The best car ever made
Let me tell you why the Mercedes Benz 300te is the best car ever made
Disclaimer this post is written by a 16 year old with little patience for good post writing
Let me tell you why the Mercedes Benz 300te is the best car ever made
Disclaimer this post is written by a 16 year old with little patience for good post writing
To start off this car can be as old as 31 years old. Production ranged from 1985-1995 with a large selection of engines and drive trains. There were many modified versions of this car which are really f’n cool. Mercedes claimed series of car to be an over engineered masterpiece, I 100% agree with this.
The Chassis
The chassis of the Mercedes Benz 300te made the e30 touring estates look really stupid. Like I said, this car is very over engineered. But being over engineered means it had a huge ton more features than competitors. Unlike the rounded lights of the e30, the S124 has squared headlights with really cool looking and very functional headlight wipers. The photo above has smoked out signal lamps that look absolutely sweggin. The hood release latch on the W124 is so absolutely genius. You yank the latch under the dash and out through the grill appears a grey plastic tab which you pull and lift the hood. There is no hood holder upper thing either which is very nice. When the engine bay needed work the hood moved up past the 45 degree point to a straight up and down 90 perpendicular to the engine. The chassis of this car is a 5 door station wagon which steel beemed doors. This car comfortable seats 7 (two rear facing). The mirrors on the w124 were different shapes and very small. The drag coefficient of this car is rather low which helps with the alright fuel economy you do get in this 3L powerhouse.
The engine
When I said 3L powerhouse I was joking. This car does have lots of hidden power though. The 3.0L m103 engine makes around 180hp in this day and age. The engine is a N/A 3.0L straight six (which believe it or not the 2JZ was copied off of). If you know how to drive this car (like myself) it can be pretty fun. The automatic transmission is a 4 speed paired up with the rear wheel drive or 4matic transmission. The engine does really like oil but thats okay because it’s a mercedes and its not supposed to be cheap so that everyone can afford it, only those who can love a car despite its expensive requirements.
This car gets about 16-18mpg in the city (if you drive responsibly) and about 22/23/24 on the highway.
I’ve pulled on non vtec civics with this car before and I can out run a 2013 Mazda 3 hatch too.
Features
This car (mine being 26 years old) has so many unbelieveable features for it’s time, (they all still work too). Honestly it makes for a better winter car than summer car. So mine specifically has 4matic AWD (the pioneer of AWD systems). Distributing 100% of torque to rear wheels (mode 1), 35/65 torque split when slip is detected (mode 2), 50/50 torque split in mode 3 when 2 or more wheels have started slipping and mode 4 where the speed is lower than 40km/h and more than 2 wheels have lost traction, the computer will lock the rear diff and send 50/50 torque spilt to all 4 wheels. I’ve never had to scrape the windshields either, being that the car has a mono wiper in the front which does a little shimmy in the middle to reach the top of the front windscreen and has rear window defrost along with another wiper blade in the back. The car also has automatic heated mirrows for outside. Power windows, power seats, heated seats, dual zone climate control, child safety locks, a power opening roof and very very comfortable recaro leather or cloth seats. This car has cruise control which adaptavely switches gears or applies more gas pedal when road conditions change.
Oh and the best part of this car is that it has a gorgeous little hood ornament which reminds you that you drive the best car ever made.
On road handling
The turning radius of this car like I said is very tight which is nice for parking lots and parking, the low speed handling is pretty bad, the car has alot of body roll considering it has lots of ground clearance and is kinda heavy (3800lbs). At higher speeds the suspension is really nice and soft but not a blown strut kinda feel its just like, “Oh look a dip in the road OMNOMNOM burp“. The power in 4th gear starting from 60mph is pretty good it pulls decently and can definitely outrun a civic in that speed zone. Low speeds though, this car is painfully slow.
Off road
This car off road is awesome and has a lot of potential. There is a decent amount of ground clearance paired up with 4matic AWD that it can hold it’s own in a mud puddle or snow bank.
There you go, that’s not all, but frankly im very tired of typing. That’s why I think this is the best car ever made.
Thanks to all your positive feedback and getting editors pick i’m going to write another post right now about adventures in the TE. and what a great f’n adventure mobile this thing makes.
Michael
Comments
Sure they might be nice, but don’t mention beating non VTEC civics. Not really an achievement.
Neither is the Mazda3 in all fairness
Maybe he mentioned it for us to have something to compare it to. I don’t think he mentioned it as an achievement.
I know non vtec civics are really slow.. So is this wagon. That’s my comparison. Above 60mph’s this car does hold it’s ground and can hit 160km/h pretty easy (tire limiting)
Golf 3 are the best they are cheap,durable,fast(some of them) and they have some easy mods
Only for the people without imagination
They are good allrounder, thats all
We had one of these. My Granddad got it from my father (funny how heritage of cars works the other war around… I am crying right now.. very much! Why the 280 SLC?! sad face) and it still runs with about 200,000 miles.. (as far as I know). I had a 250D of the W124 - tianium melts faster when rubbed with wet toilet paper than this goes to 11 but it is an amazing era of the E-class. Love it! I am glad Mercedes-Benz did something German that can last 1,000 years and not the dirty sanchez-screamo-dude with flipped up world view.
I agree. Atm i am doing a full restoration on a ‘93 mk3. Low running costs, cheap spare parts ( got a new gti bumper for 15€ last week ) and overall a great car for learning how to repair it your self. And because its a VAG you can easily swap a big amount of engines in it ;)
There is one more car that is pretty close to this merc, its volvo 740/760
My father used to own one as well, it was the sedan but the cars are really really comfortable and reliable. I miss that car every single day and although it’s too big for crowded cities, the fact that it’s so relaxing to drive is a plus. Great car! Take care of it and it’ll take care of you!
Cars these days are so diverse, and comparing a Ferrari F12, a G63 6x6, and a Tesla makes no sense. They’re all great but so different. With that being said, my answer is either a Porsche 918 or a Pagani Zonda R.
This is like a kid bragging about his bicycle.
Great car that will last forever! Picture below says “until rust us do apart.”
This is the best car of all time. Truly the las chassis that mercedes over engineered. My dream is to own a w124 estate with the famous om606 turbo diesel motor