"Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo" (akioohtori)
05/19/2018 at 13:20 • Filed to: unnecessary car shopping without E90M3
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"Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo" (akioohtori)
05/19/2018 at 13:20 • Filed to: unnecessary car shopping without E90M3 | 0
| 9 |
Because of who I am as a person, I went ahead and called up the seller of the aforementioned diesel manual Mercedes. I have some thoughts about this huge lump of German iron.
Note: I somehow managed to take no photos or video so I’m going to make do with what is in the ad and what I can find online.
!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!
First of all, there is nothing quite like the clatter of a Mercedes diesel. Unmistakable and kinda fun. When the seller turned up, i didn’t really know what to expect from this 260,000 mile creature, but it did show up under its own power, which was a nice touch.
The seller was a friendly older gentlemen who is selling the car on behalf of his father, the original owner. I didn’t catch more of the story because, frankly, I was here to see the car and also I am terrible with people.
After a once-over, I took it for a quick test drive and I’ve got to say I was impressed. Despite having a lot of deferred maintenance and a mere 70 horsepower on tap new, this thing wasn’t as slow as I was expecting! That is in no way to say it was fast. It is not fast. It is very slow. But with a power-to-weight ratio of only 60 hp/ton, it wasn’t as slow as I expected.
That said... that is where the good surprises end.
The interior was shot. The seats and headliner was in good shape, but literally everything else was faded, cracked, or peeling. The AC was, of course, inop, and the heater was stuck on full. The power windows worked, but the switch for the sunroof had decided to go play hide-and-go-seek inside the dash. Also the cruise control and turn signals were inop. I didn’t try the wipers, but I wasn’t going to hold my breth. The blower worked, but the knob was missing.
All the gauges worked, so there is that.
The exterior was very straight, but the respray the seller claimed it got about 12 years ago was poor, with overspray visible on the seals and undercarriage. Boo.
So...
I want to want this car. Engine, body, and transmission are a great combo.
Literally everything else lets it down.
The seller did offer to sell it to me for $1,400 but I just don’t think I would give that car the attention it deserves.
You can find the ad !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , or !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! if it goes down.
One of you guys (or gals) should buy this thing!
sony1492
> Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
05/19/2018 at 13:29 |
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When they get to that point it’s time to just run them into the ground. Fixing the interior would mean finding a pristine parts car at which point you’d just fix that.
duurtlang
> sony1492
05/19/2018 at 14:05 |
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If you find one of these on a junkyard you can fix half the issues for just a few dollars.
RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
> Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
05/19/2018 at 14:09 |
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I had somehow not realized the OM601 was in cars that early. Eenteresting.
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sony1492
> duurtlang
05/19/2018 at 14:09 |
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If you find a nice one, for a few hundred. The interiors are fragile so finding one unstripped or in good condition is unlikely, and junk yards are not always cheap
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duurtlang
> sony1492
05/19/2018 at 14:13 |
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Are the interiors that bad? A friend of mine had a 30 year old base model w124 based 200D. 1086 I believe. Base, as in 70 hp diesel with a 4 speed manual, no AC from the factory and manual windows. And a gazillion kms. Everything worked and seemed to be made for eternity.
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Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
> RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
05/19/2018 at 14:20 |
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Oh? Something I should know?
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sony1492
> duurtlang
05/19/2018 at 14:28 |
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My 83 300sd diesel was built quite well, the interior materials were good, not great.
88 190e interior was a good design but did not stand up well to the sun, the wood flaked off, plastics were thin and brittle.
97 c230 interior was designed and executed by Fisher Price, all the plastics were junk, everything was on the verge of breaking and had to be treated with delicacy. That one wasn’t run into the ground either, it had been cared for and had service records.
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RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
> Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
05/19/2018 at 16:06 |
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Not really that crazy, but the 190 changed generations a couple years earlier than the e class, so the engine as seen in the w124 e class was being sold at the same time as the older e class and its older engine.
The six cylinder version of that engine had some teething problems in the e class in ‘86/’87, which is what makes seeing the four in an ‘84 seem weird.
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RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
> RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
05/19/2018 at 16:08 |
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Six cylinder had some trouble, originally wrote five. The six, particularly the turbo.