A Good Story

[AdrienB]

I bought a 80,000 Kms 1995 E280 as a replacement for my 1994 208,000 Kms E280.
Despite all sorts of advertising to sell the older car, in newspapers, club magazines, the internet I have had only one nibble (a little shark as it turned out). So I remain the owner of two identically optioned cars.

The older car is fully sorted and did not need to be replaced; I just thought it would be a smart thing to do to obtain a low kms example. The new car drove vey well - definitely better than the older one but needed a few things fixed.

I spent a frustrating weekend trying to rectify some of these; I have the skills and knowledge but the years are gaining on me and it wasn't fun any more.

Today I took the car to my MB Technical Experts, who fixed up the sloppy shifting of the transmission (flare?), made all the a/c and accessory illumination work again, and persuaded the engine fan to de-clutch so that it didn't sound like a Unimog in low gear. I gave up two day's pay for this but I'm feeling happy to have the car in perfect working condition at last.

So for those people who have reported frustrations with finding fair and reasonable servicing for their beloved W124s may I suggest that the 3-cornered star people may be a good place to start?

The old car? My lady has taken that over and the Honda sits in the garage ready to haul garden refuse to the tip and get us through the snow when required.

[Yal]

Thats great. Congrats! I wish we got that engine here, its a great engine. Whne I lived in Europe the 280 was always special even in W123 form

Believe me if Mercedes USA fixed older Mercedes Benz cars that way you would hear a lot of praises like this on this forum. Unfortunately they don't. The dealers here that do this kind of first class work on the old Benzes are few and getting fewer by the day

[hispassion]

Thanks for sharing your story. Mine is similar, but from opposite sides of the planet.

My thought was if I bought my wife an MB she'd be able to drive it. Well, as it turns out the '90 needed a little more work than initially anticipated, so it sat in the garage for a while. When the summer heat came, I began working on it 'cuz I remember the A/C was is fine shape.

Part two of the story is the '90 was to replace her Suzuki Forenza. But, much to my chagrin, I learned she was upside down in the finance of that vehicle. So, the best option at this time is to keep the Suzi and the '90 300E. The '86 which was my daily driver, now sits in the garage. She is going to need a home.

So, now we have 4 cars (my 2, hers and her son's), with no place for visitors, since they cannot park on the street. I guess one car will have to go. It'll be a sad day when my '86 drives away, but it's inevitable.