Way too many things! It cost me 3 times its purchase price to repair.
- New front dampers.
- Replaced rear drive shafts with used set (new ones were in the $'000s - would have cost half the purchase price of the car)
- Head gasket blown.
- Water pump replaced.
- Chain tensioner and timing chain replaced.
- Automatic transmission completely overhauled.
- Automatic aerial replaced.
- Cruise control stalk speed-increase increment not operative (had to manually accelerate then re-set the required speed)
I'm sure there was more. I must have blocked it all out.
I wanted a 190E since I was 16 years old.
This car is beautifully styled on the outside, a traditional Benz on the inside.
It cruises beautifully with good torque and excellent economy, but in town (though economical) it is a pain... more so with the air conditioner on.
Excellent turning circle, great steering, great ride, great handling.
Feels a bit long-and-narrow compared to the W114 280E I owned years before.
Interior space tight though comfortable with excellent seats. Steering wheel too vertical for my liking (unlike excellent positioning on W114 and W116s I've driven)
With everything I had read and my W114 experience I really thought I was buying a great car to last me years, given it had less that 200,000 km on the clock and full dealer service history.
Not so. Was this a lemon. Everything that went wrong surprised me and cost me heaps.
I quit while I was behind. I heard the next owner had to replace the radiator 1 year later)
Cars don't sit in a vacuum, waiting for you to buy them 16 years later.
No they don't. But I bought my 1974 280E (see separate review) in 1993 with 316,500km on the clock and that car served me well for years to 495,000km, and was still going strong on the original untouched engine and transmission.
So I didn't expect to have to do a top-end overhaul on the engine, completely recondition the auto trans and replace the tail shafts on a more modern 190E with 200,000km and full authorised dealer service history.
A dealer service history is not a free pass. It's more of them "feel good and safe" things, like a peace of mind more than the actual good it might do. A history is good, but just because it has a dealer service history doesn't mean it is trouble free. You've still got to know what to look for and signs. If you noticed that the the head gasket was replaced before at an early age, it could be a sign that someone over heated this car in the past and never repaired the heads right; water pump keeps going out, either they are using the cheap water pumps or wrong coolant; suspension parts should be expected to be replaced, timing chain should be done about every 100,000 miles and then must be done right. Dealership or not. Some dealerships do more harm than good, well good for their pockets, but not for yours.
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