the 190E is an excellent car, by far the best i have owned. i have a 1992 model; just this week been to southern france and back - 1800 miles and it never missed a beat. it will cruise all day at high speed and return very reasonable gas mileage. the great thing with these cars is that if they are maintained correctly, you *know* they willl never let you down. and like the other poster said, they are so well designed and made that they drive like many new cars. in fact better. if the car you are considering buying is at a good price, then i'd say go for it.
Greetings!
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> I am considering the purchase of a 1993 190E. It appears to be in great
> condition, service records and carfax are in proper order.
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> Have any 190E owners had really good or really bad experiences with their
> 190E? Is the 1993 190E a reliable/more reliable vehicle than, say a 1990,
> 91or 92 190E or a 1992 300E? I would apprecfiate hearing opinions from
> past/present Mercedes owners.
>
> Thanks!
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I owned an off-lease '93 190E 2.6 for about 6 years. Unfortunately I wasn't too diligent at checking the car out before buying the vehicle cause the previous owners literally broke numerous things. However, once I fixed the majority of the problems the car was a real pleasure to use. I ended up purchasing a Jeep Grand Cherokee after getting rid of the Benz mainly because I needed a 4x4 and more room, but there are many times I wish I still had it cause I loved having a Benz.
Here's the good things I liked: Relatively quiet when driving even with the sunroof opened. Compact size for city parking (a must!). The car was solid. The TexMex seats (that's what I called their fake leather) was actually quite comfortable and durable and after hours of sitting in the seat driving I never got out with an aching back....ever. The engine remained solid after 120k miles.
The bad things: The steering wheel didn't telescope or tilt, thus making you drop the seat down to where you felt you were sitting near the floor so the wheel didn't touch my leg. The front star got stolen 3 times so I had to replace it. The air conditioning was never really cold even after the entire unit was replaced (the old Mercedes way). The back seat really didn't have a whole lot of room though I did fit 3 adults back there. The fake leather started peeling and buckling from the doors. The cassette holder, though very convenient, broke and one of the doors remained open until I finally got around to fixing it (a new one was $120 without installation). The stereo sucked and you can't really put a subwoofer in the trunk cause the gas tank absorbs all the bass.
As you can see there were more bad things than good, but to tell you the truth, I liked the 190E. If I had a choice, though, I'd go for the 300E instead. You'll hate the back seat of the 190E if you have kids or carry passengers. Take it from me, the 300E is an infinitely better car in a lot of ways. Plus you won't get the feeling that you've been cheated each time you read a message from someone that says "oh, the 190E isn't a real 'benz" or "if you see it, run. It's so unreliable."
I agree with Nathan, get a 300e. I had an '84 190, great car, never a problem. That's why I got a '91 300e. It's twice the car the 190 was. That's probably why it costs twice as much. :) I have 160,000 miles on the
300e and it still drives like a new car with very few problems.
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