This Mercedes-Benz 300TE is in excellent condition and is probably one of the cleanest and best-maintained W124’s available. If you’re looking for an inexpensive beater, this is not the car for you. I am sure you can find them much cheaper but it’ll be difficult to find one with a great service history, rust-free body and overall wonderful condition like this one. A saying goes around which is “A cheap Mercedes is going to be an expensive Mercedes”. Invest a little bit more with the initial purchase and you’ll be saving money long term. While these cars are not very expensive and difficult to maintain, they do require their upkeep. It currently has about 154K miles which only averages to about 7,500 miles per year!
Many more pictures can be found here: Link
The one and only reason I am selling it is because I am a bit of a Saab nut and recently bought another Saab 9-5. I would really like to keep this car but I only have a one-car garage and I can’t imagine storing it outside. I have the Michigan title in hand (without any liens) and is ready to be signed over to the new owner. I can send the AutoCheck history report and a PDF of all the maintenance and repair records to serious buyers.
While it may look like a smaller car on the outside, the interior feels very spacious. Cargo capacity is outstanding and there is more room than many SUVs. Fold down the rear seats and you have even more space. The roof rails make it easy to attach cross bars (not included) for even more versatility.
The AutoCheck report and service records for the car shows the car spent its life in Ann Arbor, MI until 2001. The previous owner bought it downstate and brought it up to Petoskey, MI. I bought the car from him in June of 2009. He only drove it in summer and had it stored in his garage during the winter. There are many service and repair records from both the Mercedes-Benz dealer in Ann Arbor and Traverse City and it looks like no money was spared in maintaining this automobile. The owner’s guide of the car shows it was picked up from the factory in Germany through their European Delivery Program. One can only imagine all the great places and a few stretches of Autobahn this car has seen.
MSRP in 1990 was about $50,000 so you can imagine it is probably close to $80K in today’s dollars. Mercedes-Benz went a bit over the top in engineering the W124 series which shows in every detail. The doors still shut with a solid thunk and there are hardly any rattles or noises in the interior. The exterior color is Impala Metallic with a very nice matching Mushroom MB-Tex interior. Seats are not leather but a very strong man-made material. They still look like and feel like new.
I replaced the factory radio with a new Kenwood Excelon KDC-X693 head unit. I choose this head unit because it is not as flashy as all the other unites on the market. The display color can be changed and I set it to orange to match the dash. You can connect a portable music player through USB and it works perfect with my iPod. The 5-line display makes it easy to navigate through your music. The USB cable is routed to the center console so you music player will be out of sight.
This fader was bypassed and I connected the speakers directly to the new head unit. The new speakers (3-way front and 2-way rear) provide a much better sound than the stock units. While it doesn’t give heart-pounding bass, it sounds clear with a decent level of bass. It’s easy to add a subwoofer (small one under the seat for example). More details and pictures of the audio install can be found here:
http://wulfers.net/automobilemb/mods/audio/pictures/index.html
The factory radio with radio code comes with the car in case you would like to switch it back.
The good:
• No rust at all. This is quite rare for a 20-year old car in Michigan.
• Transmission engages quickly from Neutral to Drive. You can usually tell these transmission are about to fail when it takes more than a few seconds to engage from Neutral to Drive.
• Very clean interior. No spills, odors or other problems. Never smoked in.
• Wonderful V6 engine growl. 175hp may not sound like a lot of power but it is a linear power delivery. There is something very different and appealing about an inline-6 compared to a V-6.
• Paintwork is very good for a car this age. It is the original paint and is perfect besides a few stone chips on the front of the car/hood.
• All equipment works except as described below. Sunroof, dash instruments, power windows, heated seats, head rests etc.
• This model year is not affected by the disintegrating wire harness issue. Later models have engine wiring that needs to be replaced every so often.
Known issues:
• The cruise control doesn’t work most of the time. This is a very common issue with these cars. It’s usually the cruise control amplifier that fails because of old soldering contacts. It is not that expensive to have them repaired but I never got around to it as I don’t use the cruise control that often.
• The first few shifts are a bit hard when the engine is cold. These transmissions are programmed to shift at 3,000rpm when cold to speed up the warming-up of the engine. I don’t think it is a problem but I thought I should mention it. After about 5 minutes, shifts are very smooth.
• The front bumper tow cover is missing.
• The engine uses about 1 quart of oil per 3 – 4K miles. It’s common the valve guides are a bit worn at this age and miles and this oil consumption is nothing to be worried about. It’s not a very expensive or difficult repair but you may want to do this sooner or later.
• The clear coat on the wood finish on the center console is a bit scratched and dull. It’s not cracked so it still can be refinished if you want to make it perfect.
• The power antenna doesn’t go down all the way all the time. I already replaced the mast with an aftermarket part but perhaps it needs an OEM part to work better.
Repairs and maintenance I have done so far:
147,024 miles - 8/1/09
Air filter
Oil and filter - Valvoline Max-Life Synthetic Blend 10W-40
Transmission fluid/filter change - Valvoline Max-Life DEX/MERC
Spark Plugs - Bosch Yttrium HR9DC
Antenna mast
147,550 miles – 8/15/09
Fuel Filter - Bosch
Serpentine Belt - Continental
Transmission fluid change (2nd change)
150,400 miles – 10/20/09
Coolant change - Valvoline Zerex G-05
New Brake rotors and pads (front)
152,476 miles – 12/12/09
Oil change - Shell Rotella Synthetic 5W-40
As far as maintenance goes, it doesn’t need anything soon besides regular oil changes. It has been running very smooth with Shell Rotella Synthetic and I was planning on using on this oil in the future as well. It seems many other MB owners like this oil as well.
The car is located in Boyne City, Michigan. It’s about a 1-hour drive from the airport in Traverse City (TVC) and I would be happy to meet the new owner there. I am also willing to assist with any shipping arrangements. I am firm on the price so no low-ball offers please. Please send me a message if you need any additional information.
