1990 Mercedes-Benz S-Class 300SEL from North America - Comments

AC needed to be serviced. Very expensive to get it recharged. But once recharged it is frigidly cold.

Chronic oil leak. Seems to be standard issue on these engines. Not a big deal I add a quart every tank and a half.

Rear window lift mechanism has broken twice already. Seems to be a common issue with these cars.

The W126 chassis cars are the last of the engineered to out live you Benz's. I did a lot of research prior to purchasing this car and it paid off for me. Remember its cheaper to pay more for a well taken car than to restore an abused car. My car is absolutely luxurious. The ride is quiet and extremely smooth. A common complaint and I have it too is that the wood creaks. This car is rock solid and gives you a feeling of safety and security. The handsome looks still bring me many compliments. Now I have to admit that the car is under powered. It's a huge car for a 3 ltr engine so merging and on ramps are difficult. Once you get all that steel rolling it's a sweet highway cruiser. I typically cruise at about 75 to 80 mph 3600-4000 rpms. This car just eats up miles and still feels new. One of the main reasons I purchased it was that I live in Virginia Beach and my son lives in Vermont. I make the 12 hour ride and come out of the car feeling fresh with no aches or stiffness. Plus any back seat passengers have an enormous amount of leg room plus their own ac/heater vents. All in all this is a wonderful car that I will keep for many years to come. I am told by my indy that the short blocks simply do not wear out and that the heads only need some attention after 200-250k miles.

Good feedback on the 1990 300SEL. I also live in the Tidewater, Va area and am interested in the early 90's 420SEL models. My brother in law used to work for the local mercedes dealership and said both the 300 and 400 series were well made and reliable. looking through the cars for sale I'm torn between a 300SE/SEL or 420 SE/SEl models. I like the size of the 400 models. Since I'm looking at late 80's/early 90's models, the mileage varies from low 100K to 200K or more. What models from the two does everyone prefer and why. Its hard to find a good site that gives easy to find reliability data on these cars. Please email feedback to me at gevanglobalservices@cox.net Thanks.

The following message bounced from the e-mail address given in the previous post, so here it is for general consumption.

I bought a 1991 300 SE in April. I looked at eight W126 saloons/sedans and drove most of them. Given that the difference in the driving experience between the 300 and its V8 siblings is only slight, I checked out parts prices and consulted my regular mechanic, the conclusion being emphatically in favour of the 300 -- parts down to half the price of equivalents for the V8s, simpler engine, easier/cheaper to service. It has plenty of power unless you like to burn rubber, and the engine note is as sweet as they get. If you prefer the V8, from everything I've read (quite a lot) the 420 is the one to go for.

I have spent a fair bit on it as an investment in long-term ownership: body and engine dampers, engine mounts, gearbox mount, brake disks and pads, propshaft couplings (cracked at 130k), a front near-side ball joint (a common weakness, apparently, no doubt exposed by banging the wheel over sidewalk kerbs), plus service parts and lubricants. There is a slight leak from the radiator and a slight loss of oil; I'm hoping to persuade the after-market warranty company to pay for both, the latter probably requiring a head-gasket replacement, although I guess that it could go on for many thousands of miles without either being fixed. Whatever you do, stay away from dealers; there are enough trustworthy independent mechanics around. It's dealer labour rates that make owning MBs expensive; they are running at ukp100+ per hour hereabouts.

The well known weak spot of the model is corrosion at the base of the rear window. Get inside the boot/trunk and look up at the row of circles. It can be fixed, but there are plenty of others around (they built over 800,000 in total).

It is a great pleasure and an interesting contrast with my W124 Coupé. I love the perfect proportions of the body (SE, not SEL). I get 25 mpg (UK gallons; about 21 per US gallon) from it. I am pleased that it does not have four items prone to expensive failure or replacement costs: airbags, catalytic converter, aircon (plenty of reports of failure on this site) and electric seats. Most people want all the toys, but I'm not interested in resale value, I am interested in maintenance costs, and I know from my W124 how irrelevant electric seats can be (especially without a position memory). If I get a lottery win I would consider installing aircon, and I'd probably give it a total respray, although the paintwork is generally very good apart from the inevitable chips and patches. I tend to keep my vehicles a long time and at the moment I cannot see myself selling either of them.

Here are some good sites:

http://www.mb-w126-club.de/ (a particularly good buying guide here)

http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Flats/2188/Specifications.htm

http://home.concepts.nl/~vlimmere/index2.HTM

http://www.fortunecity.com/silverstone/fastlane/803/frame.html.

Hope this helps.

Roger Jones

Hertfordshire, England.

Well I drove a 1990 300SE for a while, owned a 560SEL for over fours years up to 250,000 miles and currently own a 420SEL with 132,000.

To me, the best one overall that is a good compromise is the 420SEL. I say that because, the 300 inline is a good sturdy engine, very much so, but doesn't get too much more better gas mileage than the 420 because it still have to move all that steel. The 560SEL is noticeably quick if you owned all of them and that hydromatic suspension makes a difference at high speeds, and high speeds, I mean autobahn speed at 110 and up. Below that, the ride difference is about the same. In the states, there is not any or very few places to do 110 and up plus that hydromatic suspension is expensive to replace when it goes usually about sometime 120,000 (mine was all original and functioning at 250,000 miles. I got lucky some people say).

The 420 moves that steel pretty well, adequate acceleration, gas mileage a little better than the 560 and slightly lower than the 300.

The 300 is a little bit cheaper for regular repairs, but you average repairs will cost about the same for all three.

The 560 you get all the goodies, including heated and power rear seats, and of course heated seats in front and stuff. even a two toned horn. I'm talking bout ya N. American versions.

The 420 is nicely equipped too. My 420 doesn't have heated seats, but I don't need it in El paso. And the 420 and 300 come with zebrano compared with burlwood. Either one looks nice to me in good condition. But in all, you can't go wrong with either three as no matter which one you get, once it gets going at 60-85, those things will roll. The 560 just get there a bit faster at the expense of a little more gas, the 420 is the middle one, and followed up by the 300, but the 300 still will run down some modern cars now too once it gets going on the highway.

You can't go wrong with either one; they all were built very well and pretty simple to work on, yet are reliable for the most part if maintained.

The thing people forget about a Mercedes, especially these old ones, is that these things will run for ever smoothly and quietly, even when things are wrong. If you ignore them, it will soldier on, until it wears out and something else breaks and so on till by the time you get around to fixing it you have to rebuild half the car at a great cost where normal maintenance would've prevented it. i.e timing chain. it breaks, prep for a new engine.

Does any one have any idea what the 300SEL retailed for in 1990?.