A Future Classic Gets Some Tweaking: 1990 Mercedes Benz 200E. Part II

So how do you turn a stately, sedate twenty year old car into something that would be relevant for most petrol heads? This question refers to the 1990 Mercedes Benz W124 200E that belonged to a friend of mine which we encountered in Part I. It may not have the looks and aura of a Mercedes W129 SL or a fabulous W116 450SEL 6.9 from the 1970s. But it is already an icon of solid, indestructible piece of German engineering that is surely going to be a future, usable classic. As I said in the first part, the looks, the handling and then maybe the performance would need some fiddling.

When the car arrived into the hands of Adlis K, he decided that it became top priority to enhance the looks of the car. Enhancing the looks of a W124 Mercedes Benz is actually quite easy. It isn't one of those chrome bumpered cars from the 1970s. Being an Eighties 'child' the car comes with most of the gizmos that we are accustomed with. These would be integrated bumpers and claddings, flush fit doors, anti-lock brakes, airbags and that fabulous double jointed single wiper blade that covers a whole lot of windscreen. Actually the last one is something quite unique to the W124. I somehow like the way it sweeps nearly the whole windscreen of the car.

New Wheels

So the upgrading of the looks began with something that would upgrade the handling of the car too. Searching the tire shops in the town of Klang, which is about an hour's drive from Kuala Lumpur came up with a nice used set of 17inch AMG Monoblocks with a width of around 8inches. A decent set of brand new 215/45/17 tires and it was slapped on the 200E. That first modification made the car look a whole lot better. The chunky, flat dished rims totally suits the 200E. These rims may have first appeared in the 1990s, but they still look the part to this day.

And the handling goes up a whole notch. It grips better, tracks better than the standard 195/65 series 15inch tires. The car turns in slightly better but it isn't that fabulous. A Toyota Corolla will still run rings around it. Understeer is less terminal, but still chronic in my opinion. I drove this car and I had to sit up and wrestle the car in the corners. In fact, this car came with the smaller steering wheel of the later, mid 90s Mercedes. This improved steering response and sharpness a little. If it came with the bus sized wheel then things would be even more horrible in the handling department.

Who said you can't feel anything when you're cornering in a Mercedes? In a corkscrew type of corner, the car screams understeer at you and to try make it corner, you have to bully it like crazy. It's a bit like taking a bull by its neck and wrestling it to the ground, as the 200E refuses to enter into any other position aside from understeer. With 119bhp, taking it down a gear manually through the 4 speed auto box and planting your foot as early as possible will not make the tail come round to assist you in the turn. It's best that you plan your corners and take a neat and smooth driving line for this car. But hey, its a Mercedes sedan, not a Mitsubishi Evo in the first place.

Bodykit

Next came the bodykit and a new paintjob. The car came in silver and grey on the lower parts. Adlis K told me that he wanted a bodykit that accentuated the looks of the car. At first thought the 500E came to mind with its wider arches and different front and rear bumpers. But leaving the car for more than two weeks at the body shop before even a single drop of paint wasn't something that he wanted. This was because to get the 500E arches at the rear, a lot of fiberglass and cutting would have to be done. This wasn't what Adlis K wanted. I suppose some semblance of originality would needed to be kept and the fact that this basic 200E didn't have the grunt to pull off even half of a 500E's performance figures kept him sensible.

A WALD International type of bodykit was chosen by Adlis K in the end. This was a simple kit that consisted of a front lower bumper addition, rear lower bumper addition and side skirts as well as a little bootlid spoiler to round things off. This kit isn't as common as an AMG type bodykit used in most W124s around town and actually looked the most modern. The thing about WALD is that they tend to take designs from other Mercedes (or other cars) and play around with it.

If you notice closely on the front bumper, you can see that they basically took the bumper/spoiler design from the W202 AMG C-class and the side skirts came from the W210 E55 but altered to fit the W124. But when completed, the car does look fabulous, and this 1990 Mercedes now looks a little younger. Like something from the late 90s instead of the late 80s.

One other addition to the car was the front grille. This came from the later, post 1992 facelifted W124. It had more chrome on the grille and looked much better than the less shiny original grille. Much more like a current Mercedes.

Exhaust Tuning

A new oval shaped tail pipe and free flow mufflers were then added after the bodykit. Not something too radical. Not something noisy too. The exhaust note went from a soft thrum to something a little louder on the outside, but still nothing on the inside. The exhaust note had gained some bass and the car gained some throttle response. More could have been done, but spending so much money on the stock 2.0liter isn't really worth it as it would have been easier to just plonk in a larger 2.3liter or 2.6liter from the 230E or 260E. But since this is more of a car for the daily city commute, it isn't priority as Adlis K does have a Nissan 350Z sitting beside this car when he needs his performance fix. So not a lot of extra oomph, but a good thing nonetheless.

H&R Springs

So now with the body kit in place, more lowering would be good, according to Adlis K. And so a set of H&R springs were purchased to bring the car a little lower to the ground. It looked great, and made the car look good. It also improved the handling a bit more. The ride is slightly harder but not harsh. Most cars these days still have a harder ride. Somehow the 200E still absorbs most bumps as before but the handling is so much better. You can check out how difference the stance of the car is by comparing the photo above to the one at the beginning of this article.

You can actually drive it faster and be a little more wanton with it. It could be punted into a turn much later than before and there is less roll. The steering feels slightly more ponderous (very slightly) but in the faster turns the car feels more planted and more agile. Do not expect much steering feel but do expect the 200E to respond to you even faster. Having sports springs does help this car a whole lot. I liked the overall feel of the car on the H&R springs. The lack of power now does not seem to be so worrying as the car seems a little more nimble now.

The whole process of taking a sedate Mercedes into something better took about a month. Imagine that, a whole month to change something that a pensioner would drive (actually a pensioner drove it before as it was Adlis K's dad who owned it previously) into something a thirty-something would feel comfortable with and look good in.

A car that is as solid as a rock, reliable and still relevant today. Even if you can actually pick one up for less than a few thousand Pounds or Dollars. It now looks good and handles too. And for me, handling is paramount in any performance car, more than all out horsepower.

This car goes to show that even a sedate and now very affordable 'Unclemobile' can be turned into something lovable to a motorhead.