Best Diesel Mercedes work horse

techtom

Hi I am looking to purchase a Mercedes Diesel car which is fuel efficient.

I am going to do a big commute and want to keep miles down on my existing car.

My budget is around the 5000K mark.

Can any one recommend a good model ?

ToxicPaddy

Well most merc diesels are efficent when compared to regular mercs and cars that size.

From what I believe the E250 or E300 Diesel pre 96 models are the ones to go for as those engines are virtually bulletproof!! Might be worth looking at the UK to see if you can pick one up there as most here have huge mileage on them and have been snapped up by taxi drivers.

The man you need to talk to about Mercs is Mike65 as he seems to know his stuff about them..

Tox

phoenix_nights

You'd be looking for a '94 onwards E300 diesel. Great car and very quiet. For 5000 you'd be better heading over to the UK and picking up one.

maidhc

Only disadvantage is all the merc diesels in your price bracket will be naturally aspirated, and pretty slow. It will also have big miles up already, so may well cost a bit to keep on the road

peasant

Or ...you go exactly for one of those old (non turbo, non common rail, non direct injection) ones and run it on rapeseed oil

maidhc

peasant wrote:

Or ...you go exactly for one of those old (non turbo, non common rail, non direct injection) ones and run it on rapeseed oil

Defiantely

I have been considering bringing in an old w123 for this actually, they are now 30years young, and so qualify for classic tax and insc also.

bazz26

I have heard that the one to go for is the E Class from 1987 - 1994. Not too familiar with MB model code names but I think it was called the W124?

They are old school diesels but they go for ever. Thing is that they are hard to find and anything decent is either too expensive or has been snapped up to be used as a taxi.

Paul (MN)

be prepared for a slow drive. the only disatvantge on the 300's is that the road tax is noticable enough to outweigh an diesel savings.

At that age you are looking at having all kinds of bushes and suspension bits needing replacement. Try to find a car that has had alot of work done already in recent years.

phoenix_nights

maidhc wrote:

Defiantely

I have been considering bringing in an old w123 for this actually, they are now 30years young, and so qualify for classic tax and insc also.

I had that idea aswell. Only problem is that the w123 (speaking from first hand experience '73 280CE) suffers from rust. I took off the number plates on mine and walked away when after spending money on a new steering column i found out that the underneath chassis (and 73 was a bad year aswell) was rotten.

Back to topic. Whilst the W124 is bulletproof (have a 94E200T) for fuel efficiency probably better going for something else. They are a heavy car so might be better getting a low powered petrol (cheaper to insure,tax and service) than a high powered diesel.

andreas_220D

phoenix_nights wrote:

I had that idea aswell. Only problem is that the w123 (speaking from first hand experience '73 280CE) suffers from rust. I took off the number plates on mine and walked away when after spending money on a new steering column i found out that the underneath chassis (and 73 was a bad year aswell) was rotten.

Hmmm, the W123 was introduced in 1976. Your '73 280CE must be a W114

As to the "slow" diesel engines: Yes, compared to modern ones they are slow, but for those who think about running on vegetable oil, the old prechamber engines are much easier to convert (no 2 tank system for example).