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Anyone ever run a Mercedes 190E? Any good?

Lisa Yasmin on Youtube has been building one for years :) You could watch what and where to expect corrosion, she bought several 190's.
 
I have a 2003 320CDI estate. I love it but it's a bit expensive to keep it going. Would be best as a second car, but I just put up with it. Just coming up to 200K miles, and the engine and gearbox are fine. Rust gets them in the end......
 
Totally bogus article. Engine Of The Year doesn’t concern itself with durability at all - it’s an award for engineering innovation and technical excellence. Doing something really clever gets you the prize: for example, BMW got a stack of awards for its VANOS variable intake system which then went on to break the hearts of the first wave of owners with its reliability issues. (In general, BMW is pretty good for engine reliability). Similarly, FIAT won for its MultiAir engines, which had quite a few teething problems in the first year of production: the designers made an unfortunate assumption that garages would actually abide by the engines’ fairly strict oil requirement, rather than just use the cheapest possible lubricant.
 
Totally bogus article. Engine Of The Year doesn’t concern itself with durability at all - it’s an award for engineering innovation and technical excellence. Doing something really clever gets you the prize: for example, BMW got a stack of awards for its VANOS variable intake system which then went on to break the hearts of the first wave of owners with its reliability issues. (In general, BMW is pretty good for engine reliability). Similarly, FIAT won for its MultiAir engines, which had quite a few teething problems in the first year of production: the designers made an unfortunate assumption that garages would actually abide by the engines’ fairly strict oil requirement, rather than just use the cheapest possible lubricant.
Agree. Another winner of EOTY was the VW 5 litre diesel V10 used in the Phaeton and top end 4x4s, for a short while. It fairly quickly disappeared, without fanfare and I assume some major reliability issues had surfaced in real world use.
 
Agree. Another winner of EOTY was the VW 5 litre diesel V10 used in the Phaeton and top end 4x4s, for a short while. It fairly quickly disappeared, without fanfare and I assume some major reliability issues had surfaced in real world use.

I don't think there was reliability issues, just that unless you need to tow a Boeing 747 a V10 TDI engine that gives under 30 mpg with no better performance than a V6 is only ever going to have limited appeal.

 
I have a 2003 E500 which although very well maintained and has only done 67k since new, I budget for £1000 a year to keep it on the road not including servicing, running costs etc. However so far no rust issues which if it started to go rusty would make me pause about keeping it.
 
I have a 2003 E500 which although very well maintained and has only done 67k since new, I budget for £1000 a year to keep it on the road not including servicing, running costs etc. However so far no rust issues which if it started to go rusty would make me pause about keeping it.
The key here is that it's only done 67k so there's no significant wear, and it's a low mileage special occasions car. The same thing on 167k and doing 10k a year is a totally different proposition.
 
I have a 2003 E500 which although very well maintained and has only done 67k since new, I budget for £1000 a year to keep it on the road not including servicing, running costs etc. However so far no rust issues which if it started to go rusty would make me pause about keeping it.

Fantastic car; I looked and looked for the estate version a good while back; they rarely crop up! Would have been a superb car
 
My dad had a 190E 2.0 auto for about 8 years, taking it from 50k to about 120kk miles. I drove it quite a few times:

soft ride, not big on grip or for sporty driving
flat unsupportive seats
rusty even by standards of the day
slow steering
decent build, nothing special like for example my classic Saab 900.

Recently dipped out of old Mercedes ownership but still up to speed on parts: availability is a problem. The specialist I used to service my SL320 was hoarding bits for his 190E.
 
Anything that was expensive new and now cheap + old will need around £1k-£2k+ annual spend if you want a car to keep running well and in overall good order.

£4k for an old car these days is banger money, so expect banger ownership experience unless previous owner and you are prepared to spend on it ...
 
I had a 190E loaner for a couple of weeks when my 96 W124 E320 was being serviced. Honestly, I’d pick the W124 every time over it, I found the 190E a much more basic car and felt less of a “classic benz” than my own did.

Also, I’ve had a few other classics including another Merc (89 420SL) and a Saab convertible.

They are not, I repeat not, cheap to own - they do hold their value, but ongoing servicing and maintenance is costly and you need to know a good independent who is very familiar with them, otherwise everything is an investigation. You also need to buy the best you can find, I’d be very very wary of anything “cheap”.

The SL cost me £3000+/year in bills (I was living in the UK then) and the E320 €2000/year here in Ireland. You can justify it as it’s comparable to a PCP or lease on a newer car, but it is not cheap motoring by any measure. In both cases, they were my everyday drivers, not a “Sunday” car or suchlike.

Also, you may need to consider safety, modern cars are so much better in that respect. My E320 had 2 airbags and ABS but that was about it.

Good luck with your choice.
 
When I bought mine I the choice if an E500 saloon or estate. The saloon had done just over 40k with a fantastic history and the estate about 110k with a less comprehensive history. Went for the saloon. Nearly bought an E500 estate a couple of years back but dithered and it sold.
 


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