OT: Test drove a Mercedes 300se...slow

[bigtisas]

Anyone owns a Mercedes? I like the classic look of the 85-91 Mercedes 300 so I was excited to find a 91 300se with only 120k miles. Test drove it today and very disappointed with the performance. It feels like the car takes 15 seconds from 0-60. I thought my 525ia is slow but the 300se is a lot slower. I wonder if 300se is that slow or just the car I drove has mechanical problem. The car seems to run fine and tranny shifts smooth. It has a 3.0L straight six. Any experiences with 300se?

[markus]

get one from like 92 and up. they updated that M130 engine with twin cams and helped bump the power a lot.

[winfred]

if you want a 126 body benz get a diesel, a bit more bottom end power to get that heavy pig moving without taking it up at the ass at the gas pump, engines are better too, imho that family of engines from the 190 and 300e's suck, K-jetronic injection (that no body knows how to tune any more) and bad oiling that eats the top end of the engine

[bigtisas]

Thanks for the info guys. I like the Benz W124 body but I can't stand for the performance. I will test drive another one and see if they are all the same. From what I read so far, looks like the M50 is a better engine.

[Randell]

the W126 is a big, HEAVy car... you can't expect a 3L six to pull that thing along with any pace... my dad drives a 420SEL, 4.2 V8 with about 220hp, it's slow as hell off the line but once it's going it goes pretty nicely.. remember these cars have a 2nd gear start unless you shove the pedal all the way to the floor or pull the stick into first

if you want a W126 that hauls ass, make sure it's a 560!

[Ross]

Probably needs the A/C recharged.

[Tiger]

I know all about that car. When the tranny shift, do you feel all 4 gears with plenty of times in between? Problem with these tranny is when valve body get messed up,it skips one gear very fast.

This car might start off in 2nd gear by default so it feels slower. Accelerate at good pace and you should feel the gear stay in place for a while on each one... if you feel that it pop into the 3rd and then rapidly into 4th, then tranny trouble.

[Tiger]

NO! The W140 body is a killer... tons of expensive stuff that fails and cost you thousands of dollars in repairs.

[repenttokyo]

the 2 door model is a really beautiful car, I considered one before I committed to the 5er.

[Fetch]

Probably needs the A/C recharged.


LOL!

Got the reference, hilarious

[bigtisas]

Alright...

[Martin in Bellevue]

A friend is keeping his '87 300td wagon in my garage in bellevue. It has a genuine 62k miles. Mercedes just replaced the entire exhaust system on recall for a crappy particulate trap design. It isn't too slow for a daily driver. In fact, I'm interested in it, but my enthusiasm caused him to sell his allroad audi in favor of the diesel.

[bigtisas]

I like the 300CD diesel also but I just bought a 300E today with only 68k miles. :) It's faster than the 300SE but still slower than my 525ia. Will pick it up this weekend.