1991 Mercedes-Benz S-Class 350SDL review from North America

When we bought our 1991 350SDL in February 1996, we'd had 6 new Mercedes diesels, but never an S-class so we bought the W126 black beauty for about $26,000. The car was as handsome and well made as a car could be and came with the luxury that a car costing $58,000 (in 1991 dollars) might be expected to offer. Granted it was a diesel weighing 3,700 lbs with a 134 HP engine, but it could accelerate quite nicely and really move when it got up to speed. The 208 inch body afforded quite impressive back seat room, great for transporting clients of the private bank trust departments for which I worked.

All this grandeur and Mercedes mystique however was wrapped around the ill-designed 6-cylinder diesel engine, the now infamous 603.971 engine. This is the engine that suffered from a fatal design defect that led to piston rod bending, cylinder deforming, engine "self consumption". The first signs were massive increases in oil consumption, amounting to a quart in 500-700 miles. In 1999, we took our grievance to Mercedes and were dusted off as if we were flies in the Australian outback. The MB USA representative in New England, told us that he couldn't help us, as news of his doing so "could get around". What a comment from the representative of what we later came to realize was a company in steep and irreversible decline.

We wrote to MB Chairman Jurgen Schremp in Germany and got a reply from an MB USA underling who told us that she was pleased to deny our claim for any assistance. The impertinent little twit thanked us for having afforded her the opportunity for MB and MB USA to deny responsibility for the defective engine MB had built and sold for four years. It was clear in 1999 that the end of Daimler Benz and of the cars they'd once built was at hand.

Daimler Benz today builds plastic junk really not worth discussing. The E350, its "jelly bean" shape, chintzy construction, low quality materials and general fragility are impossible to reconcile with the engineering and elegance of the cars MB built in the 1980's and 1990's. Our leased E350's A/C could not be operated in the summer nor the heated seats in the winter. It had a bicycle spare tire and windshield wipers that couldn't remove the tiniest amount of snow. Rather, they compacted the snow and the nearly useless defroster couldn't melt it, so it would build and build until I got out every few miles and removed the snow by hand.

Everything on our 1991 350SDL worked beautifully. The heater/AC fan motor needed replacing as did the transmission mount. The splendid interior trim, including the wood, had remained intact despite years of exposure to extreme heat/cold.

We had the '91's engine rebuilt by a non-MB mechanic in 2003. The job was OK, but the engine smoked and never ran well after that. The A/C compressor gave out in 2005. I kick myself today that I didn't have that $2,500 repair job done. No, I had to go and commit one of my worst errors of judgment and lease the E350.

The last real Mercedes rolled off the assembly line in 1998. Those who don't know that are free to buy and to have to keep buying or leasing (Mercedes likes that because they can drain your wallet without your noticing it, they hope) car after car.

Some lucky MB mechanic probably picked up our '91 350SDL and it is still running somewhere. Indeed, I think I see our '79 300SD every once in a while. Will the cheap 2006 E350 still be on the road in 2035 or even 2020? Will World War I break out again? I imagine anything is possible, but I have to tell you that Mercedes is not what it used to be and you'd better know that MB USA looks at the customer as the enemy who has the nerve to stand between them and his or her wallet.

Richard E. Savoy

Salem, MA.