My biggest complain with the 124 is the climate control! In the rest of the world 124 came with nice ***** which work great! In the US for some unknown reason (may be to keep up with the Joneses) MBZ sold the climate control: it is awful, two fan speeds, and just a totally crappy system! The next generation W210 has a much better cc...

 

IF that w124 climate control is working properly, there is a 'auto' speed in addition to LOW and HIGH, this is continuously variable according to conditions. A common problem is the aspirator fan not working well, this is a tiny fan mounted to the right of the glovebox that sucks on a little tube that samples air up near the dome light... when the fan dies, the system doesn't get accurate samples so it overcompensates and the 'auto' fan speed never lowers.

note, btw, the climate control on the Volvo 960's and 850's is quite similar, although it offers more choices of manual speeds.

Changing the main blower fan on a W124 is quite different than on a Volvo... its accessed from the engine compartment, there's TWO firewalls and the blower is between them.... you remove the plastic vents along the cowl, you remove the windshield wiper assembly, a plastic air duct around the fan, then the fan motor is under all that. The geniuses put the fan speed control module UNDER the fan motor, half the time failed fans are due to the power module rather than the actual motor, but since you have to take it all apart to get at it, its smart to replace both so you only go in there once in 20+ years.

 

I went and looked at a couple of Mercs, mid 80's sedans. Those...could be addictive. But my god the gas mileage is worse than a truck. They were all V8s primarily and the "Luxo-Barges" but dang. Talk about pimpin'.

Every time I get into my '01XC I think, "Is this the day it's going to blow up?" I haven't had any HUGE problems with it, but my anxiety over a sudden and drastic failure is pretty high. Still, driving my '940 afterwards felt like a totally different car. The braking isn't even comparable at all. In fact, I'd have to see if there's something wrong with my regina's brakes. Reminded me of my old Mopar trucks trying to stop them took a strategic decision far before your intended point of deceleration.

I do like the XC amenities a lot, and man is it roomy. I've never owned a car that's "roomy" for me, my old Ramchargers were like rolling living rooms but they got 8mpg too.

As soon as Subarus start aging into my price bracket, in the post '06 models that I fit into I might give them a shot. Or just keep it Volvo. A lot of post '95 owners love theirs, but there's not much DIY'ing going on with them either.

Those mercs... That could be problematic if I start down that road. I REALLY like them and I know there's options for better MPG cars than the V8s.

 

Why do you need a mid '80's v8? I know they are cheap, and for a reason--they are heavy, thirsty, and not very repair friendly. If you want a cheap Mercedes look at the W210 line, 1996 to 2002 6 cyl. E class. They are roomy, well built and economical and not so hard to repair and keep up (besides the 9qts of Mobil1 every 10k miles); and they are quite cheap too, $2k and up...

 

the m103/m104 straight 6's shouldn't need more than 7-7.5 quarts of oil for a change. I find they are happier if I don't fill them much above about 3/4 on the dipstick (where its 2 quarts from 'full' to 'low').

my W124 300E/E320's get 18-24MPG, not that bad, in fact, better than my 740T.

 

Had to jump in, as this discussion is right up my alley.

I've been an American car/truck guy since birth. I do ALL my repairs, aside from transmission rebuilds or front-end alignments. In recent years I found myself getting extremely sick and tired of constantly working on GM or Ford vehicles from the 80's into the early 00's. I acquired two 940's last year after working on a buddy's '95 940 - I was AMAZED at the lack of rust! Couldn't believe it had the original brake and fuel lines! Copper/nickel brake lines right from the factory, a simple non-interference engine that's easy to work on, an emergency brake that actually stays working in the Northeastern road salt - I was sold!

So now I have a '92 & a '93 940. The '92 has been sidelined to a parts vehicle, after an incident regarding a chainsaw, myself, and a tree ... Got the '93 for $800 needing a fuel pump installed, had to repair the melted wiring to the pump, and install the water pump - came with all the parts new. Also came with a set of lightly used Blizzaks on steel rims! It's in real nice shape with power memory heated leather seats, & a power sunroof that actually works & doesn't leak! Had 131k on it when we got it.

I've gone through the car front to back, and put in all new brakes, hoses, timing belt, v-belts, fluids, etc.. We've since put 5k miles on it without a hiccup! I should mention the thing sat buried in snow for 3 months of last winter, parked in the dirt. If that was a Chevy, I'd have had to scrap it after that kind of abuse!

The '93 has become my wife's winter car, replacing my rusted out '89 S10 Blazer (which I have about 4k hours of labor into ... no exaggeration!). Parts are ALOT more expensive than I'm used to, but I've grown to absolutely love the engineering in this car. I was able to disassemble the window switches with my bare hands, polish the contacts, reassemble, and now all the windows work perfectly. Was able to fix a dragging rear brake by disassembling the caliper, cleaning the body and seal, lubricating, and reassembling - now those both work great. If this was a GM, I would've been forced to replace those parts.

I noticed the discussion of 80's V8 cars - that got my attention. We still run our '86 Mercury Grand Marquis 5.0 V8 daily in the summer. BEST car I've ever owned besides the Volvos. We've had it for 13 years and it now has 230k miles, and shows no signs of slowing down. Just this past June, I completely overhauled the A/C system and charged it up with R12 - works as good as the day it rolled off the showroom floor. Every bit as good as a modern car. I did the ball joints 10 years ago, and I'm on it's 3rd set of bearings and brakes since I've owned it. My wife commutes in it 70 miles per day for 3 seasons a year, and gets an average of 22 MPG out of it. Not bad at all! It's been VERY reliable as far as American cars go. Still has the original starter and power steering pump. Just did the injectors last year (all still good - just broke one plastic piece on one) - very similar to the B230 injectors - look almost identical, aside from color.

In addition to those, I also have a '07 Silverado 1500 extended cab 4x4. First new vehicle I ever bought in my life ... and it will be the last. Quality control at GM is non-existent ... and I suspect it has been for decades looking back. Driveline is great, aside from burning oil if I rev the engine too much while towing up long hills. I wish Volvo made a pickup in the early 90's ... but anyway...

I am constantly on the lookout for pre-'96 cars that are reliable and easy to work on. I'm way too cheap to ever pay someone to fix my stuff for me (although that sure would be nice ...). I'll continue driving old junk until I can't physically turn a wrench - then I'll buy a horse.