I'm new here, looking at buying my second car and I've decided I want a Mercedes-Benz.... (In Australia...)
So far my favourites in my price range ( up to 5000) have been the W123 and W114 chassis cars.
Really I'm looking at 240Ds and 280CEs but other W123 sedans would be good too.
My question is: what should I look for when buying one? What are the problem areas and things to look out for? Anything specific or just the usual car things?
Welcome to the boards. Excellent suggestion is to search - especially in the w123 forum. It's a common question with a variety of answers; you'll need to spend the time doing your homework.
^^How do you know this? The tranny maybe fine and the AC maybe fine. My trannny has close to 210,000miles and it shifts great, the AC has a small vacuum leak but can be repaired.
__________________
'79 280CE with 212,600 miles and still going strong!!
Vehicle: 2006 smart forfour 1.5 Pulse | 1992 BMW 525i M
Location: Bloemfontein, South Africa
Posts: 164
Quote:
Originally Posted by will280CE
Thanks for the replies.
Yeah I used to have a 74' Celica that had a gearbox problem, so I whipped it out and just replaced it, so I suppose it won't be too hard to do that.
Are there many good examples? What is a reasonable asking price from a dealer for an example in reasonable condition?
I know someone in Brisbane who drives a W123 wagon, I can PM you his email address so that you can ask him a coupla questions. He'll be able to give you advice relevant to Australia.
I wouldn't go for a W114/5. They are just too old to make a comfy daily driver. W123's are much more refined.
As for which model... the 230E gives the best compromise between power and fuel economy. Most 230E's also has a/c and cruise control. If I remember correctly Australian Mercs has the manual a/c system and not the complicated climate control system as found in US cars.
My advice is to go look at some examples, take LOTS of pics and post them with detail here, so we can give opinions / advice.
hello i live in melbourne. i own a 1981 280e. Great car. I did a lot of work to fix it up but they aint extremly hard to work on i found. But yeah i would look out for rust obviously so look under the wheel arches and in the boot, take the side plastic cover off (very simple) and look behind it where the wheel arches are. Also make sure the car stays at good temperature, radiators are like $350 bucks and also it could mean a head gasket problem which ive found can be between 1500 and like 2500 bucks. So see if the oil is muggy and whitish and you can also the air filter - there is a black tube that goes into the top of the air filter, pull it off and see if theres a white muggy substance inside to (this applies to the 2.8 liter, i dont know bout the other engines). And yeah check for major oil leaks and tranny leaks and yeah just good service info helps. Just like any car its best to pay a little more and get a good one then buy a cheaper shit one, you will quickly see your repair bill go up very quickly.
Linear Mode
