I couldn’t agree more. I was torn between the 116 and 126 two year ago when I first talk to Pierre about my situation and though process. Ended up going with the 116 simply because I was, and continue to be in love with the character and design language. The car is not almost completely sorted and I used it almost daily, brings a smile to my face every time. I will add, it also has been a great teaching tool in my school of mechanics. Thank you for this video and all of your advice and on-site through the years Pierre!

79-300SD all the way 👍

So, I understand your email to me now about my W116 300 SD. I had Dallas replace the upper ball joints on it this week and I asked him if he thought it needed anything else. His answer was the only thing the car needs is for me and my wife to load up the trunk with our stuff and go on a 1,000 mile road trip. Which is going to happen. I love this car.

I was torn between the w116 and the w126 for awhile. W126 won my heart with the better climate control and parts availability. Wow, what a car. I regret nothing.

Thank you for mentioning the difficulty with converting seat harness wiring on the 126. That job tested the limits of my intelligence and patience.

Even though I own two W123s, my dream car is a W126.

Having the both models, I do agree with all of this. W116 and W126 are still today glorius S class, and the way you talk about it makes me feel I am right! Bravo and thank you!

You're right on with all your points. I drove several of both models in the 90's and early 2000's, and they were all beaters, but kept on going. This last year I got the bug again now that I can afford a good one. I drove several good examples of both bodies, and ended up with a w116. It really seems like a better built car end to end with better materials and fit/finish. Just the work put into the high quality chrome trim on the outside is really something special. The climate control may be a pain when it goes bad, but other than that, if you keep it off the salt and stay ahead of the rust it is better in every other way to me. And, if your into getting noticed, I've noticed that it turns a LOT more heads than a w126.

Great video... I own both a 126 and a newly acquired 116. The 126 is a gasser and the 116 is a 1980 300SD. I love them both in their own way. Even though the W116 is a driver, I have a long way to go with making it as it should be. I do love the 617 motor... It's actually very smooth and shifts are excellent. Thank you Pierre for all your contribution to these wonderful timeless real cars!

Just means you should buy one of each 😃

I have a 1984 126 300sd and a 1980 123 300cd the engine has been swapped in the cd with a 617 turbo from a 1983 300sd. Thank you very much for your videos!

Thanks Pierre.

Man I love these videos Pierre. It’s so cool to listen to another classic Mercedes-Benz enthusiast. I’ve literally spent 5 hours straight watching these these insights are fantastic!

Right on! Piere!

I still miss my '81 300SD. Great car that I had to sell on as I didn't have the wherewithal to deal with the rust issues. Hope I can get one again someday.

Great video !

Thanks great info to have

This was an interesting video, doubtless it will be appreciated by those lucky w116 owners. BUT after the greatly informative and beautifully filmed 6.3 video. I feel you need to shot one on the 6.9 w116 at the same special location. Pls let’s have a Ronin special - come on Pierre & Thomas !

Thank you

I’ve had my 84sd for 15yrs. Clearly my best MB as I have got rid of others but never this one👊🏼👊🏼

Very nice. How about a comparison vid between the 300 SEL 6.3 and the 450 SEL 6.9? Engine, suspension, maintenance, and so forth.

Essa aqui 116 300SD 1980 87000 miles Uma das 10 no máximo que existe no Brazil . Carro proibido a importação . Todos Mercedes Classicos Diesel do Brazil eram de embaixadas. Ja colocoquei várias peças de caminhão na minha.

Great review, thank you...I love my 80 300SD (it's a federal car, so no EGR). It's a youngster at 101K very well maintained miles. The previous owner restored the (blue) dash and front seats in 2008; they're like new and look pheonomal. You're right about the seats. Front glass seal was redone, I have an MB seal for the rear. I updated the ACC to the UT unit last year and the HEAT IS AMAZING!!! I'll keep the W126 issues in mind as I go through my 89 300SE; only issues so far are an aux fan that won't shut off (I pulled the fuse for now until I figure out what's going on) and pass side mirror inop.

Another great video Pierre. So much good info. Love to see a video someday on the infamous 0m606 in the w124. My 95 E300 Is such an interesting car.

I’ve had an 84 300sd, a 86 300sdl, and most recently an 80 300sd. The om603 in the 86 is a great highway cruiser, but for all round drive ability I vote the w116 300sd. Another aspect not discussed though is the auto windows. The w116 has a tendency to kill window regulators. The biggest draw for me on the w116 is the styling and it’s echos to the most classic era of Mercedes motoring.

I Feel the 1991 350sd is the best ever made !! So much torque ! Gets a bad rap but with only 600 made it only takes a few to spoil the party ... I hope Pierre covers the om603.970 more in depth !

That is difficult choise. Both cars are just as durable and reliable, offer similar performance and handling, but the design is what makes them different. The 126 has that beautiful and timeless aerodynamic design. The 116 has none of that, it has a classic boxy design that has written 70s all over it, chrome everywhere, lots of mouldinds and that is what makes it special, that evil aura of superiority inherited straight from the w100. The w116 also has a more details in the interior, like the door panels, switches, the seats are bigger and have those lovely pointy headrest. It looks more expensive and therefore special.

I have two w123 coupe's 230 and 280 which I drive daily but my 73 W116 280se D-Jet is a cut above and absolute class

I have never owned the diesel versions, but did have a 116 450SE and a 126 420SEC. I loved both of them and wish I owned them today. I now own a B200 turbo - good in its own way, but nowhere near as solid and confidence-inspiring as the older cars.

I can attest to the wood trim coming loose on the dash in my W126. lol

Light at the end of the tunnel lol, bought a rusted 79 and I’ll hate to see her go the adrenaline of not knowing when it will fill apart is half the fun of driving it

I love my 1979 300SD although it does shake at idle. I changed the rack dampen bolt on the injection pump to no affect. Still trying to come up wit a solution if anyone has had the same issue. I also love the way the doors sound when closed. Thanks Pierre for another great video.

Hi Pierre. Good video. Thanks. One mild irritation is your use of the term “quality control” when you really simply mean quality. Quality control refers to the degree of production uniformity, not whether or not something utilizes good engineering, materials, and workmanship I.e., quality. Yugos and Trabants are examples of vehicles with excellent quality control, but truly shitty quality. They were uniformly horrible. Rolls-Royce shadows and clouds, and DeLorean’s, for example, were generally fairly high quality vehicles in terms of materials and engineering, but with poor quality control. I saw some DeLorean‘s from the factory that used zip ties to mount HVAC ducting, wiring harnesses and other under dash bits. Some other ones, used very nice dedicated fastening systems. And on some cars I saw the body sealing caulk applied next to the seam, and on others it was very nicely laid. I guess it depended upon what parts were in stock, or what day it was built. OK I’m done ranting. Peace.

I don't own either of the 300SDs, but have a W123 240D w/stick-shift. And I'm deciding to just sell my 2004 Jaguar XJ8 in favor of keeping the 240D, due to the fact that I have more cars than the amount of room than I have for them. And as for the Jags, there's a comparison that I can fully relate to this one between the late 90's-2003 XJ8s (X308) and the 2004-08 XJ8s (X350). There were a lot of improvements made on the X350 as far as reliability. But there's also many who still say that the earlier generation, X308, was the best one. Reason I'd know of that are that the X308 was still a little simpler with parking brake still being a hand brake and the one on the newer X350 is operated by a button and is electrical. Also the X350 is the first to get the air-bag suspension which is another expensive liability for the long-term. Coil springs conversion kits have been made available for X350 gen. of the XJ sedans. The earlier one, X308, has 5 speed automatic that has been known to have more problems than the ZF 6 speed automatic that's in the newer X350. Also the X350 was made of aluminum and is therefore lighter and far less prone to rust than the older X308. But the X308 was the one most recommended by this other KZfaqr named Car Wizard, when he did a "what to buy and what not to buy" video on Jaguars. I'd almost consider an X308 because even the base Xj8s get go up to about 150mph before their governors would cut out while the supercharged version, XJR, is governed to 155 mph. And on the X350, the XJR is governed to the same 155 mph while it's faster off the line with more horsepower, taller gears, and lower curb weight. But the Base XJ8 has all than over the X308 gen. of it and was rewarded for all that with a new governor that restricts its top speed to 121 mph which there's no reason for, I don't care what anyone says about that. But there's one styling issue I have with the X308, the hideous big single windshield with the the W124 midsize Mercedes has, which got changer to 2 wipers, driver's side & passenger side wipers, for the X350. Now, if anything, I'd consider a 2004-07 shorter wheelbase XJR. Even though the XJR has another expensive thing to have to worry about, the supercharger, it'll the worth more money because it'll be more sought after on a collector market. BUT, I don't have the room so therefore, I can't.

Love your videos!! I have a 1988 Mercedes Benz 190e 2.3 automatic and I'm in need of an air filter but for some reason the last two air filters from mercedes that were order don't fit part# 0030945804 part# 0020943104 neither fit, thoughts my friend?

I like the 116 for the seats and the manual controls it's too bad about the climate control system. My grandfather had the very first one delivered in the Midwest it's a funny thing that my Sprinter is exactly the same color as his was.

Speaking of the W116 and the W126, have you thought of comparing and contrasting the 450SE with the 420SEL?

Pierre, you are gonna hate this question. I have a w114 250 1970, I’m from south America. I can’t find any parts for the car. So... what more modern engine (80’s - 90’s) you recommend for this car?

Even though I've always searched in vain for a diesel W126, my efforts left with a choice of buying either a petrol engined variant or having no W126 whatsoever. Despite the ill treatment from the original owner, and the inherent timing chain rails and tensioner limitations, I've long been an advocate of these iconic automobiles. Even though the gas engines are invariably less fuel friendly, gulping petrol with every acceleration, they feel solid and robust when the auto is holistically cared for. Great information Pierre. Look forward to all your content in the future. Have a peaceful week.

Test drove the 116 SD. Own 3 ('83, '85) 126 SD's. In spite of its 1815 kg (for the 116) vs 1620 kg (for the 126) weight the 116 seemed to deliver a crisper, tighter more nimble yet solidly tank like driving experience. Both visually and in real life durability the superior robustness, beauty and quality of the 116 interior is reflected in how good they still look unrestored when you come across them today compared to the 126's. Of course the charm of it's classic styling puts you in mind of its predecessors and, not least, the legendary 6.9.

so the '78-'79 model has no ALDA, EGR, rack damper bolt??

👍 I wonder how many W116 300SD are still on the road?

Good evening Pierre, I own a W126. Nice car but 2 issues. 1. The hard shifting at take off 2. The steering wheel pulls to left. Can these items be fixed? Also feel that its not as comfy as an 83 W123 Coupe I owned in the past. Rusted out so it had to go :(

Chad 😤 diesel 😤 s classe 😤

So a W116 with Manual controls for the Win !

But the w140 is still best, no?