You gotta drive an S Class on the highway! Way better than any LS, 460, 430 400 any of them. The solidity and confidence is on another level

 

Saw this cool pic on FB. I remember hearing of these vehicles back then.

 

I like this guy but he's wrong. I wouldn't touch any SL that wasn't the last of them to begin with but the whole "you'll spend 5k in 30 days if you buy one of these" could not be more false. Mine has needed nothing other than motor mounts that I blew out driving the car so hard, which are wear items anyway. An average Joe who bought that car, they'd still be fine.

But keep in mind I did my due diligence and waited years for the right one.

It's reliable, if it were troublesome I'd know it by now. It was well cared for, already on second set of plugs...transmission fluid changed, coolant, 2nd set of Mercedes hydraulics for top which works perfectly. A/C is the coldest out of all three cars. I took it to Mercedes when I bought it for service and literally every single thing they checked was in the green. They sent me a video of the inspection, you could eat off the undercarriage and suspension parts. The dealer was like "Where did you get this car???"

These aren't really complex cars and the shortened W124 platform, engine and transmission are all bulletproof. They ain't no Lexus ES but if you treat them right and spend the necessary money on maintenance they will reward you with decades of driving fun. You're just gonna spend more on maintenance. The car is so solid I would drive it to California tomorrow without thinking twice. I drive the snot out of it and it seems to prefer to be driven that way. If this car were a neglected one that was a POS I'd definitely know it by now. It's as solid as the Lexuses are. This was a car designed in 1984 when Mercedes were really reliable cars.

What's crazy is just how STUPID some owners are. They leave these sitting for 6 months then wonder why the cars are janky when they try to get them back running. With Lexus you can do that stuff, not really old Mercedes. There lies the difference. I wouldn't jump the MB if my life depended on it, and owners do all day long and fry the top. I've jumped my LS430 like 50 times and once it screwed everything up and the gauges went kaput. Restarted and everything was fine and this was years ago. Yeah don't try that on a 21 year old MB lol.

 

great rant …. I would drive the LX to California

 

Not a rant, just the truth. Maybe someone will read this someday and it may help them make the decision. R129s are going up in value fast. They are reliable cars if you take care of them properly from the start.

LX would also be great to take to California. LS it's been done lol.

 

Yours was well cared for, these can absolutely be what he describes if they have let maintenance go. Key to German car ownership is stay on top of it.

 

Yep, was a rant for sure. lol
And, might I add, done very nicely, enjoyed it.

So true.

I have 2 things.

1) The guy in that video makes A LOT of money$$$ -aka - raking in the Benjamins $$$$$$$.
-> But- what he doesn't mention is the fortune that can be save DIY for a lot of the stuff.

2) It's true, almost every creampuff over 10 years old I've every looked at took me 5 mins to find out that the timing was right for them to sell it because it needed work now.
Maybe not today, but rolling on original struts, 7 year old tires, 6 year old battery, timing belt and water pump are original, etc, etc, etc.

 

Correct, lol that's what I just said. I wonder why he let it go like this, I really do. In any case the owner is going to pay the bill-- Probably because he loves the car, that's another thing about German cars. People dump insane money into them.

 

Most people let cars go…

 

I don't think like this example, to this extent necessarily. I guess more of what I'm saying is it was made clear that the owner loved their car. But they brought it in with all of that crap wrong with it and didn't stay on top of it? It's for the most part a one-step-at-a-time type of thing to maintain these. I wonder how long the current owner has had that car.

And to others, it wasn't a rant lol but I was a little surprised that Youtube guy who is that credible made such a blanket statement like that. I am proof positive that is absolutely false. You can pick up a very well cared for R129 and spend nothing like I did. You're not "automatically going to spend $5000."

 

It was total rant...and a good one. Nothing wrong with that.


didn't you have to put new motor mounts on it?


The SL in the Car Wizards shop is 30 years old.

 

I think that statement is probably pretty accurate, most people who buy one of these (plus thats an older one, 10 years older than yours) are going to need to plan on spending a few K bringing it up to snuff. Didnt the dealer you bought yours from replace the top? Thats a $3k job.

 

Someone can love a car and still mistreat it and not actually love it enough to spend money. I see it all the time.....

How people spend their money and time shows what they really value and most of the time it's not the car

 

Yeah but that's just because I blew out what was left of them driving the car so hard. I'm sure a more relaxed driver would be fine. In any case, that's been it. If it were A/C or part of the cooling system, etc. it would have actually been a big deal.

No, the top is original. They replaced one part to ready the car for sale. They sold the car to me for so damn cheap it couldn't have been more than a couple hundred bucks.

But yes you have a point, the older ones of these are wayyyyy more troublesome with those wiring harnesses, etc. etc. But still, people fork over the dough for repairs. I realllllllly wouldn't like it but I'd spend $4,000 on something major if it was that or no more SL.

 

At the end of the day, the car is worth putting that money into