Estates

Estate from which series? W124 = 1985 - 1996 W210 = 1996 - 2003

Tell the series or the age.

Juergen

Honest John (the Telegraph motoring writer) says, in part: QUOTE What's Bad

200s are underpowered, especially automatics. 230TE autos with aircon struggle with a full load. (See W124 saloons.) Cats from September 1990 when power fropped from 136bhp to 132bhp. 16 valve 220 engine from August 1993 had 150bhp......

What to Watch Out For Very important to check the rear suspension as replacement shocks are expensive. Has it been towing? 200TEs and 230TE autos aren't really powerful enough to tow a caravan, so will be well worn if they have been trying. Engine and autobox may have overheated...... UNQUOTE

This is taken from his website

where hestarts his views on this motor with the phrase:QUOTE Estate cars come no better. Strong, reliable, comfortable, well-built, safe with more floor-to-window loadspace than any Volvo. UNQUOTE

Having owned an E280 I can say that it was a fantastic workhorse with HUGE amounts of torque. Good luck finding an estate that suits.

300 Essie

Hey, I looked out my old Owner's Manual, here are the listed figures for the 200 and 220 4-speed petrol automatics (W124):

E 200 E 220 Urban: 11.7 l/100km 11.6 l/100km @ 90 km/h: 7.6 l/100km 7.6 l/100km @ 120 km/h: 9.6 l/100km 9.9 l/100km Euro-Mix: 9.6 l/100km 9.7 l/100km

If you want any other figures from the Owner's Manual for the W124 estate range just ask ;)

300 Essie

I bought a '95 E200 estate (W124 petrol, 4-speed auto) four years ago and I've been really pleased with it. I only do about 8k miles a year. I've found that I get around 25mpg around town and 29-32mpg on long runs if I don't push it too hard. A full tank gives me around 400 miles. True, the 2 litre engine isn't fast off the blocks but, once up to speed, it cruises smoothly and quietly at 70-80 mph and will do this all day. I was recently driving it in Germany and it was quite happy at 110 mph.

In the four years I've had the car the most expensive replacement was the exhaust system - £1500 for the full system including cat. I use an independent Mercedes specialist for servicing and the normal service costs under £100 while the bigger service is around £250 (9k mile intervals). For the quality of the car, I don't think these costs are excessive.

Best of luck finding one.

Gavin York UK