headgasket because the timing cover interface leaks. It's a great car.

I’ve heard good things about the w124 if you don’t mind oil consumption issues. I care about that sort of thing, but man they have nice interiors.

I have a 94 e320 w124 wagon. Bought it 3 yrs ago for 500.00. I am at I think 3000.00 total. I've fixed a lot on this car so if you get something similar I will keep an eye out for posts if you have any questions. I absolutely love the car so for me it was worth it. If you want a list of what I found to look for let me know

Cooter said:

In reply to chandler :

That's a handsome automobile.

They are very stately, I found a picture of my 4matic wagon and a friend of mines old 300e.

Edit: barely viewable there is my AMG W126 next to it

I like my 280slc but at thus point the newest slc is a 1981 so any c107 is gonna need a bit of work.  They rust like crazy and there is front subframe design problem.  

1992-96 are the years with wiring problems.  Be careful with buying an R129 because the keys are NLA for some years, so if both keys get lost or fail the car isn't good for anything but parts.  They are usually pretty easy to work on, and in my experience most really expensive parts are things you can find used, and other things you wouldn't want to buy used are mostly available and not too expensive.  W210s are only ok if they aren't rusty, but if you find a good one they are fine.  Pretty much any W126 will need $1200 worth of front suspension parts to be drivable unless it has already been done recently, and its getting hard to find good interior parts, but they are ok other than that.

I'm not a big fan of anything built past the mid 90's.  Seems Mercedes changed from being durable and long lasting to throw away appliances.   If you decide to dive in deep and go the diesel rout, there is an up front cost for specialty tools.  So far I have spent about $300.00 on various tools that are unique to Mercedes.  Generally speaking, most parts cost about the same as other cars, but you need to do a bit of research.  Aftermarket parts for older Mercs can vary in quality depending on venders.    

Sometime in the 70's through the 80's and early 90's Mercedes offered 'climate control'  type HVAC....  These can be problematic and expensive to sort out.   If you are a hands on type person then repairs and maintenance is affordable, however if you need to take the car in for repairs then you will certainly go bankrupt. 

2005 would be the last year I would want any Mercedes, and some not even that new.  That was the last year before all the cars switched from the 5 speed automatic to the 7 speed.  The conductor plate for the 5 speed transmission costs $175 and isn't terribly hard to change, the 7 speed one can only be done at the dealer (they have to copy the data from the old one and write it to the new one, or replace the whole valve body) which costs almost $2k.  That is beyond anything I am interested in dealing with.  If I had that kind of money I would buy a W220 S65 instead of a newer one anyway.

Tk8398 said:

1992-96 are the years with wiring problems.  Be careful with buying an R129 because the keys are NLA for some years, so if both keys get lost or fail the car isn't good for anything but parts.  They are usually pretty easy to work on, and in my experience most really expensive parts are things you can find used, and other things you wouldn't want to buy used are mostly available and not too expensive.  W210s are only ok if they aren't rusty, but if you find a good one they are fine.  Pretty much any W126 will need $1200 worth of front suspension parts to be drivable unless it has already been done recently, and its getting hard to find good interior parts, but they are ok other than that.

What $1200 of front suspension parts are you talking about??? The only expensive w126 suspension parts are the rear SLS parts. 

I've never been brave enough to pull the trigger on a Merc. 

I'm very much a European car fan and I get fascinated with them every once in a while. Especially when a thread like this shows up or I get  sucked into the Youtube videos. 

But there is still something about them that always sets off my danger sensors when looking at one in person. Something I just can't shake enough to pull the trigger and it's happened  on everyone I've looked at.

Be careful with buying an R129 because the keys are NLA for some years, so if both keys get lost or fail the car isn't good for anything but rewiring it and going on with your life

Fixed because that's a crazy reason to trash an R129 unless it's trashed anyway. Are you talking about some later model with a chip in the key or something? My early r129 has nothing fancy about the key itself.