I would like to hear from older and newer Mercedes owners as to what changes have been made? We have all heard about the quaility cuts but what exactly are they? I have few I have noticed. Mercedes themselves said a 210 was 35% cheaper to build than a 124. Why? What did they cut?
1. Sheet metal I have a 124 and a 210 is for sure thinner sheet metal.
2. Inline 6 is gone to a cheaper to make v6. Even Mercedes when they came out with the v6 said it was to cut costs not make it better. Inline 6 of course is perfecty balanced motor far superior design to v6. The v6 and v8 share parts .
3. Spring loaded seats in older Benz's not cheesy foam that breaks down. My 1986 are like the day it was new. They are spring with I believe a horse or some kind of hair covering the steel so no breakdown in time.
4. Carpet is fantastic in 124 looks like brand new. I still have orginal floor mats!
5. Plastic is very high quality showing no wear on switches. I have been in many newer 210's where you see wear where there was touch. Wear makes a car look dated
6. 124's were fully galvanized steel. I know this was cut and the rusty spring perch's on 210's are proof.
7. Everything is mounted in rubber on a 124. The fuel pump hangs in rubber. (to cut vibration. Do they still do that? I do not know?
8. Mono plunger control valve is mounted in rubber. It is what moves to let in coolant to the heater core. They put everything in a old benz in rubber. You can see no expense was spared to cut vibration.
9. Ricirculating ball steering gave way to rack and pinion. I can only guess but rack and pinion is cheaper. I now Mercedes old steering does not get looser in feel. My 1986 feels the same as 17 years ago.
10. Big steering wheel gave way to smaller one. I do not know if that was for cost or looks but I can only guess new one is cheaper.
11. I was reading before once about the roof lines on the 124 being very expensive to make. This was in a car mag talking about how the 210 did not have the special quality touches on the roof line and was just like any other car.
12. Dual fire wall. Is it still there in all models? Keeps the electrical components from water around engine.
13. Sub floor. Is it still there where they have second floor to keep salt and ater from getting to the frame?
McBear and others can you fill us in on what else was cut in the cost cut drive? Is it lower quality electrical components? I know my window swithces are individual not a single switch for all the windows. Is the transmission made cheaper? I can see cheaper quality seats. I have a book called the Ultimate History of Mercedes Benz by Trevor Legate. In the book he talks about when the 210 came out that Mercedes felt they had to make sacrafices in order to compete with BMW and Lexus. (read between the lines means cheaper built car)
1. Sheet metal I have a 124 and a 210 is for sure thinner sheet metal.
2. Inline 6 is gone to a cheaper to make v6. Even Mercedes when they came out with the v6 said it was to cut costs not make it better. Inline 6 of course is perfecty balanced motor far superior design to v6. The v6 and v8 share parts .
3. Spring loaded seats in older Benz's not cheesy foam that breaks down. My 1986 are like the day it was new. They are spring with I believe a horse or some kind of hair covering the steel so no breakdown in time.
4. Carpet is fantastic in 124 looks like brand new. I still have orginal floor mats!
5. Plastic is very high quality showing no wear on switches. I have been in many newer 210's where you see wear where there was touch. Wear makes a car look dated
6. 124's were fully galvanized steel. I know this was cut and the rusty spring perch's on 210's are proof.
7. Everything is mounted in rubber on a 124. The fuel pump hangs in rubber. (to cut vibration. Do they still do that? I do not know?
8. Mono plunger control valve is mounted in rubber. It is what moves to let in coolant to the heater core. They put everything in a old benz in rubber. You can see no expense was spared to cut vibration.
9. Ricirculating ball steering gave way to rack and pinion. I can only guess but rack and pinion is cheaper. I now Mercedes old steering does not get looser in feel. My 1986 feels the same as 17 years ago.
10. Big steering wheel gave way to smaller one. I do not know if that was for cost or looks but I can only guess new one is cheaper.
11. I was reading before once about the roof lines on the 124 being very expensive to make. This was in a car mag talking about how the 210 did not have the special quality touches on the roof line and was just like any other car.
12. Dual fire wall. Is it still there in all models? Keeps the electrical components from water around engine.
13. Sub floor. Is it still there where they have second floor to keep salt and ater from getting to the frame?
McBear and others can you fill us in on what else was cut in the cost cut drive? Is it lower quality electrical components? I know my window swithces are individual not a single switch for all the windows. Is the transmission made cheaper? I can see cheaper quality seats. I have a book called the Ultimate History of Mercedes Benz by Trevor Legate. In the book he talks about when the 210 came out that Mercedes felt they had to make sacrafices in order to compete with BMW and Lexus. (read between the lines means cheaper built car)