How much do you like the car?
Example: I looked at about 25 190s over a year and I'll be danged if I wasn't forced to buy a car after my 318i BMW finally gave up the ghost. Unfortunately, I only had $2000 to work with. I have an '86 300E, so I have quite a bit of respect for Mercedes. Anyway, to make a short story long, I had to find a 190 in 24 hours as I absolutely needed a car for my wife to go to work in. I found a somewhat worn '86 2.3 sitting on the street with dealer's license. I tracked down the dealer and took it for a test. Everything worked fine, particularly noting the AC, which doesn't work on most of the older 190s around here. The car had 133k miles on it. The silver paint was bad, but the car ran smooth enough.So I asked the dealer what he wanted for the car and he $2000. I said, 'sold', and decided to take my chances. (Btw, most older BMWs in the $2000 price range were real wrecks. I'm done with BMW, after three older 3 series models.) So, I bought a 190E 2.3 for $2000 and I'm still happy after about 8 months and $2500 in repairs. That's right. My wife was a bit aggressive with transmission so I had to replace it. I also had to replace the master cylinder and the rear brakes and the handbrake. I probably have another $200 in general maintenance to do and I should be sitting ok for awhile. Sidebar: My mechanic charges $110 an hour and has been at MBZ and Porsche repair for 30 years so he saves me a lot of troubleshooting grief. Alright, so I've got $4500 in this car and it looks like it's set for awhile. I like the 190. It's smaller than a 300E and more sporty to drive. The engine is smooth. BOTTOM LINE: You are looking at a pre-owned purchase. Don't expect it to be a new car. Expect to have repairs and fixers. General maintenance isn't that much. If you have replace a head gasket or master cylinder or AC or transmission, you're talking bigger dollars. I recommend having the money available for emergency fixes on any older car. The biggest problem with those of us who like these cars is that they really grow on us, and we really don't care what it takes to keep driving them (within reasonable limits, that is). Good luck.
Example: I looked at about 25 190s over a year and I'll be danged if I wasn't forced to buy a car after my 318i BMW finally gave up the ghost. Unfortunately, I only had $2000 to work with. I have an '86 300E, so I have quite a bit of respect for Mercedes. Anyway, to make a short story long, I had to find a 190 in 24 hours as I absolutely needed a car for my wife to go to work in. I found a somewhat worn '86 2.3 sitting on the street with dealer's license. I tracked down the dealer and took it for a test. Everything worked fine, particularly noting the AC, which doesn't work on most of the older 190s around here. The car had 133k miles on it. The silver paint was bad, but the car ran smooth enough.So I asked the dealer what he wanted for the car and he $2000. I said, 'sold', and decided to take my chances. (Btw, most older BMWs in the $2000 price range were real wrecks. I'm done with BMW, after three older 3 series models.) So, I bought a 190E 2.3 for $2000 and I'm still happy after about 8 months and $2500 in repairs. That's right. My wife was a bit aggressive with transmission so I had to replace it. I also had to replace the master cylinder and the rear brakes and the handbrake. I probably have another $200 in general maintenance to do and I should be sitting ok for awhile. Sidebar: My mechanic charges $110 an hour and has been at MBZ and Porsche repair for 30 years so he saves me a lot of troubleshooting grief. Alright, so I've got $4500 in this car and it looks like it's set for awhile. I like the 190. It's smaller than a 300E and more sporty to drive. The engine is smooth. BOTTOM LINE: You are looking at a pre-owned purchase. Don't expect it to be a new car. Expect to have repairs and fixers. General maintenance isn't that much. If you have replace a head gasket or master cylinder or AC or transmission, you're talking bigger dollars. I recommend having the money available for emergency fixes on any older car. The biggest problem with those of us who like these cars is that they really grow on us, and we really don't care what it takes to keep driving them (within reasonable limits, that is). Good luck.
