The Mercedes Benz 190e
Discussion
I know this is random but i am pretty sure many people on here will agree that the 190e was a fantastic car and after my dad owning many a merc i cant help but feel Mercedes are now not what they were, they seem more unreliable and also Mercedes and BMW have lost a lot of that prestige that once made them great im my opinion its such a shame that these companies wanted to mass produce cars instead of building fantasic motor cars like they used to....
PENTOMAN! You have a customer
I couldn't agree with you more! I owned an E Class saloon of that era, and am currently onto the saloon of the sam generation. When changing cars, Dad asked if I wanted something a bit more modern, he was going to buy me a Seat Leon, but (after seeing my brother's plasticy one), I decided against that modern euro-box!
But new Mercs (I believe) aren't a patch on the old "over-engineered" generation of Mercs. They are still nice cars, don't get me wrong, but they are not built as well, customer service has (generally) taken a nose-dive and brand is neither as expensive or exclusive as it once was.
My old 230E was £31,000 when it's first owner bought it. It has metallic paint, 4 electric windows alloy wheels and Sportline suspension, all as options. It still retained cloth and had no air con!
My E-Coupe was around the £55,000 mark when new (inc. its Carat Duchatelet bodykit).
Nowadays basic C-Classes start for what, around £16,000? With air con, electric windows.
£55,000 will buy you a very nice nearly new AMG Merc!
Darren
Edited by iluvmercs on Monday 27th November 09:31
I don't have a problem with their exclusivity (or lack of) - I mean Mercs have always been used as taxis so that hardly makes them exclusive.
However this never mattered - they were such great cars so it didn't matter if taxi drivers had them, or van or bus drivers, because you don't buy them for image.
When Merc developed the 190E they knew that despite it being smaller and cheaper than the E-class, it would still have to be just as good a car. It pioneered the multi-link suspension, and was available with airbags, abs, ASD (a primitive traction control) and so on. The car is not as plush or as spacious as an E-class but importantly the whole thing is still well engineered.
So building smaller, cheaper cars is not a bad thing if you do it to the same standards as your other cars. But it's amazing how quickly Mercedes' principles must have changed. The successors to the fabled W124 '80s E-class and the 190E are both possibly the models which have killed Mercedes. To suffer a rust problem such as these models do is absolutely appalling. Yet they are merely one generation on from some of the classics that everyone rated so highly.
Mercedes still make some great cars, and I admire the work they are doing to improve quality. I really hope it succeeds too.
However this never mattered - they were such great cars so it didn't matter if taxi drivers had them, or van or bus drivers, because you don't buy them for image.
When Merc developed the 190E they knew that despite it being smaller and cheaper than the E-class, it would still have to be just as good a car. It pioneered the multi-link suspension, and was available with airbags, abs, ASD (a primitive traction control) and so on. The car is not as plush or as spacious as an E-class but importantly the whole thing is still well engineered.
So building smaller, cheaper cars is not a bad thing if you do it to the same standards as your other cars. But it's amazing how quickly Mercedes' principles must have changed. The successors to the fabled W124 '80s E-class and the 190E are both possibly the models which have killed Mercedes. To suffer a rust problem such as these models do is absolutely appalling. Yet they are merely one generation on from some of the classics that everyone rated so highly.
Mercedes still make some great cars, and I admire the work they are doing to improve quality. I really hope it succeeds too.
iluvmercs said:
PENTOMAN! You have a customer
I couldn't agree with you more! I owned an E Class saloon of that era, and am currently onto the saloon of the sam generation. When changing cars, Dad asked if I wanted something a bit more modern, he was going to buy me a Seat Leon, but (after seeing my brother's plasticy one), I decided against that modern euro-box!
But new Mercs (I believe) aren't a patch on the old "over-engineered" generation of Mercs. They are still nice cars, don't get me wrong, but they are not built as well, customer service has (generally) taken a nose-dive and brand is neither as expensive or exclusive as it once was.
My old 230E was £31,000 when it's first owner bought it. It has metallic paint, 4 electric windows alloy wheels and Sportline suspension, all as options. It still retained cloth and had no air con!
My E-Coupe was around the £55,000 mark when new (inc. its Carat Duchatelet bodykit).
Nowadays basic C-Classes start for what, around £16,000? With air con, electric windows.
£55,000 will buy you a very nice nearly new AMG Merc!
Darren
Edited by iluvmercs on Monday 27th November 09:31
The old generation mercs were fantastic my dad swore by them for years, the C-Class we bought afterwards wasn't even in the same league for build quality or handling so my dad says..regards phil
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